The Hollowing
2024 · 13m · USA
Directed by Steven Weinzierl
Tones: contemplative, dark, tense
A couple processing grief enroll in a drug trial that alters their behavior in disturbing ways.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Grief plus drug trial equals psychopathic side effects — at thirteen minutes that's basically the pitch with no room for a turn. The Annihilation comparison is doing all the work; I'm skeptical.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer comparison flatters; pharmaceutical-trial-as-grief-allegory is well-trodden indie thriller territory unless the execution lifts it. The synopsis suggests competent rather than necessary.
12:56, 539 views, credits a full crew (DP Derek Mckane, production via The Collective at Lair) and the multimedia-techniques claim suggests genuine formal ambition for a psychological thriller about a grief-driven drug trial. The pitch is Annihilation-adjacent at short length; whether the post-production hybrid holds up is the question.