XYZ Films has locked in a U.S. theatrical release this fall for Babak Anvari’s road-set thriller Hallow Road, fresh off its buzzy South by Southwest premiere. The feature reunites the British-Iranian filmmaker, known for Under the Shadow and Wounds, with a claustrophobic setting—this time the interior of a family SUV—and casts Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys as parents racing toward their teenage daughter after a fatal late-night collision.
William Gillies’ debut screenplay unfolds in real time, keeping the running time to about 40 frenetic minutes, and the picture is produced by Two & Two Pictures, London Film & TV and Hail Mary Pictures with financing from Screen Ireland and distributor-financier XYZ.
Principal photography began in Ireland’s County Wicklow in November 2023 before relocating to Prague in early December, taking advantage of both Section 481 and the Czech Republic’s production rebate. Pike, who has been based in Prague while leading Amazon’s The Wheel of Time, told local outlets she relished working “ten minutes from home,” easing the strain of nocturnal shoots required for the story’s single-night timeline.
Anvari described the film to Starburst as “a fairy-tale nightmare unfolding in real time,” and early viewers agreed: SXSW audiences first experienced the tense ride on 7 March at Austin’s ZACH Theatre, with two further Midnighter screenings selling out in minutes.
Critics have highlighted Pike’s measured panic and Anvari’s sharp genre pivot—The Times labelled the film “cinema’s tensest car ride,” while horror outlet Dread Central called it the “feel-bad movie of the year.” Supporting the leads is Megan McDonnell as their distressed daughter, her frantic phone calls driving the action. XYZ now plans a nationwide rollout in October, banking on festival buzz, Pike’s Oscar-nominated profile and the perennial appetite for fall thrillers to propel the modestly budgeted project into the mainstream.
