HALL tells the story of a debilitating and mysterious illness that befalls the guests at the third floor of a hotel, several of whom end up fighting for their lives in the hallway (hence the title).
The movie focuses on the fates of two women, each of whom attempts to escape from danger in their lives, only to be confronted with a much greater one. It is better no to know what the cause of the disease is, for that will permit one to enjoy the mystery aspect of this film.
One thing I liked about this film is that even before we see the first shot, it conveys an atmosphere of dread which rarely lets up except when it flashes back to quieter moments via non-linear story telling.
The cinematography and make-up effects are quite good, and so is the acting. This could have been a first-rate horror film if it were not for three frustrating aspects:
First, the actions of several of the characters make little sense.
An infected woman crawls desperately towards...well, what she tries to reach is never made clear, but she even leaves a phone behind which she could have used to call for help.
After finding out about the illness, a mother seems oddly unconcerned with immediately finding her daughter whom she just sent ahead to escape with from an abusive husband.
The husband, in turn, implausibly appears in the hotel basement shortly thereafter.
These nonsensical actions are particularly frustrating because the story is, apart from these missteps, original and intelligent.
The second frustrating aspect that brings the movie down is the glacial pace, made more apparent by repetitive scenes of crawling and veeery slow limping. All the characters, even the healthy ones, are curiously low in energy. There are scenes where one wants to shake the main protagonist out of her torpor.
Finally, the film ends on a note that feels incomplete, despite the fact that it has a proper conclusion. It may be that the story did not focus on enough characters, that it does not really explain the motivations of the villain or that the story arc feels like it ends prematurely. Whatever it is, the ending feels unsatisfying.
Despite these flaws, the movie is underrated. I can imagine that the frustrations that viewers may experience from the above aspects contributed to its very low ratings.
If you like moody slow horror mysteries with an unusual story and don't mind baffling character behavior, you may still like what this has to offer.