The Hole

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

Not the British one from 2000.

Well I do like me some Joe Dante. Finally he's back making films, and scary kiddie ones at that. Seems to be going after his glory days from the 80's with films like Gremlins, Piranha, The 'Burbs, Explorers and Innerspace. Here we have a hole in the basement that unleashes various fear based creepiness, little girls ghosts, scary clown dolls and the like. Once again the kid from The Mist is being traumatised by spooky creatures. At least He's good at it.

Well It'll scare the kiddies that's for sure, but even they might be bored by the climax. What I loved about Dante's films as a kid was their wicked sense of humour. That is lacking here. I'm fine with a generic horror plot, I don't care that much about originality just as long as it's done well. This was just... ok. Perhaps in a theatre and in 3d it works better but unfortunately it looks like we'll never have the opportunity to see that in Australia (unless you were at MIFF in 2009). It's a shame too because they actually went to the trouble of shooting in 3D, something I wish more filmmakers would take the time to do instead of that horrid post-conversion they are palming off as real 3D, like when they re-made his Piranha film (which I absolutely loved btw but did suffer from some post conversion oddities. At least it had the Humour).

Well I hope we'll be seeing more Joe Dante soon. But for now, if you are looking for a fantastic kids horror film about a scary hole in the ground, check this out immediately, it's a personal favourite.