Bosque maldito

It is very difficult to not be drawn in into seeing 'The Hole in the Ground' with a premise this good, mixing horror, mystery and psychological with a sensitive subject. It also looked great from the advertising, may not have been completely sold on the somewhat simplistic and to me misleading title but the premise and advertising were more than enough to make me want to see it. As well as seeing that there were people that liked it.

Seeing 'The Hole in the Ground', am going to join those that felt that were underwhelmed by it and that it could have been so much better. There are good things and it is not as bad as some of the negative reviewers have said from personal view, but at the same time 'The Hole in the Ground' is not particularly good either and has major flaws that prevent it from reaching its full potential. As far as my opinion goes, it is one that is pretty much on the fence here.

Will start with the good things. 'The Hole in the Ground' is well made, it is beautifully and atmospherically shot with a moody but not drab colour pallette that matches the tone of the film well. Another big plus point is the music score, which is suitably haunting, adds a lot to the atmosphere and never works against it or overbear it.

The acting is better than average, with a credible lead performance from Seana Kerslake. James Quinn Markey also has the right amount of intensity in his role, not an easy one to pull off. James Cosmo is great value. Some of the film too is suitably creepy early on.

Unfortunately too much of 'The Hole in the Ground' lacks the necessary eeriness and intensity, burdened by a very lifeless pace and an increasingly thin and sometimes uneventful story that struggles to fit enough content into a standard feature length film. While my intelligence was never insulted, my attention did waver and the lack of surprises and suspense was a big problem, as was the real head-scratcher of an ending that could have done with more clarity.

Found that the film never really disturbed or got under the skin, exploring its sensitive subject in a way that goes overboard on the subtlety as that particular aspect of it never felt explored enough to make me properly care or be moved. The script has as much life as a damp squib and was in serious need of a tidying up, while the characters were too underdeveloped to make me properly root for them.

On the whole, am on the fence here. 5/10

Very atmospheric horror film with sharp, artistic editing. Decent overall acting. Creepy contortions, some jump scares.

Perhaps there is not much groundbreaking or unexpected, but not much glaring to criticize either. Except for some loose ends, some threads that intrigued but never went anywhere (the father? The other little boy?). And one climatic scene that was hard to see (literally in a pitch black cave) what was going on so i felt a bit lost, and the scene lasted a while.

While this horror film is fairly obvious and familiar, despite being in Ireland, I still found myself immersed and a bit creeped out. I wish the climax was stronger and pulled all the threads together. The ending subsequently lost impact but was not bad.

A basic, to the point horror. Not extraordinary and not bad by any means. Most importantly, entertaining.

I'm positively biased towards folk horror but this was overall a good movie. Could it have used a little more meat, a twist or two? Sure. But it was still successful in its own right. The acting was quite good, particularly by mom. It was also shot beautifully.

Overall not too too much to say, but an entertaining experience with this slightly above average folk horror. I would give this a 5.5-6... Would recommend.

There are good and bad things about The Hole In The Ground. The good things are the acting as all actors were very believable in their roles, the dark atmosphere due to an excellent soundtrack and good cinematography, and the necessary suspense and scary moments for a horror movie. The bad things would be the feeling that this story is just unfinished and the lack of explanation of what is really going on and let that be the major letdown of this movie. It could have been much better if the story wasn't that undevelopped and that's just a pity because it had potential.

Worth watching for the beautiful cinematography and music score . Brilliantly acted by the cast. It has it's creepy moments and kept me engaged throughout .