Movie Review: The Hole (2009)
Synopsis: After moving to Oregon with their mother, two brothers discover a seemingly bottomless hole hidden under a trap door in the basement of their new home. Soon after, their deepest fears begin manifesting themselves and putting their lives in danger.
Who's in it? Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble, Bruce Dern and Teri Polo star in the movie.
Review: I ended up watching The Hole the other day, mostly because of a mix of boredom and not finding anything else. I vaguely remembered watching this movie in the past but not enough to know if it was a film I had enjoyed. I still don't remember my opinion from the first time I saw it but my opinion today is a good one.
There were a couple things I really liked about this movie. The first was, unlike so many other horror films, there wasn't an unneeded an emphasis on blood and gore and did not throw in any gratuitous nude scenes (unless you count Bennett wearing a bikini when swimming). Instead, the movie focused on being scary.
Even more important is the fact that the film was successful when it came to that scary category. I wouldn't classify it as the scariest film I've ever seen; it didn't give me nightmares or anything like that. However, it did manage to have quite a few creepy moments involving everything from a mysterious (and obviously dead) little girl to a murderous jester doll.
I especially loved how these things continued to torment their intended victims even when they weren't in the house. This made things much more interesting because it wasn't as though they could escape simply by going outside or spending the night at a hotel.
There is also quite a bit of mystery surrounding what Dane (Massoglia), Lucas (Gamble) and Julie (Bennett) are seeing. At first, it seemed like the hole was just focusing on the things they were scared of, such as clowns. However, some of the stuff they see, like the ghost girl or the cop who is missing half his head, seem to point to a bigger story.
I did think once the kids figured out the hole's secret; the bad guys were a little too easy to beat. I am, however, willing to give the writers a little bit of a pass when it comes to that because they didn't fully reveal that secret until toward the end of the movie. I can appreciate a film that saves the big surprises for the end rather than letting the cat out of the bag way too soon.
Final Opinion: This movie doesn't sound overly interesting from the title and description. However, while not perfect, the film is reasonably decent. At minimum, it is a film I would recommend ahead of plenty of other horror movies.
My Grade: B
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