Monsters (TV Series) The Hole (1990) User Reviews

Dragged down into the grave...

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 8/10 · 1 March 2015]

I am quite inclined to wholeheartedly agree that this is one of the best, most scariest episodes of the fun but uneven series that was Monsters. It is what it is, the story and set-up are simple and to the point but highly effective, a group of American soldiers fighting in Vietnam enter a death trap excavated out of a grave site by the enemy and find themselves prey for something that their bullets can't kill, and entombed within a maze that they can never hope to escape from alive... They are picked off one by one by terrors from beyond the grave, and all you ever learn about why is when an injured soldier reveals that, in their efforts to dig out a fortress to trap and confuse their enemy, the VietCong, dug their tunnels too deep and awakened something evil and angry at being disturbed from its grave... I love the authentic feel and claustrophobic tone that comes from the oppressive atmosphere and visuals of the environment, which mostly just consists of underground tunnels of earth, dust roots and amber lighting. But like most of the time with horror the less is more approach really works fantastically and creates a genuinely eerie tone of creeping dread. It didn't feel as low-budget as the majority of other episodes from this show, and the look of it wasn't much but it was a distinctive look and it soon had me gripped until the end. I love the music, it sounded like something you'd get in a really fun rockin' 80s zombie movie, like perhaps Day of the Dead! And I absolutely loved the design and makeup effects work done on the zombies, who just looked fantastic, they looked just like real skeletons caked in dirt and the screeching noises they made were so chilling! I even liked the bad ending which saw the last survivor who thinks that he's finally crawled his way out of the nightmare and back to the light of day, pulled back into the grim depths by many skeletal hands... Excellently put together episode, I love the momentum, atmosphere and superb makeup effects, it's a real series highlight.

There's something awful and evil down there

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 6 December 2019]

Two American marines and their South Vietnamese guide find themselves trapped in a maze of underground tunnels with a bunch of angry and lethal zombies.

Director David Severeid keeps the gripping story moving along at a brisk pace, maintains a dark serious tone throughout, and builds a substantial amount of nerve-wracking claustrophobic tension. Moreover, the sound acting keeps things buzzing, with especially sturdy contributions from Ahmad Rashad as the assured Sergeant Kenner and Antone Pagan as the antsy Corporal Torres. The skeletal zombies look genuinely creepy and hideous. The grim ending hits the satisfying spot, too. Both Kevin Strack's sharp cinematography and Walter Raim's spirited shivery score further enhance the overall fine quality of this on the money episode.