Who'd have thought university would be so time-consuming!
Who'd have thought university would be so time-consuming!
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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 kids, Liz (Birch), Frankie (Knightley), Mike (Desmond Harrington) and Geoff (Laurence Fox) are just looking for a good time, but something 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), but it soon becomes clear that Liz's mind is not all there, and the true events reveal themselves as her memory begins to come back. She may not be telling the truth, the whole truth, or even anything truthful at all…
Let's get straight to the point: I wasn't particularly blown away by The Hole. It had some things going for it: the main concept was intriguing; I mean who wouldn't be scared of getting trapped underground for days on end, with dwindling supplies of food and water? These gloomy scenes really did create a feeling of claustrophobia, and the increasing paranoia and fear of the students came across well. Considering it's classed as a horror, and that it's an 18, there weren't any particularly shocking or scary moments (well, there was one gory scene, but this was just a bit of the old ultra violence); but it was generally a bit creepy.
The structure of the film was also interesting and helped keep the audience guessing. It spends almost equal screen time on the bunker flashbacks and the police enquiry, so if you're expecting a full-on horror fest, you may be disappointed. The present day scenes were much more like a TV police drama, and really diffused any tension or creepiness that was building up from the flashbacks.
However, therein lies the problem with The Hole: I didn't think the investigation scenes were very good at all. Like I said, they were like some cheap TV programme, and had acting to match. Embeth Davidtz was really wooden as the main investigator, she didn't grab your attention or convince at all. Thora Birch didn't fare much better either; her cool persona was just plain boring, and she was much more interesting in the bunker scenes, when she was going a little bit psycho. Plus she's American; her character is English; "go figure".
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that the film would probably have been better in terms of pure enjoyment if it solely showed the situation in the bunker for the whole time, but then again the jigsaw-style narrative was also interesting, and this couldn't have been used if it was all focused on the bunker. They just couldn't work together in the same film.
The acting from everyone is pretty average; not terrible, but no Oscars here I'm afraid. It's interesting to see Keira Knightley before she started bending it like Beckham and fighting sea monsters (plus you see a bit more of her than you might be expecting!) and she does her usual feisty, posh-accented tomboy act quite well. Plus her character's full name is Frances Almond Smith - how funny! The two guys that get stuck down there are pretty forgettable: one posh English blonde guy, one typical American guy, and the characters don't go much beyond that.
Overall, The Hole is quite interesting, but instantly forgettable. It's not particularly scary for a horror movie; the 18 rating is more for language and nudity than anything else, and it's all a bit bland. Even the twisted conclusion, which reveals the extent of Liz's psychosis, isn't particularly shocking. Still, if you're a huge fan of gloomy British thrillers (who isn't?) then you might like The Hole. _____________________________________________
You can buy The Hole for:
£5.99 from www.play.com £5.97 from www.amazon.co.uk (plus postage) or you can pick it up quite cheaply on the high street.
Directed By: Nick Hamm (he also made the supposedly awful "Godsend"... and not much since... hmmm...)
Starring:
Thora Birch … Liz Dunn Keira Knightley … Frances Almond Smith Desmond Harrington … Mike Steel Laurence Fox ... Geoff Bingham Daniel Brocklebank ... Martyn Taylor Embeth Davidtz ... Dr. Philippa Horwood
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
I'd always been toying over the idea of whether or not to watch this, but you've made my mind up for me! It does actually sound just plain boring, clichéd and I think watching Keira Knightley would just make me dislike her even more. It's quite funny how you degrade the actors with little tongue in cheek comments like "he's now in Emmerdale". Says it all about the talent really ... not that I'm biased against soap actors :p
bisonhead 25.10.2006 23:44
I've been away from the site for a while and i see your reviews are as great as ever, If I remember rightly Kiera was 15 when she was in this film.
lipsalve 17.10.2006 21:46
Hmm, I think I'd rather go and visit Wookey Hole!! Jo x
Despite copious swearing and a corporate rock soundtrack,The Holemight, more ... more
appropriately, have begun with a title sequence of silhouettes cavorting in front of a fiery backdrop; it owes far more toTales of the Unexpectedthan the slick US teen movies ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Despite copious swearing and a corporate rock soundtrack,The Holemight, more ... more
appropriately, have begun with a title sequence of silhouettes cavorting in front of a fiery backdrop; it owes far more toTales of the Unexpectedthan the slick US teen movies ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Liz (Thora Birch, American Beauty) staggers toward her exclusive school, bloodied and ... more
deeply traumatised. Whilst a Police psychologist is trying to figure out what happened to her she uncovers this chilling and twisted tale.Three rebellious friends, Mi...
Liz (Thora Birch) staggers towards her exclusive school bloodied and deeply traumatised. ... more
Whilst a police psychologist is trying to figure out what happened to her she reveals this twisted and chilling tale. Three rebellious friends Mike Geoff and ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Truly gets under your skin, disturbing, genuinely intriguing and exciting. Disadvantages: Some hammy acting, desires true concentration, truly awful British accents {except Thora Birch wo does very well}
DanClegg 06.05.2001 (08.05.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Hole (DVD)
![The Hole [DVD] [2001]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78539912.jpg "The Hole [DVD] [2001]")
Oct 8th, 2006
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