Milly Shapiro, Shannyn Sossamon, Ajani Russell, and AJ Bowen star in the post-apocalyptic horror thriller The Hallowarrior
Production has wrapped on the post-apocalyptic horror thriller (with a Halloween twist) The Hallowarrior, and Variety has unveiled a first look image of the lead character played by Milly Shapiro, who genre fans may know from the 2018 horror film Hereditary and this year’s Peacock series Hysteria! (and I highly recommend that you check that show out if you haven’t watched it already.) That’s the image at the top of this article.
The feature debut of writer/director Ben Sottak, The Hallowarrior is based on Sottak’s proof of concept short film Scavenger. Shapiro is joined in the cast by Shannyn Sossamon (A Knight’s Tale), Ajani Russell (Betty), and AJ Bowen (You’re Next).
The story Sottak crafted for the film centers on Pumpkin (Shapiro), the last girl on earth and sole survivor of a humanity-ending plague, scavenging the wasteland for supplies on the eve of Halloween. Pumpkin’s lonely holiday ritual is interrupted by the arrival of a savage gang of raiders at her doorstep, led by the fearsome Thalia (Sossamon). Outnumbered and armed with candy, wit and weapons, Pumpkin must ferociously fight back to survive the night.
Sottak provided the following statement: “This is a throwback to the crowd-pleasing genre films I grew up watching every Halloween. The movie is dripping with nostalgic fall atmosphere, cheer-inducing kills and a lovable ‘final girl’ played by the brilliant Milly Shapiro. I can’t wait for this movie to enter horror fans’ annual October viewing rotation for years to come.“
Sottak is producing the film with Emmajane Hoffman, and this serves as the launch for their production company Strange Aeons. Gabriel Rosenstein of The Spitting Image is also producing, as are Danielle Benedictand Jake Casey of The Dazey Phase. Cinetic’s Alec Ring serves as an executive producer alongside Sossamon.
The Hallowarrior sounds like a good time to me, so I look forward to seeing how it turns out, with hopes that it will be something I’ll want to add to my annual October viewing rotation.
Are you interested in The Hallowarrior? Share your thoughts on this Milly Shapiro / Shannyn Sossamon horror thriller by leaving a comment below.