“Hallowarrior” follows the last girl on Earth, Pumpkin, as she scavenges the wasteland for supplies on the eve of Halloween. After her lonely holiday ritual is interrupted by a savage gang of raiders, she must fight back to survive the night.
Milly Shapiro (Pumpkin) stars in “Hallowarrior.” Horror fans may recognize her from somewhere — it’s “Hereditary.” Shapiro is much older than she was in Ari Aster’s 2018 film and now has bright orange hair. While she played a monumental role in that genre classic, it wasn’t her movie. That’s not the case here, as writer-director Ben Sottak’s work relies heavily on her performance.
Director of photography Steven Jacob Russell places Pumpkin at the center of the frame, with slow zoom-outs emphasizing her isolation in a world that’s seemingly full of nothing. These are then contrasted with extreme close-ups to show the emotional responses to this detachment. When blood is shed, the camerawork remains in close proximity to the violence, with Andi Ralph’s editing quickly cutting to and from the carnage. While “Hallowarrior” tends to keep the bloodshed limited to short bursts, it still has all the brutality you would expect.
Even with a short 80-minute runtime, Sottak takes his time worldbuilding. This includes not only who Pumpkin is as a person but also the dystopian nature of the world around her. Viewers are shown fragments of her life prior to the humanity-ending plague through home videos. The Halloween setting inherently gives the film a “spooky” aesthetic, turning nightmares and hallucinations into an overall paranoid state. The early stages are slow-moving, with the developed paranoia then transitioning flawlessly into the central narrative.
“Are you real?”
Once other individuals become involved, Shapiro’s performance grows much louder. Along with her extra giddiness about Halloween, her attempted normalcy makes the character distinct from the rest of the cast. Shannyn Sossamon (Thalia) is instantly menacing. She speaks slowly and methodically, with a high-pitched voice that sounds inviting on the surface but is clearly ominous. Also appearing are Ajani Russell (Wendy), AJ Bowen (Royce), Vic Plajas (Breather), Taylor Valentine Lupini (Wax), Logan Beveridge (Worm) and Bobby McFarlane (Gauze).
By the time “Hallowarrior” concludes its Halloween hijinks, the film wraps back around to its sentimental core. And it actually has something to say. Even after the “normal world” is long gone, connection and purpose don’t disappear. This causes a sense of humanity to linger rather than simply being a traditional get-in-and-get-out horror movie. Nonetheless, it does get in and get out with its minimal length. The contained nature of the narrative allows Sottak to create a character study that doesn’t feel forced in any one direction. It’s part drama and part horror — audiences will likely care equally about both aspects.
Still, that “wow” reaction is absent. Because “Hallowarrior” doesn’t push boundaries, it’s likely that many will overlook it. Despite taking place in an apocalyptic environment, this isn’t a “new” story; it’s a home-invasion thriller similar to a number of recent releases, like “The Strangers – Chapter 3” and “Onslaught.” What makes this stand out is that it serves as a love letter to Halloween. The central character survives on a candy diet. Kills are carried out using pumpkin carving tools. Villains are dressed up in classic Halloween masks. Eventually, the film goes full “Home Alone” with booby traps and other home-defense hijinks, all while maintaining the Halloween theme. It checks almost every box for those who love the holiday.
“Hallowarrior” turns a spooky yet campy Halloween atmosphere into a bloody battleground. While the carnage is short-lived, the surprisingly heartfelt center makes up for it.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
