The Hole (2001)

I managed to find this movie on Netflix streaming movies. The initial premise is simple, two guys and two girls skip out on a end- of-term field trip to spend 3 days "camping" in an old emergency shelter, underground with a metal door that opens up on a hillside in the woods. Basically a place few would know about and not likely stumble upon.But something goes very wrong. As the movie progresses initially and one of the girls makes her way to safety, and is explaining to a psychiatrist what happened, we see that dramatized. But is that what really happened, or do we have a case of 'unreliable narrator'? While this isn't a great movie is did hold my interest, I had no idea what would develop. I also like the actors, especially the two female leads, Thora Birch as Liz Dunn and Keira Knightley as 'Frankie'. In fact this is the role where at 15 during filming she flashed her breasts for a second, an act which has created at least a bit of controversy on the discussion board. But it was quick and innocent.SPOILERS: The first story we see, which is not accurate, has the four being locked by another boy in the secluded shelter then failing to show up 3 days later as agreed. But in fact he was a scapegoat, it was all a plan of Liz's to get a cute boy to like her, and when things went wrong each of the others died one at a time. All for the silliness of trying to get attention. To cover her tracks she put the shelter key in the other boy's pocket, pushed him into a stream, he was found dead with the key. They assumed suicide from guilt. Liz, the teenage psychopath, got off.

I really cannot write what I think about this movie without revealing some spoilers. However, I will put a note when I get to that spot.This was one of the most engaging films I have seen in a very long time. I made the mistake of watching it while I was studying for an exam. I thought that it wouldn't be interesting enough to pull me away from the studies. However, I ended up getting nothing done for those two hours.Going into this movie with nothing more than a vague description, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. It begins with the idea that Liz is a polite, likable school girl with an unlikely crush. In both the present actions and with the beginning of her story, it seems like the classic lonely girl loves popular boy but is too shy to get him story. Then, right when you are invested in Liz and you believe her friend Martin is a truly twisted and evil jerk, little bits of what really happened start to surface.Liz would have you believe that her story is a story about being in love. But the only thing it really is happens to be a story of selfish obsession taken to unholy depths of depravity. This story is a story about how to be as cold and heartless as you can as long as you get what you think you deserve to have.Spoiler after this line because I want to comment on the ending.I loved this movie up until the end. At the ending, I almost lowered it down to a four star rating, though. The past 15 years there is a trend that the horror villain gets no comeuppance. The ending to "The Hole" reminded me of the ending to "Cry Wolf," even though "The Hole" was released four years earlier.The police are not incompetent enough to have believed that Martin would have committed suicide in the river directly behind Liz's house. Liz is obviously not intelligent enough to murder Martin in such a way that the police would not be able to determine that he was murdered. The police are not stupid enough to believe that Liz's doctor would take her down into the hole and then fall for her whiny "help, help" when they came and saw Liz and her doctor down in the hole.This movie gives us absolutely no reason to believe that the ending is credible. It paints everyone as stupid except for Liz. The problem with this is that Liz is stupid. The only way she was able to keep them trapped in a hole is because she hid the key. And she further believed it was worth it for her best friend and best friend's boyfriend to die so she could be with someone who obviously thinks nothing of her.At least in Cry Wolf, the story was set up in a way that may have fooled investigators. "The Hole's" ending relies on the premise that the police and everyone are stupid and that you're stupid enough to not question it. It's a shame because until that happens, this was a first rate movie all the way.

"The Hole" was recommended to me by a friend who read my review for the film "Cry Wolf". She said I'd like it, and she was right on the spot. While this is only my opinion, I think The Hole is a great film.Indeed, like "Cry Wolf", "The Hole" is more of a psychological Thriller than Horror. It doesn't have Slasher style chase, gruesome murders or gore, and there is very little blood. Instead, this film keeps you confused and guessing, enough to have multiple debates here on IMDb as to which parts are real and which aren't. The Hole is about deception and misleading, both for the protagonists and us the spectators.The acting is very good, not only by Thora Birch (lovely as always) but by the entire cast. Very smart screen writing, good enough to make me want to get my hands on the novel by which the film is inspired. You won't know what has really happened until the end, and even then some parts remain debatable. This film shows again that a change in perspective can change everything, even when you think you have things figured out.All in all, while not a masterpiece, The Hole is very enjoyable and definitely worth watching!

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!