The Hole

Joe Dante doesn't get enough credit for what he does. He's brilliant with kids and knows what works for a kid. From Gremlins to the underrated Matinee, he's able to perfectly capture childhood and suburban life. And now he's back with his first feature-length movie since 2003's Looney Tunes: Back in Action with The Hole.

The Hole is a story of two brothers who find a hole on the floor of the basement of the new house they just moved in. Once they look into the hole, they find out what really scares them.

It's a horror movie for kids and teens, which means no blood and guts, no tits, sex, drugs, etc. But it definitely freaked me out. While the movie suffers from the "wooden lead syndrome"(yeah, that's you, Chris Massoglia, also the lead in The Vampire's Assistant), it does play on fears that are very common and very relatable, especially to us who grew up with Poltergeist and Stephen King's It. Yeah, there's a puppet clown in the movie, which scared the hell out of me at least. Worth mentioning is also that the puppet is the closest thing Dante has gotten to Gremlins since the 1990 movie.

Like I mentioned, the acting isn't this movies strong suit, but it's easy to forgive some bad acting for the scares and the intensity of some of the scenes, especially at the end of the movie. At times the movie feels like an extended episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, a show that I loved as a kid or even Eerie, Indiana, Dante's own "weird shit happening around kids" show.

The question is though, if the movie got to me, would I show it to my own child? Yeah, I think I would, at around the age of 11-12. Who knows, maybe she'll be able to calm me down when I start getting scared. My rating for The Hole 7/10.

PS. Joe Dante is involved with one of the best websites available. Go to Trailers From Hell and see great old Sci-Fi and Horror trailers with commentaries from such people as Joe Dante himself, Edgar Wright, Eli Roth, John Landis and many many more! You'll be stuck there for hours, but it really is worth it.