The Hole in the Ground (2019) User Reviews

Very subtle glimpse into mental illness

[London456 · 5/10 · 3 March 2019]

On the surface this film comes across as another semi-grade horror flick without merit. The characters are under-developed and the large number of loose ends that are never explained enforces the view that the director/screen writer couldn't be bothered to fill in the gaps.

What is interesting is that this seems to be intentional. There is a very well hidden parallel story that runs alongside the one which is presented to viewers. We see the story from the perspective of the protagonist Sarah O'Neill, who isolates herself and her son in a remote house near the woods. Her delusions gradually increase as the film progresses, and the viewer is dragged in to her fantasy world when there is no external context to help separate fact from illusion. The director plays upon uncertainty to construct the supernatural thread. However he also provides subtle hints that what you sometimes see are hallucinations (eg: the arm-wrestling scene).

Capgras delusion is the real focus of this film. Capgras is the condition in which a person holds the delusional belief that a close family member has been replaced by an imposter. The condition can be caused by trauma to the head (note the many references to Sarah's unexplained scar) and can also accompany other psychological conditions such as schizophrenia and psychosis. The final part of the film is clearly a psychotic event experienced by Sarah.

The use of mirrors within the film is another nod to Capgras. The film eludes to the fact that mirrors unmask the true nature of the person. Capgras sufferers can sometimes doubt their own identity after seeing themselves within a large mirror, although smaller mirrors may not produce the same effect. One type of therapy involves using many mirrors of different sizes to help the sufferer overcome the delusion.

"The mirror always tells the truth" - What most people missed

[zenpunks · 7/10 · 10 February 2022]

This movie is a slow burn mystery that for most will seem to not have much of a payoff or simply be misunderstood. It is very well crafted and done - this really is about the horror of Sara's mental health which is deteriorating - however the film makers left out an important piece of info that surfaces near the middle and end of the movie with the mirrors that explains what her illness is.

Sara (the main character) suffers from Capgras Syndrome a DMS(Delusional misidentification syndrome) -people with Capgras believe that one or more familiar people/loved ones have been replaced by identical strangers and are imposters. This is never mentioned (and for reason as it is the payoff) an illness the old lady in the movie also suffered from. The uncertainty in Sara's mental health does loom large in the movie but is unclear, and maybe the flaw is that it is never brought up, not even at the end, only at most hinted at if the viewer understands this syndrome - most people wouldn't and never have heard of it.

We do see that when Sara goes in the hole to save her son the monster chasing her ends up being her -the film makers literally give this to us and ultimately the most important scene in understanding (literally and metaphorically) what is going on. The Monster is Sara (her mental illness).

At the end of the movie when we feel that maybe Sara is doing better (we see her in a classroom and then interacting with others) -it at most is temporary as she has returned to taking pics of her son -she looks at the pics on the camera with some uncertainty as she is in a room full of MIRRORS.

Overall when you understand what is really happening this is quite an intriguing, suspenseful, entertaining movie.

Descent into horror

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 4 August 2019]

It is very difficult to not be drawn in into seeing 'The Hole in the Ground' with a premise this good, mixing horror, mystery and psychological with a sensitive subject. It also looked great from the advertising, may not have been completely sold on the somewhat simplistic and to me misleading title but the premise and advertising were more than enough to make me want to see it. As well as seeing that there were people that liked it.

Seeing 'The Hole in the Ground', am going to join those that felt that were underwhelmed by it and that it could have been so much better. There are good things and it is not as bad as some of the negative reviewers have said from personal view, but at the same time 'The Hole in the Ground' is not particularly good either and has major flaws that prevent it from reaching its full potential. As far as my opinion goes, it is one that is pretty much on the fence here.

Will start with the good things. 'The Hole in the Ground' is well made, it is beautifully and atmospherically shot with a moody but not drab colour pallette that matches the tone of the film well. Another big plus point is the music score, which is suitably haunting, adds a lot to the atmosphere and never works against it or overbear it.

The acting is better than average, with a credible lead performance from Seana Kerslake. James Quinn Markey also has the right amount of intensity in his role, not an easy one to pull off. James Cosmo is great value. Some of the film too is suitably creepy early on.

Unfortunately too much of 'The Hole in the Ground' lacks the necessary eeriness and intensity, burdened by a very lifeless pace and an increasingly thin and sometimes uneventful story that struggles to fit enough content into a standard feature length film. While my intelligence was never insulted, my attention did waver and the lack of surprises and suspense was a big problem, as was the real head-scratcher of an ending that could have done with more clarity.

Found that the film never really disturbed or got under the skin, exploring its sensitive subject in a way that goes overboard on the subtlety as that particular aspect of it never felt explored enough to make me properly care or be moved. The script has as much life as a damp squib and was in serious need of a tidying up, while the characters were too underdeveloped to make me properly root for them.

On the whole, am on the fence here. 5/10

It Was Original

[tiskec · 6/10 · 3 July 2022]

The first thing I noticed about the film was the cinematography. The picture was dark and grim, which contributed to the movies thrill factor. With all of that and the above average acting, it payed out the films setting in the countryside quite well.

I expected a creature feature or paranormal film experience, instead I got a non-cliche story. This impressed me and made it easier to indulge into the story.

Without spoiling the film, the plot is that a mother suspects that her son was traded in with an identical imposter of some type. Let's just say the entity in this film is a doppelgänger of sorts. To my surprise the movie had nothing to do with the sinkhole at all, but what came out of it.

Some of the story does have holes and lacks a lot of background. Despite this it wasn't that terrible of a film at all. It was actually a lot better than I had expected and landed midrange on my scale at a 6/10.

Creepy and effective, if somewhat a bit lacking

[KawaiiKiwi · 6/10 · 18 February 2019]

Movies involving evil or mean children often manage to creep us out the most for some reason. The Hole in the Ground is no exception. It's a small Irish production with only a few characters, but it manages to pull off a very chilling atmosphere of dread, after a mother and her son moves into their new house in a deserted area on the edge of a large dense forest. The movie really manages to make you feel their sense of loneliness as the mother stumbles upon a mysterious huge hole in the middle of the forest behind their house. Her boy begins to acts strange after he runs away one night in the forest, and she starts questioning his identity and also, her sanity. The actress playing the mother is very good at displaying her mixed emotions and the boy really conveys a feeling of unpleasantness. This coupled with the creepy atmosphere really pulls you in. It's more of a drama-psychological horror and not everyone will appreciate the slow and subtle tone of the movie, but if you enjoyed smart horror like Under the Shadow and Goodnight Mommy, then I think you will like this. It's not quite as good and it unfortunately lacks a little bit of explanation at the end, but sometimes I think it's okay for movie to leave a bit up to the viewers to figure out by themselves. I just wish it ran maybe 10 minutes longer to better develop the events leading to the conclusion.

Illogical behaviours

[emirfithri-12517 · 4/10 · 20 July 2019]

What spoils a horror movie with a great plots is just one - illogical behaviours by the actors as normal human beings. For example, if you hear strange noises at night and you want to check it out, you DO NOT go down in the dark and tip toeing around. You'd be turning on all lights available! And, also you noticed a big damn hole in the middle of the forest? What do you do? Report it to the authorities, talk and ask the local folks. Not keep it to yourself as if you just found a pot of gold. And you figured out your son is actually a shapeshifter monster who has superstrength, when he is under the influence of drug, TIE HIM UP quickly.

All these illogical behaviours spoilt the fun in the movie. Plus there's no nude bath scenes which is a must for all horror movies.

This isn't anything special but worth watching if you can't find anything else

[kevin_robbins · 6/10 · 2 May 2021]

The Hole in the Ground (2019) is a movie I recently watched off Amazon Prime for free. This St. Patrick's Day horror treat tells the tale of a boy and mother living in the Irish countryside with a mysterious woods nearby. Within those woods resides a mysterious sink hole that gives the boy visions that his mother might not be his mother and he may be something else all together. This movie is directed by Lee Cronin (Ghost Train) and stars Seana Kerslake (Dollhouse), James Quin Markey (Vikings), David Crowley (Ripper Street) and Kati Outinen (Le Havre). The storyline, cinematography and settings are very well selected and this movie had a lot of potential. There are a bunch of eerie and well shot scenes - the old woman in the street scene and the "head in the dirt" sequence were all really good and well executed. The film definitely keeps your attention and is well paced and filmed but in the end it just felt like it was missing something and could have been better. One of those films that leaves you feeling a little unfulfilled despite being worth a watch. Overall this isn't anything special but worth watching if you can't find anything else. I'd score this a slightly above average 6/10.

Boring with no character development.

[derekshannon · 2/10 · 24 February 2019]

I was really looking forward to this movie and really wanted to enjoy it after a great looking trailer. Unfortunately that's where the greatness stopped. I thought the lead actress had the same expression on her face the entire way through the film - gormless. The first 45 minutes before any horror started instead of building character and developing the relationship between the mother and son the focus seemed very aimless as if just killing time until something happens. There were serious plot holes later on that really lost me with a character going into a sinkhole and magically getting out no problem with no explanation as to how that character could possibly get out of a sinkhole hundreds of feet below. What could have been a great ambiguous ending then was ruined by a last minute bad decision. A very hyped and poor horror film and too many aspects taken out of recent Irish horror films. Way too similar to 'The Hallow' and 'Beyond The Woods' and much older horror films like 'The Changeling.' A bad mishmash of better horror films. Very weak lead character with nothing interesting about the performance to hook you in or even begin to care about the character.

Folk tales called them Changelings

[Neptune165 · 6/10 · 16 March 2019]

A movie about changelings. Finally a horror movie about Faeries. Faeries lore is scary as hell. The young actor is brilliant. Very talented. It's more tense than jumpy. Plenty of unnerving moments though, well worth a watch. Great cinematography and atmospheric music. The kind of story that could happen in any country. if the faeries replace your child with an imposter, you just beat the imposter until your sweet well behaved real child returns.

Takes a wrong turn 1 hour in

[ebeckstr-1 · 4/10 · 28 May 2019]

The first hour of this film is creepy, well photographed, and reasonably subtle, if quite predictable if you've seen this sort of movie before. Despite the predictability it has the former assets.

Unfortunately, 1 hour and 4 minutes in, the scriptwriter abandons these assets. He could have gone in one of two directions. One would have maintained the creepiness and perhaps done something more clever, the other, which he chose, is an in-your-face pedestrian affair. I don't want to drop any spoilers so I won't mention what movie they essentially adopt for the climactic moments, but if you've seen a lot of horror movies you will recognize it instantly.

I have to mention another pet peeve. Among its other deficiencies, Hole in the Ground employs a tired old horror trope which, along with the jump-scare, should be banned from movies from here to the end of time. It's those moments where something creepy or horrifying is happening and, oh never mind, it was just a nightmare and we find the protagonist waking up in bed. Why screenwriters continue to think that this tactic is clever or effective is beyond me. It's a tired cliche and simply bad writing.

Beautifully filmed

[Gav-7 · 8/10 · 23 October 2020]

Worth watching for the beautiful cinematography and music score . Brilliantly acted by the cast. It has it's creepy moments and kept me engaged throughout .

Spooky little Irish horror gem.

[Andrew_Wiper · 7/10 · 9 February 2019]

A creepy little Irish horror movie this one was. If you like the A24 horror movies, especially the one 'It Comes at Night', it's safe to say you will enjoy 'The Hole in the Ground'. Good performances and very well done acting by the young man who plays the son. The movie definitely manages to create a nice eerie atmosphere to go with the setting and there are a few scenes in this that gave me a good fright. Try and seek this one out and watch it if you are in the mood for suspenseful slow burn horror. 7.5/10

Hold your horses

[otgutes · 2/10 · 31 January 2019]

I saw this film yesterday at Sundance. I went in knowing only that it was supposed to be a psychological thriller/horror film. In my opinion it is marginally at best both.

While there are some genuinely shocking moments and strange events they seem done completely to bulk up the long drawn out scenes where not much is happening.

My biggest complaint is there are numerous questions unanswered about how, who, why and what happened. Characters seem to teleport and others are of importance and never explained or seen again.

I'm not going to give any spoilers but to me it was a plodding movie with a quick wrap it all up ending that's not satisfactory at all.

Not a film critic

[thealam · 7/10 · 9 February 2019]

I'm not gonna pretend I'm a film web reviewer or something like that I just enjoy horror movies, this one is more of a psychological thriller with some horro elements but is actually very well executed. Yes, some people may find it slow if you like jump scares every 5 minutes it's enjoyable for the performances and photography. It doesn't have an open ending as everyone says it explains everything but I do agree I would have liked more explanation about the hike and what lies beneth as that is left out. An overall seven with stron performance, escenery but lacks some explanation to the story.

Not extraordinary, but better than mainstream mediocre horror

[Horror_Flick_Fanatic · 6/10 · 16 May 2019]

My expectations were a little high when I noticed it was an A24 Studio film. They have made quite a few good horror films. This one wasn't extraordinary like Mother!, Hereditary or The Witch, but it wasn't a mediocre film. It did not give up its secrets until 3/4th into the movie. But once I saw the creature, the jig was up and I figured it out. I think its a 6/10. It does build up tension and suspense before the creature makes its appearance which is better than most of the jump scare burden mediocrity found with Hollywood films.

Overal promising but in the end just not good enough.

[deloudelouvain · 5/10 · 15 February 2019]

There are good and bad things about The Hole In The Ground. The good things are the acting as all actors were very believable in their roles, the dark atmosphere due to an excellent soundtrack and good cinematography, and the necessary suspense and scary moments for a horror movie. The bad things would be the feeling that this story is just unfinished and the lack of explanation of what is really going on and let that be the major letdown of this movie. It could have been much better if the story wasn't that undevelopped and that's just a pity because it had potential.

Basic yet entertaining folk horror

[Howling_at_the_Moon_Reviews · 6/10 · 18 April 2022]

A basic, to the point horror. Not extraordinary and not bad by any means. Most importantly, entertaining.

I'm positively biased towards folk horror but this was overall a good movie. Could it have used a little more meat, a twist or two? Sure. But it was still successful in its own right. The acting was quite good, particularly by mom. It was also shot beautifully.

Overall not too too much to say, but an entertaining experience with this slightly above average folk horror. I would give this a 5.5-6... Would recommend.

very disappointing

[natcalgary · 3/10 · 13 February 2019]

I usually love these types of movies but I found this was way too slow and didn't keep my interest, Too many unexplained things and pointless scenes. too bad

3.3

An unsettling slow burn

[UniqueParticle · 7/10 · 11 April 2023]

Fairly disturbing film by Lee Cronin, wanted to see this before Evil Dead Rises releases soon. The Hole in the Ground feels weird, beautiful shots, and perfectly thrilling! I think the ones that didn't like it were restless and wanted something different in my opinion it's a dark charming experience. Lee Cronin hasn't done much but he's brilliant at his vision that's for sure! I love the main actress she has great looks to her and carries the bizarre events quite well. Hmm what else there's some mystery vibes I sense that might've been a drastic reason for the hate I'd like to think it fits very well, I love movies with some madness.

Slow

[markhappyboy · 5/10 · 6 February 2019]

There's nothing really wrong with this movie, fine performances from the cast, soundtrack ok and some nice cinematography. The problem for me was I got bored,adding up the best moments amounted to about 15 minutes of movie and them moments are really good some real cool imagery, I normally enjoy slow Burners but in this case I was just bored.Shame.

Slow but good

[chameleonaram · 8/10 · 11 February 2019]

So emotional and so beautifully made. I really loved every second of it. It makes you wonder... The music was very well chosen as are the actors. You can see, almost feel what effort was made to make this movie. Hope to see more like this in the future.

Invasion of the Babadook Snatchers

[bogeyman786 · 6/10 · 7 March 2019]

A friend recommended this movie. He said it had a nice atmosphere and was a cross between The Babadook and Invasion of the Body Snatchers-sounds about right after watching it.

I expected it to be a lot scarier though. The arm wrestling scene is still difficult to erase. Good acting from the young boy. Overall a good quirky movie out of Ireland

Grab a pillow and a blanket. Zzzzzzzz

[karmalita-80648 · 2/10 · 23 February 2019]

I very much looked forward to this based on ratings I had seen. I fell asleep the 1st time I tried. So I tried again thinking I was just too tired. I tried again. Nope, this movie is just BORING. Idk who gave it the ratings, and all the awards it was up for, nor WHY? Imo, one of the MOST boring movies I have EVER seen!

Predictable but immersive; great artistic editing

[Hallelujah289 · 6/10 · 3 May 2023]

Very atmospheric horror film with sharp, artistic editing. Decent overall acting. Creepy contortions, some jump scares.

Perhaps there is not much groundbreaking or unexpected, but not much glaring to criticize either. Except for some loose ends, some threads that intrigued but never went anywhere (the father? The other little boy?). And one climatic scene that was hard to see (literally in a pitch black cave) what was going on so i felt a bit lost, and the scene lasted a while.

While this horror film is fairly obvious and familiar, despite being in Ireland, I still found myself immersed and a bit creeped out. I wish the climax was stronger and pulled all the threads together. The ending subsequently lost impact but was not bad.

Weak 3 // Creepy, but thematically underdeveloped

[ccamp89 · 6/10 · 2 March 2019]

When A24 releases a new horror film, I take notice. It's no secret that the young studio has taken the world of cinema by storm over the past few years, steadily building a library of vital, creative, and challenging films. They have effectively positioned themselves as the standard-bearers for art house in the mainstream, granting wide exposure to auteur filmmakers who would otherwise have serious difficulty finding distribution for their work in the current climate.

A24's contribution to modern horror has been particularly noteworthy. For my money, they've released all three of the decade's best horror films: Under the Skin, The Witch, and Hereditary, all three masterpieces, the latter two directorial debuts. The studio has a clear passion for intelligent, substantive horror that avoids the cheap and shallow scares routinely delivered by the major studios.

The Hole in the Ground, too, is a directorial debut. But unlike the aforementioned films, it feels like one. That's not necessarily to its detriment, as the film has that infectious creative energy of a first-timer experimenting with his/her craft. It also certainly carries some of A24's hallmarks as a small, independent, character-focused work with striking visuals, touches of surrealism, and an art-house sensibility.

The problem is the film feels underdeveloped. Although it uses the cinematic language of the art house, it delivers something far more in line with what you'd expect from the mainstream arena: a series of scare setpieces (some of which are admittedly quite effective) strung together upon a premise that serves as nothing more than a foundation on which to build those scares.

The setup is fairly promising: a mother flees an ambiguously troubled past with her young son, settling in a new town and hoping for a fresh start. Things grow sinister as she discovers an ominous sinkhole in the woods adjacent to her new home which seems somehow to have influenced her son's behavior.

It's a premise rife with symbolic potential. There are allusions to domestic violence, touches of mental illness, and perhaps a subtle suggestion as to how a battered woman's view of her son may blur with her image of his father, her abuser. But that's just it - allusions, touches, and suggestions. These themes are set up, hinted at, but never truly explored nor enriched.

Take Thomasin of The Witch and Annie of Hereditary, both full-bodied protagonists with excellent arcs, supported by films that fully flesh out the underlying themes of their respective stories. Sarah, on the other hand, feels like a blank slate for much of the film - a vessel utilized to deliver scares to the audience rather than a true character. And rather than developing the ideas and symbolic potential of the setup, the film opts instead to spend its time doling out relatively routine and surface-level scare tropes.

Despite my misgivings, the film managed to be mildly enjoyable simply on the strength of its setup, visuals, and few effectively unsettling moments. Though it doesn't reach even close to the heights of the studio's best horror offerings, it has enough merit to justify a viewing from the avid fan looking for a creepy 90-minute diversion. Just calibrate your expectations accordingly.

Weak 3/5