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The horror genre is one of the most executed by Irish directors in the past twenty years. It offers filmmakers a sought-after and well-known international style of cinema which, in its most creative forms, could actually enhance the use of limited resources which helps in understanding horror’s appeal to low-budget filmmakers. Hillwalkers is another of these cheap, low-budget films, written, directed, and produced by TU Dublin film lecturer Tom Cosgrove and staffed with students both current and alumni of the BA Media Arts program in the university. The film was made as a partial reaction to the recent lockdowns and is mostly shot outside in the Dublin mountains during awful weather conditions with the cast and crew having to be on location overnight for the remote mountain set. Though (or more accurately because of) its challenging, low-budget, nonprofessional origins that are largely its cast, this film accomplishes its intent. In convincing fashion, it provides a narrative about hillwalkers in the Dublin mountains who have the misfortune of crossing paths with a band of locals who are intent on murdering them.
It never short of captivating starts with the horrifying sight of a young woman dressed in red struggling to escape from faceless monsters in an abandoned wasteland.
As we meet the main characters, a set of delighted hillwalkers, consisting of two men and three women on a charity trek across the mountains, this sets the stage for the impending storyline. One of the women, Miriam, has just about completed her battle with cancer, serving as the motivation behind the walk. Don’t worry, she is now in remission. Plus, as the walk goes on, we come to find that Miriam wishes to begin trying for a child with her partner Ray. This is an ongoing subject of discussion amongst some of the group members, but, of course, it is rarely overt. Cosgrove is skilled in using dialogue sequences like this one to develop and differentiate characters that are deeply entrenched and easily categorized into the larger horror genre.
Ray hurts himself while taking a stroll and, while looking to get back to the car to seek medical assistance, there is no phone signal. In an attempt to return as quickly as possible, the group of walkers decide to take a shortcut through the woods, despite numerous warnings ‘No Trespassing’ signs displayed. Only one out of the group, Lisa ‘Elise Brennan’, who appears to be much more seasoned in walking, diverges from this route because she suspects that great danger lies ahead. Worryingly, there appears to be some degree of certainty as to what will happen when the remaining members of the group venture into the woods, and ultimately confront the woods’ apparent owners, local farming brothers Tadhg ‘Michael Cloke’ and Neil ‘Gerry O’Brien’, and their crazed nephew Steevy ‘Mark Agar’, who first try to help Ray and the rest of the group, but as always their darker biases come into play.
Despite the context around this argument, this is an impressive production. The film is far from perfect in these aspects, but fluid and more sophisticated cinematography by DOP Ruairi O hoisin visually tells the story much better with incredible drone shots of the Dublin Mountains, not to mention the action sequences that were so skilfully captured. Other than the observations above, the acting performances are more or less appealing as well, especially Mark Agar as the demented and leaky psychopath Steevy.
Hillwalkers achieves a startling feel, which is very likely to please the fanatics of horror since it stems from the harsh requirements of a world in lockdown and utterly succeeds in doing so. Hillwalkers works greatly by bringing out an unsettling experience that is informed by the worries of that time period.
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