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Emily is driving down a deserted road in the middle of the night to visit her sister, but when her car breaks down and a handsome stranger offers to give her a ride, Emily begins to realize there is more to her new friend and Sweet Hollow Road than she ever could have imagined.
"Sweet Hollow" tells the story of Emily who is on her way to visit her sister who is alone for the weekend. She is driving down, Sweet Hollow Road, it looks to be a peaceful, quiet road to drive a long but it is also dark and isolated. When a car comes up behind asking her to pull over a man gets out and tells her that the back wheel is falling off and he offers to fix it. He also acts like he knows her from their school days. After fixing the wheel Emily is once again on her way but it isn't long before she loses the wheel altogether. Enter the handsome stranger once again who offers to ride her to her sisters but after agreeing Emily begins to find out that the man might not be as friendly as he seemed to be and Sweet Hollow Road holds a number of frightening secrets.
First off I want to thank Writer/Director, Sean Lee for reaching out to me with the opportunity to review his newest Short Film. I have been blessed with having so many opportunities to review so many fantastic Indie feature films and short films and this is another in a long line of very talented film makers that have taken their time to ask for my opinion and I am thankful.
"Sweet Hollow" starts off innocently enough as Emily is driving to her sisters but things quickly turn bad in this ten minute short. The film never wastes a second of its run time, it immediately sets the story up and begins to build suspense and tension and it immediately injects fear not only in Emily but in the audience as well. Sweet Hollow Road has secrets nightmares are born from and Emily is about to live one.
I loved how the story progressed from a stalker type thriller into something much more than that, the twist at the end blew me away as did the rest of the film. I am not going to give away the film's secrets here but I do recommend checking out this engaging and totally frightening horror film when you get the chance. "Sweet Hollow" had its premiere at Shriekfest on October 3rd and was nominated for best super short. It also played at Another Hole in the Head Film Festival in SF and it will be playing at the Northeast Horror Film Festival in December and the Macabre Faire Film Festival in January. I highly suggest visiting the film's Facebook page HERE to keep up with its progress and find out when and where you can see it yourself. To say this is an impressive debut for Sean Lee as a Writer and Director would be an understatement. He shows great maturity in only his first film. I look forward to seeing what he does next.
I can't forget to mention the cast here as well, Alice Kremelberg and Ryan Vigilant were both amazing as Emily and the stranger, James. They played off each other perfectly and brought their characters to life convincingly. Sean Patrick Folster was also excellent as the police officer.
Production wise the film looks and sounds terrific, the dark road and the isolation feeling it brings was the perfect setting for the story. If I learned one thing, it’s to steer clear of Sweet Hollow Road and the secrets it holds. I really enjoyed this and recommend it to all fans of horror.
**** Out Of *****
Sweet Hollow Trailer from Sean Lee on Vimeo.