The Hollow World

I didn't know what to expect. Sci-fi zombie romance. Sci-fi I like, zombies yes, but romance ... hmm. It turns out the whole film is really a quest story. Xander the downed astronaut searches for his past in an Earth destroyed and looted in an alien attack. The cgi in space is fun and tells a story, which doesn't happen often, and the story continues to grow and expand as Xander searches on the ground for what matters most to him, which I won't tell what that is. But it's a real twist.

The story works, and keeps you (or kept me) hooked to the end - when all really is revealed. It's a satisfying climax to a fun ride. The characters are surprisingly depthy and Ben the homeless man is a treat.

Shows what can be achieved these days with not a big budget, and what they got, they made the most of it.

Except, maybe on Wall-E. What did thry feed this guy on a space station. Why was he cast? Was he a friend of the director?

This show is seems like some low-budget vanity project from a writer and director with far more ego than ability.

The story is mundane, SFX are minimal and the acting is horrible.

Why bother to make such a generic sci-fi movie if the story is going to be so slow-paced and unoriginal?

The"invaded" earth is largely ordinary apart from some people clearly not able to act their way out of a paper bag.

The sound is echoey and amateurish and listening to it makes the movie seem like 3 hours.

Avoid if you value your time and sensibilities.

Love coming across these indie films that have a strong narrative and kinda keep you guessing!! Didn't know what was going on at first, but as soon as the characters have established themselves... I was strapped in for the ride!!

Cinematography was lush for an indie film, also! Well done to them!!

"When the Solar System is attacked by an overwhelming alien force, astronaut Xander returns to a looted Earth to search for what matters most." That's the thumbnail description. It must be about some other movie, because it has very little to do with this one. First of all, it's not the solar system; it's just the Earth and the Moon. The overwhelming alien force is this gauzy netlike thing that comes out of nowhere and blankets the Earth. We see it from space; bright lights on the night side. What's happening? Cities are being obliterated, leaving bit holes. We see exactly one of those. Second, Xander, a Scottish astronaut on the ISS is awakened by alarms blaring. Hull breach: Abandon ship. He does so. Fortunately, he lands in Britain! His girlfriend Kyla had a terrible injury; she's been "asleep" for 7 months. She wakes up about the same time that he lands. And then we and they discover that - oh, no, not again! People have been turned into ZOMBIES. How disappointing. These days, zombies are the go-to solution for the unimaginative in the movie business. Xander and Kyla spend most of the film wandering around separately, encountering a tiny handful of weirdos whose behavior is completely illogical; especially Sadie, a woman Xander rescues from a hole in the ground, and who is so relentlessly unpleasant as to be almost unwatchable. The dialogue is utterly empty and meaningless; you keep waiting for something meaningful to happen, but it never does, except maybe that the couple are reunited. I ought to admit that this is a spoiler, but it doesn't really matter a bit. Then you find out that maybe it was all a dream; or more accurately, a nightmare from which there is no escape for the hour and a half or so that this movie drags on. This is obviously a low-budget effort, but whether small-budget or big-budget, if you don't start with a good script, the film will fail. Like this one. A more "hollow" and pointless film you will rarely find. It doesn't even qualify as desperation fare for insomniacs.