Review: The Hole 3D
The Hole 3D 15A out now!
With, Haley Bennett, Chris Massoglia, Nathan Gamble and Bruce Dern (just about). Who? You say. It doesn’t matter.
Director Joe Dante has been quietly beavering away since Piranha in 1978 with The Howling, Explorers, Innerspace among others and various episodes of popular series’ like Masters of Horror and CSI: NY to his credit, he’s even appeared with bit parts in most of these. But he’s probably best known for the zany comic horror Gremlins which prompted reform in the Motion picture association of America’s rating system due to some of it’s more violent sequences.
The Hole 3D is a return to a more basic story, a young family fleeing their abusive father, settle in a small town to live happily ever after, alas it’s not to be as they have the misfortune to rent the only house in the village with a gateway to unspeakable horror in the basement, bummer. They should of course leave the heavily bolted trapdoor in the basement alone but where’s the fun in that? Steadily developing terror ensues, they even involve the cute girl neighbour who has nothing to do with it, or doesn’t she? which makes their little band complete. After a few events which convince them they’re not imagining things they head off to quiz “Creepy Karl” the previous tenant and hole expert who lives in the old abandoned glove factory. The role fits Bruce Dern well if a little too briefly, “You didn’t open it did you? You shouldn’t have done that.” A bit late Carl!
Our heroes each have their own demons to deal with and do so to within inches of their lives and their mother’s nose. The young man has a cathartic encounter, which heralds his transition to manhood, maybe. I don’t think reviews should spoil films so I won’t.
Having suspended disbelief and common sense I found the movie entertaining and jumpy with an underlying horror which I relished, the story is like a Stephen King yarn with “the darkness” or some such insufficiently explained evil force menacing the poor lads and lass, but unlike most productions of King stories this actually works. America suffers a bit from it’s youth, they have to make up evil from the distant past and they do it differently, Dante has a good understanding of childhood fears and wriggles a screwdriver under the fingernails of those fears to good effect. The special effects are good, the 3D giving a sinister depth to the manifestations. The dreamlike otherside reminded me a lot of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. I’m a bit odd in that I remember black and white films in colour and now I’ve started remembering everything in 3D too so as I can’t tell the difference, it’s like going to HD from analogue you only notice if you have to go back. Would this work without the 3D? probably , some people get more from 3D than others, it is in my opinion greatly enhanced by the effect.
Don’t expect to be terrified or bawling your eyes out but there’re no lulls and even some laughs, an entertaining hour and a half. Well worth the tenner. But if it wasn’t for some of the scarier scenes the rating would be 12.
How are they rating nowadays? Five stars is it? Well I’d give it four (if I was younger) but a solid three and a half and maybe a bit more.
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