Recensioni degli utenti

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

Movies involving evil or mean children often manage to creep us out the most for some reason. The Hole in the Ground is no exception. It's a small Irish production with only a few characters, but it manages to pull off a very chilling atmosphere of dread, after a mother and her son moves into their new house in a deserted area on the edge of a large dense forest. The movie really manages to make you feel their sense of loneliness as the mother stumbles upon a mysterious huge hole in the middle of the forest behind their house. Her boy begins to acts strange after he runs away one night in the forest, and she starts questioning his identity and also, her sanity. The actress playing the mother is very good at displaying her mixed emotions and the boy really conveys a feeling of unpleasantness. This coupled with the creepy atmosphere really pulls you in. It's more of a drama-psychological horror and not everyone will appreciate the slow and subtle tone of the movie, but if you enjoyed smart horror like Under the Shadow and Goodnight Mommy, then I think you will like this. It's not quite as good and it unfortunately lacks a little bit of explanation at the end, but sometimes I think it's okay for movie to leave a bit up to the viewers to figure out by themselves. I just wish it ran maybe 10 minutes longer to better develop the events leading to the conclusion.

The first thing I noticed about the film was the cinematography. The picture was dark and grim, which contributed to the movies thrill factor. With all of that and the above average acting, it payed out the films setting in the countryside quite well.

I expected a creature feature or paranormal film experience, instead I got a non-cliche story. This impressed me and made it easier to indulge into the story.

Without spoiling the film, the plot is that a mother suspects that her son was traded in with an identical imposter of some type. Let's just say the entity in this film is a doppelgänger of sorts. To my surprise the movie had nothing to do with the sinkhole at all, but what came out of it.

Some of the story does have holes and lacks a lot of background. Despite this it wasn't that terrible of a film at all. It was actually a lot better than I had expected and landed midrange on my scale at a 6/10.

The first hour of this film is creepy, well photographed, and reasonably subtle, if quite predictable if you've seen this sort of movie before. Despite the predictability it has the former assets.

Unfortunately, 1 hour and 4 minutes in, the scriptwriter abandons these assets. He could have gone in one of two directions. One would have maintained the creepiness and perhaps done something more clever, the other, which he chose, is an in-your-face pedestrian affair. I don't want to drop any spoilers so I won't mention what movie they essentially adopt for the climactic moments, but if you've seen a lot of horror movies you will recognize it instantly.

I have to mention another pet peeve. Among its other deficiencies, Hole in the Ground employs a tired old horror trope which, along with the jump-scare, should be banned from movies from here to the end of time. It's those moments where something creepy or horrifying is happening and, oh never mind, it was just a nightmare and we find the protagonist waking up in bed. Why screenwriters continue to think that this tactic is clever or effective is beyond me. It's a tired cliche and simply bad writing.

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 .

A creepy little Irish horror movie this one was. If you like the A24 horror movies, especially the one 'It Comes at Night', it's safe to say you will enjoy 'The Hole in the Ground'. Good performances and very well done acting by the young man who plays the son. The movie definitely manages to create a nice eerie atmosphere to go with the setting and there are a few scenes in this that gave me a good fright. Try and seek this one out and watch it if you are in the mood for suspenseful slow burn horror. 7.5/10

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.

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.

I saw this film yesterday at Sundance. I went in knowing only that it was supposed to be a psychological thriller/horror film. In my opinion it is marginally at best both.

While there are some genuinely shocking moments and strange events they seem done completely to bulk up the long drawn out scenes where not much is happening.

My biggest complaint is there are numerous questions unanswered about how, who, why and what happened. Characters seem to teleport and others are of importance and never explained or seen again.

I'm not going to give any spoilers but to me it was a plodding movie with a quick wrap it all up ending that's not satisfactory at all.

I usually love these types of movies but I found this was way too slow and didn't keep my interest, Too many unexplained things and pointless scenes. too bad

3.3

Fairly disturbing film by Lee Cronin, wanted to see this before Evil Dead Rises releases soon. The Hole in the Ground feels weird, beautiful shots, and perfectly thrilling! I think the ones that didn't like it were restless and wanted something different in my opinion it's a dark charming experience. Lee Cronin hasn't done much but he's brilliant at his vision that's for sure! I love the main actress she has great looks to her and carries the bizarre events quite well. Hmm what else there's some mystery vibes I sense that might've been a drastic reason for the hate I'd like to think it fits very well, I love movies with some madness.

There's nothing really wrong with this movie, fine performances from the cast, soundtrack ok and some nice cinematography. The problem for me was I got bored,adding up the best moments amounted to about 15 minutes of movie and them moments are really good some real cool imagery, I normally enjoy slow Burners but in this case I was just bored.Shame.

So emotional and so beautifully made. I really loved every second of it. It makes you wonder... The music was very well chosen as are the actors. You can see, almost feel what effort was made to make this movie. Hope to see more like this in the future.

I very much looked forward to this based on ratings I had seen. I fell asleep the 1st time I tried. So I tried again thinking I was just too tired. I tried again. Nope, this movie is just BORING. Idk who gave it the ratings, and all the awards it was up for, nor WHY? Imo, one of the MOST boring movies I have EVER seen!

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.

When A24 releases a new horror film, I take notice. It's no secret that the young studio has taken the world of cinema by storm over the past few years, steadily building a library of vital, creative, and challenging films. They have effectively positioned themselves as the standard-bearers for art house in the mainstream, granting wide exposure to auteur filmmakers who would otherwise have serious difficulty finding distribution for their work in the current climate.

A24's contribution to modern horror has been particularly noteworthy. For my money, they've released all three of the decade's best horror films: Under the Skin, The Witch, and Hereditary, all three masterpieces, the latter two directorial debuts. The studio has a clear passion for intelligent, substantive horror that avoids the cheap and shallow scares routinely delivered by the major studios.

The Hole in the Ground, too, is a directorial debut. But unlike the aforementioned films, it feels like one. That's not necessarily to its detriment, as the film has that infectious creative energy of a first-timer experimenting with his/her craft. It also certainly carries some of A24's hallmarks as a small, independent, character-focused work with striking visuals, touches of surrealism, and an art-house sensibility.

The problem is the film feels underdeveloped. Although it uses the cinematic language of the art house, it delivers something far more in line with what you'd expect from the mainstream arena: a series of scare setpieces (some of which are admittedly quite effective) strung together upon a premise that serves as nothing more than a foundation on which to build those scares.

The setup is fairly promising: a mother flees an ambiguously troubled past with her young son, settling in a new town and hoping for a fresh start. Things grow sinister as she discovers an ominous sinkhole in the woods adjacent to her new home which seems somehow to have influenced her son's behavior.

It's a premise rife with symbolic potential. There are allusions to domestic violence, touches of mental illness, and perhaps a subtle suggestion as to how a battered woman's view of her son may blur with her image of his father, her abuser. But that's just it - allusions, touches, and suggestions. These themes are set up, hinted at, but never truly explored nor enriched.

Take Thomasin of The Witch and Annie of Hereditary, both full-bodied protagonists with excellent arcs, supported by films that fully flesh out the underlying themes of their respective stories. Sarah, on the other hand, feels like a blank slate for much of the film - a vessel utilized to deliver scares to the audience rather than a true character. And rather than developing the ideas and symbolic potential of the setup, the film opts instead to spend its time doling out relatively routine and surface-level scare tropes.

Despite my misgivings, the film managed to be mildly enjoyable simply on the strength of its setup, visuals, and few effectively unsettling moments. Though it doesn't reach even close to the heights of the studio's best horror offerings, it has enough merit to justify a viewing from the avid fan looking for a creepy 90-minute diversion. Just calibrate your expectations accordingly.

Weak 3/5