3DFF REVIEW: THE HOLE

That was a great review! I wish this damn thing would get picked up. I would totally take my girlfriend and her son to this the weekend it comes out.

I just heard him in a BBC interview last week and I was thinking, "Man, I hope this is the Joe Dante I’ve been waiting to see again for almost twenty years."

And lo and be-fuckin-hold ...

You make me want to see Explorers again too, because I haven't seen that since I was 12, when I loved it.

EXPLORERS was one of my favs as a kid. THE HOLE would've been too.

I really hope THE HOLE can get a proper release in the US (and elsewhere). It won't be a hit, but it'll become a cult hit down the road with the generation of kids who might see it now, much like most of Dante's 80's work.

Definitely elsewhere. Elsehere even. I'd love to see it, and drag my neice and nephew along.

In fact, now that you mention it, I should get them in front of Explorers and Inner Space ASAP.

So the bad WOM was BS? Good to hear. I want this in the theater.

I guess it just depends who you talk to. I can easily see some people (grown ups) being underwhelmed by the film, but I don't see how anyone could call it "bad" or "not good." Devin compared the movie to a feature length episode of AMAZING STORIES. Which is apt. Dramatically the film is slight. But there's a ton of great and creative stuff in the film. And it's never not fun.

Personally I haven't heard/read much negative WOM (or any WOM for that matter). I wonder if people with negative reactions just aren't Dante fans or if they were simply asking for the moon.

Didn't any of our British Chewers see this thing when it hit the UK?

Man this film is a lot of fun, surprised how few people seem to have actually seen it. It's certainly not perfect, but it's got a great tone. Reminds me a lot of Coraline in that it's obviously meant for kids, but it's not willing to pull punches either. I think that lack of pulling punches might hurt the film though, in my mind this is a perfect kid/teen horror movie but over here at least it's got a 15 rating which seems to exclude it's major audience.

 

It definitely feels like mid-level Dante, I'd rate it similar to the 'Burbs, and looks kind of cheap at times but it's so effective at what it does that I can't help but like it.

I think THE HOLE helps illustrate what was so extra disappointing about THE WARD. No rational person should be walking into either THE HOLE or THE WARD expecting to find these guys still performing at the height of their game, but THE HOLE truly feels like a classic Dante film. A lesser work, but snugly at home with his signature body of work. THE WARD doesn't feel like a lesser work from Carpenter, because it simply doesn't feel like Carpenter at all.

 

I don't get why THE HOLE is having such trouble reaching the world. It's a fun film and it has excellent 3D.

I think the film landscape has kind of changed too much for this kind of film to work. It's ostensibly a kids movie, but I think a lot of parents would have real reservations about their kids watching it. Also without 3D the film looks kind of flat and TVish, which doesn't help. I think it's a film that probably needs to be 'discovered' on late night TV or something, rather than actively sought out at the cinema. It's got a great, unassuming, style which I think makes it kind of a hard sell.