Welcome one and all to part 27 of my weekly blog, The 52 In 52. The premise is simple, every week this year I watch a DVD or Blu Ray disc that has been gathering dust on my shelf and review it. Last week I reviewed the hilarious Fighting With My Family
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This week I will be talking about The Hole In The Ground. Written and directed by Lee Cronin the story follows young mother, Sarah (Seana Kerslake) as she and son, Chris (James Quinn Markey), being their new lives in a rather isolated house surrounded by forest. They stumble upon a massive hole in the forest floor that seems to hold some mystery. Over time things seem to become strange and Chris begins behaving strangely. Then it becomes a mind bending race against time for Sarah to solve the true mystery of what has really happened to her son and how is the hole linked.
I really enjoyed The Hole In The Ground. The story itself is told in a way that is great for pacing. There is little in the way of exposition and irrelevant plot and it simply tells the story of a young mother and her son. The story, at it's heart, is a tale of a mother struggling to cope with her new life and surroundings and it really made me root for Sarah throughout. I also loved the way the story doesn't really explain what the hole is or why it's even there and that is the risk that a lot of horror films take by giving long winded and often damaging over explanations of plot points. The third act of the film takes a strange turn with a slightly rushed finale but, a highly satisfying ending.
I loved the way in which the film was shot. There was a real absence of colour which really added to the isolation of the surroundings in which the film takes place. The forest around their house has a real fantastical feel and feel claustrophobic as it is dark and dimly lit. There is a really incredible sequence at the beginning of the film where the camera follows the car along the road and turns upside down which reminds me of the beginning sequence of The Shining and is clearly a call back to classic horror. I loved the fact that there were no real jump scares that are common in modern horror, instead the claustrophobic surroundings provided the scares.
The real driving force of the story is the characters. Seana Kerslake really develops as a character through out the film. She begins as a very emotional and unsure character who is clearly struggling but, by the end she develops a strength of character that makes her seem like a different character altogether. I often think that being a child actor in a horror film must be bizarre but, the children in horror films are usually just as good as their adult counterparts and in The Hole In The Ground this is no different. James Quinn Markey is menacing and genuinely disturbing at times.
The score throughout The Hole In The Ground is beautiful and does a great job at building the atmosphere throughout and is another call back to classic horror cinema with the string arrangement.
Overall The Hole In The Ground is a great example of creative story telling and a strong cast producing a great horror film. The story moves quick without feeling rushed and is not bogged down in exposition. The Hole In The Ground is a great modern take on a classic horror style.
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