The Hole

Joe Dante’s first film since 2003’s Looney Tunes: Back in Action, The Hole follows squabbling siblings Dane (Chris Massoglia) and Lucas (Nathan Gamble) as they and a perky neighbor (Haley Bennett’s Julie) discover a mysterious pit in the middle of their basement (horror, obviously, ensues). Filmmaker Dante does a superb job of instantly luring the viewer into the proceedings by evoking the feel of its similarly-themed ’80s counterparts (including Dante’s own Gremlins), and there’s little doubt that the almost hoary nature of the setup plays an instrumental role in The Hole‘s ultimate success (and it certainly doesn’t hurt that the movie boasts a uniformly likeable assortment of characters). The inclusion of several distinctly creepy interludes (eg Lucas’ run-in with a demonic clown doll) perpetuates the film’s ambience of amiable terror, while Dante effectively balances the more overtly horrific elements within Mark L. Smith’s screenplay with light-hearted bursts of humor (eg Dick Miller’s silent yet thoroughly hilarious cameo appearance). As expected, however, the movie’s 3D elements, impressively conceived and rendered as they are, add exceedingly little to the proceedings and ultimately serve only as a consistent distraction (this is to say nothing of the 3D glasses’ penchant for needlessly darkening the image). Despite this rather serious deficiency, The Hole‘s effectiveness doesn’t seriously waver until it reaches its almost obnoxiously frenetic finale – with the anti-climactic nature of the film’s final 20 minutes undermining the strength of everything preceding it. This isn’t quite enough to negate the movie’s otherwise affable atmosphere, with the end result an agreeable throwback to the family-friendly scarefests of yore.

**1/2 out of ****