The Hole

The Hole begins slowly and very standardly, but unlike most genre films, it picks up pace after 40 minutes then accelerates towards a smashing ending. Well okay, the ending itself wasn't a great surprise, but I found it satisfying in a B-grade kind of way.

The premise of Hole is pretty mundane. The idea of a group of teenagers going into an old abandoned building or structure for a lark is a stock standard story opener for hundreds of B-grade horror flicks. But then Hole becomes interesting by the re-telling of events from different characters' individual points of view in a manner reminiscent of the 1950 British gem ‘The Woman in Question'. Just who is telling the truth?

The final third of Hole rockets along and the film becomes genuinely frightening. I was especially impressed with the way repercussion of actions and in-actions are graphically shown and not glossed over as so many genre films have a habit of doing.

Hole is not a great film. The acting from the five teenagers is a cut above average, but the direction is pretty heavy handed and not very imaginative. Overall I found Hole a nicely satisfying and genuinely frightening B-grade experience which proves the old adage that says the worst monsters are human beings. It also shows that modern thriller/horror genre films doesn't always have to rely on lashings of special effects and supernaturalism to tell a story effectively.

6/10

I'D RATHER YOU DIDN'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY SEEN IT, JUST IN CASE I SPOIL IT FOR YOU!

When Liz staggers, tattered, shocked and disturbed in a blood stained coat through the halls of residence in an exclusive British boarding school in the opening scene of the film, which has thus far been intense and atmospheric, I begin thinking - "This is promising." But then, and I don't wish to be known as a pedant or anything, she stumbles up to a British telephone in her British boarding school and calls the British emergency services, saying, in a British falsetto...

"Nine... one... one."

WHAT?????????????

911? The most basic and fundamental of research errors, the number for the police, has been overlooked.

I know I am watching an American film. Ever since I first saw her in American Beauty (in which she managed to hold her own against Spacey and Boening beautifully. I have found a brilliant allure about her. I so wanted to like this film. And I did. I would have liked it more if it had been a little more culturally sensitive.

All American-Britons in the film had flawless British accents - but that's just it - a regional dialect here and a glottal stop there would have been far more believable.

The concept itself is brilliant - a tale of adolescent obsession and peer pressure leading to insanity and homicide. And there are moments in the film that are genuinely disturbing, for example when we see Liz beside her vomiting best friend, ignoring her totally, preferring to obsess about Mike - her teenage fantasy incarnate.

Technically, the film is superb, and fragmented fast shots of the bodies and effective lighting and mise-en-scene in the Hole itself are brilliant, but everything set in the present is fairly terrible, mostly due to dubious acting and underdeveloped script work. The contrived atmosphere of the first fifty minutes is representative of Liz's tale itself - false, and when we do see the account as it happened, it is shocking and tense (although the cheesy funeral scene is fairly diabolical).

The biggest problem around the film is the fact that the characters, even Liz, are underdeveloped and the script and issues (eg that of identity, ie belonging - "The be popular at (name of high school), you have to be either..." said by both Martin and Liz) are too. Her obession is a fantastic premise for a film and its context in the hole is excellent but then it is damaged by a throw away attitude to making decent psychological thrillers - in this case, the teen horror genre was too much of an influence (although the grissly death scenes were very effective).

An excellent idea, but seriously underdeveloped, especially when placed in a market with peers such as Cube, with a lower budget and totally unknown actors (I'm sorry, Thora, I'm sorry!!)which manages to be shocking, timeless and tense.

Watch it, it's good. But note that its potential was done poorly by using American actors to create a pseudo-Britain, and "American-England," and the sometimes unbelievable dialogue.

Liz stumbles towards her boarding school, bloodied and shaken up after being missing for several days. She tells the police psychologist of a party in a hidden bunker planned for her and three friends by her friend Martin. However when Martin doesn't return things turn nasty in the bunker. However when Martin is found by the police he tells a very different story. Slowly the true events are retold in flashback.

I saw the trailers for this and assumed it was another teen slasher – I didn't even know it was set in Britain until someone told me. I think the trailer is an example of a studio unsure of how to sell a product and just plumping for the lowest common denominator. However this film rises above that. Instead of being a slasher or a horror it is a thriller with a horror twist. This makes it better – it may not be as scary as you expect but it is a better story and is creepy rather than schlocky!

The cast are good despite being young. The weaknesses come in with the adult cast – especially the cops who have clearly watched too much Sweeney! However the teens are good and are more than the sort of fodder that is put in teen movies.

Overall this is not what you expect. But it is better than you'd think. The thriller story is gripping because you're not sure what happened in the bunker until the end and I had questions answered as I went. Not great but certainly better than another teen slasher movie.

I've been anticipating this film for a while since it is Thora Birch's first role since American Beauty. So, The Hole. The Hole has been hyped up as a horror/psychological film in which 4 students are locked down an old wartime bunker (-the- Hole) to avoid a boring Geography field trip. How does it fare?

The casting is probably the jewel of this film. It's superb. The absolutely stunning Keira Knightley (Sabé from Star Wars Episode I) appears as Liz's (Birch) friend, Frankie. All the rest of the characters are complete unknowns, except the psychologist played by Embeth Davidtz (Matilda, Bridget Jones, Schindler's List), but they all act their parts excellently.

This film really has the British 'feel' mastered. The sets are excellent, the locations are splendid, and the whole 'feel' of the movie is very realistic. The school really does feel like a British public school (A British 'public school' is like a 'private school' in the US.. one where you need rich parents to flash $$$ to get you in). The unnamed pupils seem extremely realistic.

There are only three small flaws with this film. The first is that it doesn't exactly live up to the hype in the British press. I did not find this scary at all, but it was an extremely well done mystery/whodunnit. Horror? Nah, not unless you classify psychological thrillers as 'horror'.

The second flaw is that the transitions between different parts of the film can be rather confusing. Often, the film bounds around past and present shots and be extremely disorienting in places. Unlike Memento, this disorientation is not an advantage. However, at the end of the film, you'll be able to tie all of the parts together and leave feeling quite satisfied with the story (a bit like the film 'Wild Things').

Another minor let down is the music. Totally forgettable, has no place in the film, and it often appears at the most inappropriate times.

I really do hope this is released in the USA soon, as Thora Birch is definitely not to be missed here.. and I think the stunning Keira Knightley is going to be getting some bigger roles from now on, she's definitely earned her stripes here. So, my big question, why has this not been scheduled for US release!?

This is certainly not a Blair Witch Project clone, although this impression has been given by the press. Instead, this is a cleverly constructed and extremely well casted psychological thriller/mystery.

I have never liked either of the two main actresses, and I'd never seen the dark haired actor "Mike as a young actor but I'd seen him in a few films as an adult, and liked his acting and he didn't disappoint in this film either.

The main actress, Birch is it, obviously is a great actor, from the young age, because I had disliked the character from the start.

Great acting by all, including the psychiatrist.

These kind of tales always frustrates me! I like the endings to be Done! Finished! Not leave you frustrated.