Movie Review: The Hole

2001/U.K.
Director: Nick Hamm

Starring: Thora Birch, Keira Knightley, Desmond Harrington, Daniel Brocklebank, Laurence Fox
IMDB | Article

Anticipation often makes an event better. The waiting for it, the imagination of how things will unfold, how they’ll feel, can often be as pleasurable as experiencing the thing we’re waiting for.

Unfortunately, sometimes the anticipation is the best part and the thing itself turns out to be a disappointment.

That was the case for me with the 2001 British horror/thriller The Hole.

The Hole, which tells the tale of four British high school students who go missing in an abandoned bomb shelter for 18 days only to have but one of them emerge alive, sounded thrilling and intriguing when I first heard about it, which was probably back in 2001, when it was released in Europe.

However, various issues ? not the least of which was current starlet, but then-unknown Keira Knightley baring her 16-year-old breasts (only for the briefest of flashes. Sorry lads), something I didn’t know about until last month; apparently publicity-conscious producers stateside were a bit ahead of me on this one ? held up a U.S. release of the movie until October.

So I’ve waited to see this movie, with its locked room mystery and promise of scary things, for about three years. And now, when it comes to sit down and write this review, I can’t really remember why I didn’t like the film, just that I didn’t like it. That’s not a good sign.

Of course, it’s an amusing bit of performative reviewing, since my temporary amnesia about the movie mirrors the poor recollection of Thora Birch’s sole survivor character, Liz.

The mystery and the unreliable narration in the film is interesting enough, but the plot, as I remember it, quickly descends into territory we’ve trod before and requires the characters to do some very dumb things in order for it to come off right. That’s never a good sign either.

Birch’s work in The Hole really is among her best ? right up there with American Beauty – at turns charming and chilling. Unfortunately, no one else does much to impress and we end up with another stock “pretty teenagers in peril? movie.

So much for anticipation, I suppose.

I’m holding onto hope, though, as this week I’m heading to Boston to see Brad (Session 9) Anderson’s new film, The Machinist, which I’ve also been waiting years to see.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Buy The Hole at Amazon.