The Hole in the Ground (2019)

User Review

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  TheMovieDiorama

  4 / 10

  The Hole in the Ground is one crevice not worth exploring. Low-budget horrors is something that production companies Vertigo and A24 typically excel at (particularly the latter). So, I gradually became optimistic that this terribly named dramatic horror could also continue that streak. Alas, it unfortunately subsided into a sinking hole and was unable to climb back up to the surface. A single mother moves house which resides near a mysterious sinkhole. After a few nights, she starts to believe that her son is showing abnormal behavioural symptoms and is convinced that he is no longer her son. An interesting premise that is executed in the most unoriginal way possible. Cronin utilises nearly every typical horror trait that pollutes the genre. Predictable jump scares, zero character development, mediocre acting, foreshadowing and more plot conveniences than a field full of four-leafed clovers (had to get an Irish reference in somehow...). It is a frustrating waste of potential. The eponymous hole providing a metaphor for the constant subsiding of a single parent's sanity through periods of intense stress, and how she must literally confront the anomaly that is controlling her. But the one-dimensional dialogue that felt too scared to traverse the mother's backstory and the monotonous bond with her son made for an utterly dull experience. There are perhaps one or two effective chills, namely a creepy old woman prowling the forest roads, but not enough to complement the thematic drama. When the entire film relies on a child actor to be this ominous possessed being, they need to be menacing and actively send shivers down spines. Not awkwardly annoying, resulting in several laughable moments. I will say that the plot is paced well, that is until the last twenty minutes which merely consists of being unable to see anything whilst finalising loose ends to the flimsy story. Just heavily unexplored, relying on tropes that really shouldn't have been used considering the potential its subject matter had. A disappointing start to the year for the horror genre, with this film sinking to the bottom.

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