The Hole (DVD)

Advantages: Full of suspense, good performance by Birch
Disadvantages: Didn't quite deliver...

...Unfortunately, she isn't one of the popular students, so she devises a plan with friend Martyn, to get Mike to herself. Martyn arranges for Liz, Mike, and trendy students, Geoff and Frankie, to spend three days in an underground bomb shelter. The four enjoy their time below ground, until it comes to the day they are supposed to be returning to school and it transpires that Martyn is not coming back to let them out. A few days later, Liz manages to ...
...who plays Frankie, is probably the best known actress in this film, it is Thora Birch as Liz who gives the best performance. I found it immediately easy to identify with her; she is not one of the most popular students in school and finds it hard to get noticed. However, she is determined that, somehow, Mike will note her existence, and is, perhaps naively, sure that she will manage to win him over. At the same time, I was always aware that there ... Read review

Advantages: Good scenes down the bunker - quite tense
Disadvantages: Not scary, a bit of ropy acting

The Hole is a British horror / thriller from 2001, starring Thora Birch (American Beauty, Ghost World) and Keira Knightley before she got famous and started pouting. It tells the tale of four friends who decide to bunk off a field trip from their posh boarding school, and instead spend the weekend buried underground in a secret bunker. Why they would want to do that is anybody's guess; it must have been one particularly boring field trip. These ...
...goes badly wrong… Anyway, the film is told with flashbacks between this fateful weekend and the present, in which a police investigation is being carried out into the deaths of three of the four students. Only Liz survived the ordeal, and she is being interviewed by one of the psychologists/investigators (Embeth Davidtz - Miss Honey from Matilda). At first, the main suspect is another friend, Martyn (played by Daniel Brocklebank - now in Emmerdale), ... Read review

Advantages: Great plot. Believable.
Disadvantages: Graphically gruesome in places.

...been likened by some to the Blair Witch project. Do not be fooled by such reviews. This is the complete opposite – starting with the fact that this is actually VERY GOOD. The other main difference is that this is based on a believable tale (no belief in the supernatural required!). There is a very good plot with more twists and turns than the current Levi’s advert. And what’s more for the first time in a long time I could not predict ...
...providing some interesting insights into the human mind (ok, so a very messed up human mind but still human). It is pretty gruesome and graphically so, so it’s not one for the faint hearted. However I think it is wrong to dub it as a horror movie as it does not fit into many of the stereotypes this conjures up. It is far more horrific than actual horror. So what is it about? Well I can not tell you much about the plot without giving things ... Read review

Advantages: Good story
Disadvantages: Bit weird

...Crazy. Anyway, back to the opinion. In brief, The Hole is about these four (somewhat stupid) English (but one American) teens who set up camp in this large underground hide-out. Martin, the mastermind who locked them in the bunker and made sure their parents and the school didn't find out about it and left them there. On the day he's supposed to let them out, he doesn't and they're locked in. They find things fun to start with - all that alcohol ...
...the water and electricity go off... Scary! The best thing (or at least my favourite thing) about this film is that you don't find out the whole (somewhat disturbing) truth until the very end and the whole thing is VERY chilling! The cast isn't huge but each and every cast member performs very well. Thora Birch who plays Liz is the most interesting character. It's her scheme (along with best friend Martin) that gets the others in The Hole. She has ... Read review

Advantages: Original fast-paced intelligent thriller
Disadvantages: Cockroaches

...you in to spectate as the chilling, dark story characterised by its never-ending suspense of unexpected twists and turns unfolds,and you are invited to watch as the four characters' personality traits unfold delivering some suprising and unappetising scenes, it is tainted with foreboding and a sense of pure evil unwrapping before your very eyes.. For me the film reminded me both of 'Shallow Grave' (the character portrayls, black humour and unexpected ...
...bunker, it is here that the nightmare begins and the laughter stops. Opening scene depicts Thora Birch (Liz)bloody and straggled she collapses inside the school hallway after calling the emergency line.We then listen to her account of the fouteen days she spent underground as told to her appointed police psychologist. The events within the bunker walls are not 'jump-out-of-your-skin frightening' but successfully chill and forebode with their frightening ... Read review

Advantages: Outstanding, jaw-dropping visual effects, majestic score, great production
Disadvantages: Acting, writing, story, direction...everything underneath

...****************************************************************** TITLE: Black Hole, The RATING: ***½ CAST: Maximillian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine, Tommy McLoughlin, Gary Nelson; unbilled voices of Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens. DIRECTOR: Gary Nelson SCREENWRITERS: Jeb Rosenbrook & Gerry Day; Jeb Rosenbrook, Bob Barbash, & Richard Landau (story) STUDIO: Walt Disney Studios / Buena Vista Distribution RUNNING TIME: 98 min. RATED: PG (US & UK); for sci-fi violence. DVD AVAILABILITY: 5 GBP from Amazon; ASIN# B000094P3Q ****************************************************************** INTRODUCTION ****************************************************************** In 2005, author Stephen Hawking proved---mathematically, at least... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: great family film and cool sploosh
Disadvantages: none

...inside he finds zero drinking what he calls "sploosh". Zero explains how he got there and what sploosh is before stanley tells him about the legend about kissin' kate and hoew his granfather found refuge on top of gods thumb. They no they can't turn back there only choice is to head towards "gods thumb" After a long climb they reach to there amazement gods thumb with onions,water and grass. Over a few days they gather supplies and reszt ready for there journey back at night to try dig up kissin kates' treasure. I will tell no more because the ending is amazing and i would not like to ruin it. STARRING: shia beouf as stanley yelnuts patrica arquette as little nicky henry winkler as the waterboy And many others EXTRAS This dvd is full of extras such as the boys of d-tent, digging the first hole, deleted scenes, gag... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A wonderful story blessed with a clever script, inventive direction and a great cast.
Disadvantages: The rap over the end credits.

...Peaches and onions may not seem like the perfect combination; but then neither does a film about a work camp for juvenile delinquents, a tale of star-crossed lovers, a western, a fairy tale and a hunt for buried treasure. In the context of holes however both are magic. I have rarely seen a film cross genres so effectively and the result is a masterpiece whatever your age. Stanley Yelnats (write it backwards) (played by Shia LaBeouf) has a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. His grandfather would have him believe it’s all the fault of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather whose actions left the males in the family cursed forever and eternity; but Stanley doesn’t believe in curses. That is until a pair of trainers fall from the sky and spark a chain of events that lead Stanley to wind up... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful