The Hole In The Ground

Sarah and Chris are a mother and son living in the middle of nowhere. They've both ran from an abusive relationship and want to begin again. One day Chris wanders into the woods and a terrified Sarah finds him standing beside a huge sinkhole acting oddly. An old neighbour is the first to notice something is off about Chris and before long Sarah starts noticing strange new things about him too. Has her son totally changed or is he even her son at all?

Hype isn't always a good thing. Sometimes it's positively damaging to a film. Every year dozens of movies roll into cinemas on a wave of it. Few of them rarely live up to the buzz. It's a nuisance. The Hole In The Ground is a fine example. For weeks & months now twitter has been awash with people building it up. "This year's Hereditary" is one such sentiment I've seen thrown around a lot so far this February. The scariest Irish film ever made etc. What's the key word in that last sentence? Irish. If this film wasn't Irish would there be half the buzz about it? I think not. It's not a bad film at all, no, far from it, but it's just another film that just doesn't live up to the hype.

It's grand. If you are new to the world of horror this might give you the creeps but seasoned viewers will have seen every aspect of this story done before and done better too. The isolated setting, the odd neighbours, the what if's involving a child, the psychological torment trotted out for the mammy, is she imagining it all, are all hoary old horror tropes and the changeling theme is so overdone it's even turned up in mainstream dramas. Horror is a hard genre to be original in. There's literally 100's of new horror movies pumped out every year and they all seem to pick and choose from each other. It's all very cannibalistic and incestuous. 

What this does have over other genre offerings is proper performances. Seána Kerslake as Sarah is great. Her outward fragility hiding an immense inner strength. She's a woman who'll do anything for her child if she can stop her fears breaking her. In under 90 minutes she creates a character you care about. In most horror movies the cast are fodder we want to see tossed around the screen for our own vicarious thrills but here, you'll gasp when she starts being put through the wringer. Any horror film that can make you care is doing something right and Kerslake is definitely the best thing about this. James Quinn Markey has the scary child thing down too. His use of the word "mummy" will definitely make you squirm. As will his new choice of protein at night. Shudder.

Director Lee Cronin has a good feel for under your skin moments too. A midnight feast seen through a keyhole, the titular hole looking like a localised apocalypse, a boy squelching his way through a bowl of pasta, a clay covered ending for an oddball. He has the visual skills but if only they were combined with a bit of originality, storywise. We don't have many horror offerings coming from Ireland but we should. Celtic folklore is ripe with all manner of stories that would lend themselves perfectly to horror movies. There's no need to be falling back on the same old same old all the time. Us horror fans appreciate something new. Give it to us and we'll lap it up.

This is worth watching for a superb showing from Kerslake. Keep an eye out for her, she'll be across the pond stealing the limelight in blockbusters soon enough.