Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Palaest recommended

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Danii Disaster Not perfect, but could've been much worse. I like Thora Birch and how she's always cast to play odd, eccentric (and, in this case, dark, twisted and sinister) characters. It suits her and she does it well. However, in this movie, her performance was weaker compared to other movies I've seen her in.A half-decent psychological thriller despite the fact that not a lot of people will probably be able to relate to any of the characters, which somewhat lowers the entertainment value. Plus the relatively implausible plot. These are probably the 2 main weaknesses of this movie.Nevertheless, I thought it wasn't a bad film, though they could've done a better job on building the suspense...

Ucare There is nothing special in this movie, but it is not a bad movie. It keeps you with the wish of seeing more and I was not bored. But I was not surprised. I think the direction failed. It could have made this film much more special. All the elements are there. The actors are OK. But something is missing. Anyway, not all films can be all 10/10. So, this film for me deserves to be seen, because after all is not so predictable, and as said is not, or was not for me, boring, and what I think can be strategically good is that this film can be watched by lot of different people with different tastes and sensibilities. Not, probably, by very sensible persons, but being not very very full of suspense and thrills and disgusting things (well, at least not so much), it has a relatively wide public to satisfy.

Leofwine_draca A fairly uninteresting British thriller. It starts off promisingly enough, throwing four teenagers into an eerie location and watching what happens. An unreliable narrator in the form of American BEAUTY's Thora Birch is added to the mix to keep the viewer feeling that what we see on screen may not be the actual truth. But the promising opening sequence which reveals a bloodied Birch emerging screaming from the titular pit turns out to be somewhat misleading, as the film is never as exciting or suspenseful as it should be.One of the problems lies in the uninteresting characters. Birch struggles with the complexity of her lead, but all too often she just seems whiny and a bit sullen. Desmond Harrington is a one-note bore, and Laurence Fox has little to work with after being saddled with a 'posh boy' persona. By contrast, a pre-stardom Keira Knightley is the 'posh girl', but watching her acting you can't really work out how she became a mega-star in just a few years. Seasoned performers like Embeth Davidtz and Steven Waddington are wasted.For much of the running time, we're left with scenes of the foursome fighting, drinking, shouting and generally being teenagers. There's little sense of menace and somehow the plight of the characters just doesn't ring that true; not once did I see them fully explore their surroundings to see if there was another escape route. The format of the film also doesn't work very well, with the cross-cutting of the detective scenes after the event failing to generate any suspense. Instead of wanting to find out what really happened, I just felt a bit bored. Of all the 'trapped in a room' type films of the last decade or so, THE HOLE, along with Exam, is one of the least interesting out there.

Tweekums As the film opens we see a bedraggled girl walking into a large school building; as she heads in we see posters asking people if they know there whereabouts of four school children. The girl is Liz and she tells the story of what happened since the four of them went missing… As the end of term approached a small group wanted to avoid going on the geography field trip to Wales and Liz's friend Martyn had an idea… he had the key to an old bomb shelter in the nearby wood; he would open it up for them and return in three days to let them out. When the three days were up he didn't return and as the days pass it becomes obvious that he isn't coming back to let them out; at first they think he might have had an accident then they start to believe that he had no intention of letting them out; he had feelings for Liz but she was only interested in Mike, the son of an American rock star. She goes on to say how they finally got out after ten days. There is a problem though; when the police arrest Martyn he claims to have had no idea they were down the hole… one of them is clearly lying; the question is; which one? It later becomes apparent that what happened in the hole was much worse than we had been told but that doesn't mean Liz was lying; she could just have been traumatised; before she can tell us the full truth she will have to return to the hole one last time.This is a gripping chiller with fine performances from the fairly young cast. Thora Birch does a fine job as protagonist Liz; portraying her as either an innocent victim or an obsessed psychopath depending on whose story we are seeing at the time. The other key cast members are Desmond Harrington who plays Mike; Daniel Brocklebank who plays Martyn and Kiera Knightly and Laurence Fox who play Frankie and Geoff the final two members of the group. The only major adult character is Dr. Philippa Horwood, the woman interviewing Liz, played by Embeth Davidtz. The way the story is told keeps us guessing as to who is to blame for the predicament; in fact we don't learn just how serious things are until quite a way into the proceedings. Director Nick Hamm did a fine job creating a claustrophobic feel and a constant sense of distrust. I'd certainly recommend watching this; in fact watch it more than once; things seem quite different at times when you know what really happened!