Director: Joe Dante
Starring: Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett & Nathan Gamble
A fun, family film that shows brings back scares into family films whilst also showing the horror films need not be targeted solely at adults or rely on gore to produce and effective shocker.
Joe Dante made his name throughout the late 70s, the 80s and the 90s for making both horror films like Piranha, The Howling and Gremlins and family friendly adventures like Inner Space and The Explorers all of which possessed a B-Movie sensibility, some even qualifying as B-Movies themselves. Having not made anything for cinemas since 2003’s Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Dante now returns to movies with The Hole, a horror film that is suitable for younger audiences but also possesses sufficient scares to appeal to adults without having to resort to the violence or gore that dominates most horror films. The result, released in cinemas in 3D, is an enjoyable and effective shocker that possesses many of the familiar and enjoyable Dante trademarks.
17 year old Dane (Massoglia) and his 10 year old brother Lucas (Gamble) have just moved to the quiet town of Bensonville with their mother, the latest in a string of moves. With little to do, the pair are introduced to Julie (Bennett) who lives next door who then discover a trapdoor in the basement of their new home. Opening it out of curiosity, they find the hole is seemingly bottomless and generates a feeling of unease and eeriness. When the three start finding themselves haunted by visions of a little girl, a sinister clown and more. The three realize the hole may lead to hell and whatever lies within is bringing their fears to life with their efforts to recover the hole fraught with failure. Can they reseal the whole and can they overcome their fears and stop the darkness that escaping it?
Joe Dante’s return to cinema with The Hole, shows he has not lost the skills for humour or scares that he demonstrated throughout the 1980s and 90s even if his last film, Looney Tunes: Back in Action was less well received in 2001. Toning down a horror film so that it is suitable for younger audiences as well as adults may seem a difficult task if not for Dante himself showing it quite possible in his earlier filmmaking career but doing so today seems fresh and daring when horror has mostly gone towards extreme violence and gore. The Hole is a very enjoyable film that derives it scares from spooky lighting and eerie looking figures placing the film into the horror sub-genre of chiller film. While the ghost of a little girl or a seemingly possessed clown doll may not be that original as sources of fear, they feel quite welcome and almost fresh here with both providing ample opportunity for scares with the latter even having moments of humour not unlike the type associated with the Gremlins that Dante introduced to audiences in the 1980s. The hole itself also oozes menace with the only real threat to the characters that struggles to generate as much scares being the shadowed figure that is the source of Dane’s fear even though Dane’s confrontation of this fear leads to an interesting finale with set design reminiscent of Tim Burton. The Hole is also released in cinemas in 3D, though the 3D adds little to the enjoyment of the film overall with the film standing up quite well without the need for it.
While The Hole features a few cameos from Dante regulars like Bruce Dern, as the house’s unstable former tenant, and Dick Miller in a brief but cute appearance, The Hole’s cast is mostly driven by it’s three young cast members. Nathan Gamble stands out the most as the youngest member of the trio, Lucas, getting most of the best lines and is the target of some of the film’s best scares and Gamble gives a likeable and nervous performance. Haley Bennett, probably better known in the US as a singer, is also likeable as Julie and gets to play a character that seems more capable of dealing with the fears confronting her than either of the boys. Chris Massoglia is fine as Dane though his character has the least interesting arc and least interesting lines but is fine nevertheless while actress Teri Polo is largely relegated to the role of concerned but absent mother to Dane and Lucas.
The Hole is an entertaining chiller that is certainly suitable for most ages and showing up many adult-focused horror films that have become over-reliant on violence to sell scares. The 3D might add little and the film isn’t as good as many of Dante’s most well known films but it’s certainly a worthy addition to Dante’s filmography.
Rating: 3/5
