|
The Movie: (Review By Mark McLeod, 3/15/02) Horror/Thrillers aimed at the teen market have a tendency to be very formulaic and with over 20 films populating this genre from the last five or so years it's hard to separate the good from the bad. As a person who has seen his fair share of these particular films I can say the single biggest attribute of the good ones is that they don't talk down to their audience. They are often smart pictures with unique characteristics. Sadly these films are few and far between and of that 20 films only a small handful fit this bill. It seems teens have begun to pick up on this and the box office take on these film's is falling. However every once in awhile comes along a film that shows it's a cut above the rest and "The Hole" is one such film. Released theatrically in the UK in 2001 and in Canada this film never hit American theaters. Now that oversight has been corrected with this release by Seville Pictures on DVD. Life is not as it seems at an exclusive private school located in the English countryside. Liz (Thora Birch) is a young girl who describes herself as someone who just wants to fit in. She has no aspirations of joining the popular group though she does have friends in that circle. Her best friend is the smart and crafty Martin (Daniel Brocklebank) whose supreme intellect is available to the student body at a rather high price. She's also friends with Frankie (Kiera Knightley) a popular girl who is known throughout the campus for being a bit of a partier. Liz happens to have a crush on Mike Steel (Desmond Harrington) the son of an American rocker and the campus hunk. Much to Liz's dismay Mike has a girlfriend and it appears the couple are happy. This doesn't last for long and before you know it Mike is back on the market. Liz begins to try and figure out how to spend time with Mike and the ideal opportunity presents itself when their entire class is schedule to go on a class trip for 3 days. Mike and his friend Geoff (Laurence Fox) and Frankie (to a lesser extent) don't wish to attend the trip and go to Martin for a solution to their problem. Martin agrees to help them for a price and that he will add a fourth person to the group. Martin's solution is to lock Liz, Mike, Frankie and Geoff in "The Hole" an abandoned bomb shelter hidden in the forest surrounding the school. He is to come back after the 3 days to unlock them but when he doesn't show up panic begins to ensue. After 18 days underground and a massive police search Liz reemerges without her friends. She tells her version of the events but do we really believe what happened? "The Hole" is an interesting thriller/horror mix that is different then any other so called 'teen oriented' horror film I've ever seen in that it's not so much a slasher film but more of thrill ride through the minds of these young characters. The film is told through multiple points of view bringing forth a mess of confusion as to what transpired during those 18 days. Martin's version of the story differs from the one Liz tells and it becomes very hard for the truth to be known. Martin claims he was duped by Liz and had no involvement where Liz lays the entire blame on Martin. As the story changes so do the characteristics of the people involved and it becomes harder to know what exactly transpired. Liz is obviously shell shocked and has a distorted view of what happened. The truth is eventually learned but not before a number of questions are asked that leave a sense of disbelief at the film's conclusion. Directed by British native Nick Hamm this is a remarkably smart film aimed at teenagers. It's approach is fresh and unforgiving. There are shots in this movie aimed to disturb that are liable to cause unrest in viewers with the strongest stomachs. Hamm toys with the minds of his viewers in a way similar to David Lynch's film "Mulholland Drive" while at the same time having a style all his own. He creates a world of suspense, horror and even comedy as the story unfolds. It's interesting that the multi person narrative is used in the film as it's usually a device reserved for novels and other works of fiction so when I learned the film was based on the book "After the Hole" I was not at all surprised. The film feels like a book in places as it allows the viewer to come to their own conclusions surrounding the events. "The Hole" isn't without problems and the one that struck me as being the biggest was the language used. Director Nick Hamm is obviously British as are screenwriters Ben Court and Caroline Ip and their nationality leads to some word usage problems as some words used are words with unclear meanings. Some of the dialogue while still sharply written uses British slang and swears and if I didn't have some British friends on-line then I too would have been unfamiliar with the words. This slight language barrier shouldn't prove to be a problem for more educated viewers but some of the snappy dialogue will be lost to some viewers. The film also has a minor pacing problem in that the first 20 minutes before they head down "The Hole" go by far too quickly while the last third of the film tends to move a bit slower then I'd like. This may just be that the film is getting so tense and involving by that point that it seems slower then it actually is. It's probably something I'll pick up in the many subsequent viewings this title will see before I can truly unravel the mystery of "The Hole". Thora Birch is one of the most talented young actresses working in Hollywood splitting time between mainstream and smaller independent features. From "American Beauty" to this year's "Ghost World" she has displayed an enormous range of talent unseen in the majority of the current crop of teen heartthrobs and hotties whose acting ability comes second after their looks. Here Birch plays the deceptive Liz Dunn, the film's main protagonist and only survivor of the 18 day long ordeal. It's amazing to see how fast Birch can go from naive and innocent to the helpless victim and still keep the scope of the character believable. She's definitely one teen actress that should have no problem making the transition to more adult roles. The resident babe of the film that is essentially a prerequisite for a horror/thriller filmed at teens is relative newcomer Kiera Knightley who appeared in "Star Wars : Episode 1 : The Phantom Menace" in a blink and you miss it role. In fact I missed it and I'm going to have to really try and find her the next time I watch that film. Kiera plays Frances better known as Frankie to her group of friends. Depending on whose version of the story she's either an easy sexy vixen or the victim. Knightley like Birch does a good job handling the different interpretations of her character and has a nice amount of screen presence. US fans can look for her in the upcoming 2002 release "Pure" while UK fans can catch her in "Bend it like Beckham" which is also slated for a 2002 release. Desmond Harrington currently on the big screen everywhere as Beck in "We Were Soliders" plays the only American in the film and has a different outlook on things then his British friends. Mike reluctantly agrees to go along with the plan when he finds out he can't escape to LA as he originally planned. Desmond plays Mike with all the charm of a wet towel and is really the only truly stereotypical character here. Mike is ripped out of any number of generic American films. Lawrence Fox plays Geoff the smart ass best friend of Mike and Frankie's girlfriend with relative ease but I don't really think it was all that difficult a character compared to the female leads. Also making an experience as Liz's shrink is Embeth Davidtz an American actress who is probably best known for her role in the campy "Army of Darkness" film. She has a long list of roles to her name but I didn't think she added much to this film. Daniel Brocklebank is quite good in his small role as the manipulative and then manipulated Martin. Still there's no questioning that not like "Ghost World" this is Thora Birch's show. "The Hole" tells an interesting story that hits more right notes then it does wrong. Although I'm not entirely happy with the final explanation of events given by the story this is still one of the smartest teen horror/thrillers I've seen in years. In a genre where "Scream" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" dominate the box office this film got a small release in Canada before quietly leaving it's handful of screens. It's a film that screams out to be seen and seen again and will no doubt be discovered by fans of the cast and genre on the small screen. I would not be surprised to see "The Hole" become a cult classic. It has it's flaws and it's not perfect but Nick Hamm has turned a tired genre on it's edge and in doing so has a winner on his hands. I can see "The Hole" getting better and better which each viewing which is all to rare these days. Highly Recommended. Movie Rating : 9/10 VIDEO: It's all too often that smaller feature films aren't handled with as much care and precaution as their big studio counterparts. Some studios are better then others with Universal, New Line and Fox being at the head of the pack. Others like MGM sometimes seem to have problems with just matching the other studios best transfers on their major releases. My level of concern is never more heightened then when a film I enjoy theatrically is released from a small independent studio and while I've been extremely lucky so far I know that it could change at any moment. However one studio I can strike from the worry about list is Canadian based Seville Pictures who impressed me from the get go with their disc "Lost and Delirious". I have heard some negative comments based upon things they did in the past but they've got everything cleared up and their day and date DVD releases are right up there with the big boys. "The Hole" is no exception as it's presented in a strikingly beautiful anamorphic transfer capturing the 2.35:1 framing of the theatrical release. As aforementioned Seville has done some nice work recently with their transfers but this one takes the prize home as it is by far the best work I've seen from them. Colors are rich and vibrant during the exteriors and subdued and muted in the dark recesses of the hole. Sharpness and detail are razor fine and the image has a nice depth to it. It's an image that leaps right off the screen enhancing the viewing experience tenfold. The print used is clean and only contains a few minor marks that are of the blink and you miss it variety. The transfer is free of edge enhancement, grain and other defects. One thing that makes this transfer stand out amongst recent Seville releases is the use of the DVD-9 dual layer format. Although the layer change at around the 52 minute mark wasn't as seamless or well placed as I would have liked, it's inclusion here means the video has that much more space to occupy on the disc and is not overly compressed. Video Rating : 9/10 SOUND: "The Hole" was presented theatrically in both the UK and Canada with a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track and while Seville did everything possible including waiting until the last minute before sending the disc to the replicator. However due to last minute technical difficulties Seville had no choice but to go ahead without the mix. So we are left with 2.0 mixes in English and French. Being an English speaking citizen I opted for the that track. The 2.0 mix is labelled as being Dolby Stereo but is in fact a full fledged surround sound mix. Since I had no preconceived notions of what the sound was supposed to sound like I found myself more open and relaxed going into this mix. This is a very creepy and effective mix that is really quite stellar for a 2.0 presentation. Often I find that 2.0 mixes contain a lack of surround information compared to their 5.1 counterparts but this mix proved me wrong. The action is spread throughout the entire sound stage with a fair amount ambience coming from the rear speakers. The score by Clint Mansell dominates the audio experience filling the room with it's classical influenced orchestrations one minute and it's techno beats the next. Bass response from is generally quite good as well despite not having the advantage of a dedicated LFE channel. The one small Achilles heel of the mix is that the dialog level is a bit low in spots compared to the other aspects of the mix. However that's the only fault I can find with this track. Seville does an excellent job with this mix proving that 5.1 need not be considered the be all and end all of audio mixes. This is just about good as it gets for a 2.0 mix and despite that minor dialog level issue it easily earns it's 9/10. Audio Rating : 9/10 Extras Seville Pictures is a studio on the rise. In the short time I've been reviewing their titles they have been getting better and better in all the key areas. This is especially true in the special features area with each disc containing a bit more then the last. Up until now these features have included trailer gallerys, interesting and non promotional making of featurettes and interviews with the cast and crew. Now with the "Deluxe Edition" of "The Hole" they've made an even bigger jump forward by including the usual suspects and much more. First up we have an audio commentary track with director Nick Hamm most known for his work on the British stage. This is his second feature length film and his first audio commentary. Hamm comes to the session well prepared to offer fans of the film the behind the scenes information they desire. He talks at length about the concepts and techniques he wanted to use and how he had a distinct vision of the tale he wanted to tell from the get go. Hamm talks about the actors he cast and what he felt they brought to their respect roles. This is a very in depth discussion surrounding all aspects of the film. It should be said that you shouldn't listen to the track before watching the film as Hamm does assume you've seen the film and gives away numerous spoilers about the film. To sum it up we have an interesting and engaging track though Hamm's speaking voice is a bit monotonic for my liking. However it's the information that counts and this track has it in spades. Next up is a selection of nine deleted or extended scenes from the film ranging in length from 30 seconds to almost two minutes. None of the scenes are titled and they play in sequence after selecting the menu option. Some of the scenes are quite good while others are simply extensions of scenes already in the picture. The two scenes that grabbed me the most where scenes dealing with the shrink character who is under used in the film. Since they are untitled there is no real way to reference them in this review other then they are the 1st and 3rd scenes in this section. Also included is an alternate ending which uses a coda to wrap up the picture. However the film's ending is already strong and the coda would have lessened that impact. No explanation is given for the deletion during this presentation but the director Nick Hamm does discuss them during his feature commentary. A minor nitpick with this section is that the scenes are not individually selectable from a menu making it harder to rewatch some of my favorite deleted moments. Continuing on we have a Image Gallery which takes an interesting approach to displaying what essentially is a collection of production stills. Instead of presenting them in the standard and boring way of clicking from shot to shot, Seville opts instead to create a slide show with music from the film's score. Although it only runs just over a minute this is far more interesting to go through then it would be if they were presented in the standard way. Cast and Crew Biographies are included for Thora Birch, Desmond Harrington, Kiera Knightley, Lawrence Fox and director Nick Hamm. This is all fairly standard material that can be found by doing a simple web search but is still welcomed on the disc. Rounding out the special features section we have the film's UK theatrical trailer in Full Frame and 2.0 audio as well as a trailer gallery for other Seville releases "The Fourth Angel", "Eye of the Beholder" and "Mexico City". Extras Rating : 8.5/10 Final Thoughts "The Hole" is a little known gem of a film. I had heard very little about the film during it's theatrical run other then that two people I knew were raving about it. One whose opinion I trust most of the time and one who I don't really like all that much but usually has some interesting picks when it comes to movies. It's by no means a perfect film but it's so far ahead of the pack in it's genre that I can't help but give it the benefit of the doubt in the scoring. Seville's DVD is also at the head of the class with it's excellent 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, enveloping 2.0 audio mix and a handful of decent supplements. This is by far one of Seville's best DVD releases and it's of an excellent film to boot. Highly Recommended on both counts. Disc Rating : 9/10 This is a Canadian release. It can be imported from VideoFlicks.com. Dimension Films has acquired the US rights to this film but no release (either theatrical or video) has been announced at this time. |