Joe Dante’s “The Hole” (originally in 3D) sounds a bit like
a dream, the sort of story a middle schooler might write for English
class.
In a rural Pennsylvania town, perhaps in the Laurel
Highlands and probably around shale fracking country (and that is significant),
an enterprising teenager Dane (Minnesota-born Chris Massoglia, 16 when the film
was shot) and his younger brother Lucas (Nathan Gamble) stumble on a padlocked
cellar in their basement, hidden for years by rugs, furniture and hoarded
junk. When the kids, an neighboring teen
Julie (Haley Bennett) open it and
investigate, the “darkness” is unleashed into the home. This comprises all kinds of bizarre puppets
and clowns, at least for Lucas. In time,
we learn that the manifestation of “the darkness” is specific to the beholder.
Eventually, Dane “falls” into the Hole, and winds up in an artificial
world that anticipates “Inception”.
Surprisingly, we learn that his own demon was earlier physical cowardice
and ability to protect his brother , even though there has been no hint of such
earlier. Dane always seems in command of all challenges and initiations now. It seems particularly "evil" to attack someone to make someone else prove that he can "protect" the potential victim. He and his brother are being raised by a single mom and are transplants from the city, but that aspect is downplayed.
At the end, the moviegoer is invited to question his own
crawl space.
The official site (Bold Films and Big Air Studios) is here.The film was shot in LA, Vancouver and
apparently Pennsylvania.
Don’t confuse with the Disney film “Holes” (2003), by Andrew
Davis, introducing Shia LaBeouf.
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