The Hole (2009)

A pair of brothers stumble upon a mysterious hole in their basement that leads to the darkest corridors of their fears and nightmares.

Director:

Joe Dante

Writer:

Mark L. Smith

Stars:

Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Massoglia	...	Dane
Haley Bennett	...	Julie
Nathan Gamble	...	Lucas
Teri Polo	...	Susan
Bruce Dern	...	Creepy Carl
Quinn Lord	...	Annie Smith
John DeSantis	...	Monster Dad (as John Desantis)
Douglas Chapman	...	Normal Dad (as Doug Chapman)
Mark Pawson	...	Travis
Peter Shinkoda	...	Young Cop
Jonathan Bruce	...	Mover
Merritt Patterson	...	Jessica (as Merrit Patterson)
Ali Cobrin	...	Tiffany
Chelsea Ricketts	...	Whitney
Chord Overstreet	...	Adam

Storyline

Susan and her sons Dane and Lucas Thompson move from Brooklyn to Bensonville, in the countryside. Dane is upset with the constant changes of address and the family has lived in many cities. Lucas and Dane befriend their next door neighbor, the gorgeous Julie and the brothers find a bottomless hole in the basement of their house locked with several padlocks. They take the locks off and soon they are haunted by their darkest fears. Further, they believe that the hole might be a gateway to hell.

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Plot Keywords:

greatest fear | fear | bathing a dog | woman wears a bikini | hole | 

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Taglines:

It Knows Your Deepest Fears.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for frightening images, violence and some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dick Miller, a regular in Joe Dante's films has a brief, non-speaking cameo as a pizza delivery man.

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Goofs

Lucas carries a box marked GRandma's DISHES into the cellar. It is clearly empty.

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Quotes

Julie: I know what you've got. You've got a gateway to hell under your house. And that is really cool.

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Crazy Credits

Still images of the cast appear on the end credits. The depths of the hole provide the backdrop for the end credits.

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Connections

References SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)

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Soundtracks

Flaws and All
Written and Performed by Sarah Solovay
Published by Sarah Solovay Music (ASCAP)
By Arrangement with Ocean Park Music Group

User Reviews

Not that bad!

There's a handful of directors who stand as tall as Joe Dante when it comes to movies a kid/teen growing in the 80s grew up with. Joe Dante is a legend, directing such classics as The Gremlins, Explorers, Innerspace, The 'burbs and co-directing Twilight Zone the Movie and Amazon Women on the Moon. Such nostalgia, but like many of his contemporaries, he didn't really make anything noteworthy after those.

Needless to say I was still looking forward to seeing The Hole, which in paper looked like he was kind of returning to his forte - sort of family horror comedy. And that's exactly what it was! I'm already out of the target group, but still I really enjoyed the movie. It's finally a Joe Dante movie that we've been waiting for a long time.

The story is great, a mystery Hole in the floor. Quite a few clichéd horror moments, but that's totally fine, clichés are OK when you do it tongue in cheek and not too seriously. Still I must say I was a bit surprised how tense it got here and there. Spooky stuff.

One of the only real gripes with this movie is the fact that it looks a bit low budget (I'm not sure if 10 mil qualifies as a low budget, it's an awful lot of money). It's got a bit of a TV movie feel. No big stars, good looking but rather small scale sets. Still old Dante fans will love a few cameos and familiar faces.

Other gripe with the movie is that I don't find Chris Massoglias characters very likable. I didn't like him in Cirque du Freak and neither in this movie. The kid brother was so much better actor creating a much more likable character.

Having also seen John Carpenters return movie "The Ward", I'd have to say Dante won this round. I hope these two 80s superstars will still return to form with a real big budget movie showing the younger directors what they're really made of.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Netherlands]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 June 2010 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Hole 3D

Filming Locations:

Kittanning, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,457,002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bold Films, BenderSpink, The Hole

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1