The Hole

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.

The Hole isn't that bad a film, its just that it lacks the components which a good thriller/suspence/mystery should have.

The Hole, starring Thora Birch, is a suspence/mystery and is about a group of high-school teenagers who become stuck in an old, World War 2 tunnel, called 'the hole'. The group of four decide to camp down in the hole for a few days to wag a school geography camp and have a good time. However, all goes wrong and the four become stuck in the hole for 18 days, deprived of air, food and water.

The suspence lies in not knowing exactly how they became stuck in the hole and who's to blame for their dire situation. The plot structure is based around Lizzy's escape, while she continues to have flashbacks of the event itself. However, different flashbacks occur at different stages of the film, which leaves the viewer never really knowing the exact truth until the end.

If you've watched your fare share of suspence type mystery thrillers, then you should be able to sum this movie up pretty quickly and be able to guess basically what's going on. The plot and plot structure arn't terribly original and I never really found myself becomming attached or captivated by what was going on. The film lacks character development and you never really become attached to the characters to the point were you intensely care what's happening to them. Thora Birch's performance is dissapointing and not terribly convincing. She's good, but no where near her brilliance when you compare this performance to her roles in American Beauty and Ghost World.

The Hole is overall dissapointing and never really draws you in like a good mystery thriller will. I give it 6/10.

Truly, fresh and new ideas, rarely make it to film. The Hole, based on the novel (after the Hole) by Guy Burt is a good exception to this. It is seldom that we see a top quality thriller, but this movie is well cast, well directed, and works wonderfully. The story is quite simple really, it relies on strong characterisation and good dialogue. All the cast give good performances and Thora Birch is outstanding. This thriller really does keep you on the edge of your seat throughout; it is very dark, very creepy and has a terrifying atmosphere. I would recommend this film to anyone who likes a good thriller. It isn't in the same league as Se7en and Silence of the Lambs, but it is better than most thrillers that are released.

8/10 A great film.

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