The Hole in the Ground

Name: The Hole in the Ground
Genre: Horror
Released: March 1, 2019
Duration: 90 min
Rating: 63
Cast: Bennett Andrew, David Crowley, Eoin Macken, James Cosmo, James Quinn Markey

2019

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 45 Ratings

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5.3

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5.3	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 45 Ratings

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The Hole In The Ground

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Movie Details & Credits

A24 | Release Date: March 1, 2019 | R

Starring: Bennett Andrew, David Crowley, Eoin Macken, James Cosmo, James Quinn Markey, Kati Outinen, Sarah Hanly, Seána Kerslake, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall

Summary: Sarah and her young son Chris move to a new home in the Irish countryside, next to a forest that hides an enormous sinkhole. One night, Chris vanishes, and when he reappears he seems unharmed and unchanged. But, as his behavior grows increasingly disturbing, Sarah begins to fear that the boy who has returned may not be her son at all.

Director: Lee Cronin

Genre(s): Horror

Rating: R

Runtime: 90 min

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Critic Reviews

The Guardian Mike McCahill

Feb 28, 2019

It always finds new, invariably cinematic ways to nudge us towards its final leap into the abyss. Cronin feels like a real find for our especially insecure moment. Read full review

Demetrios Matheou

Feb 2, 2019

There’s a freshness to the characterisations, a good eye, and for a time Cronin constructs a tense guessing game as to whether it’s mental breakdown or supernatural forces at play. Read full review

Norman Gidney

Feb 2, 2019

The Hole In the Ground surprised me, took me on a fun ride, and returned me, almost unshaken. This was a brilliantly satisfying monster movie. Read full review

Mike D'Angelo

Feb 26, 2019

Parental anxiety has long been fertile ground for horror, going back to "The Bad Seed" and "The Exorcist," and The Hole In The Ground finds a somewhat fresh angle on the possessed-kid subgenre. Read full review

The Telegraph Tim Robey

Feb 28, 2019

Somewhere in the specifics of Cronin’s is-he-or-isn’t-he scenario – played with gripping detail by Kerslake and Markey – there’s a decent little midnight chiller. Read full review

Empire Kim Newman

Feb 26, 2019

A soft-spoken yet chilling domestic horror film that tells its slightly overfamiliar tale effectively, with strong performances, quietly disturbing atmosphere, one or two friendly clichés, and good, old- fashioned scares. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Nick Allen

Jan 29, 2019

This is a story that errs toward the familiar instead of embracing strangeness, its freaky kid becoming the distraction when you just want more time with the hole in the ground. Read full review

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User Reviews

Rcavey92212

Mar 24, 2020

Soooooooo creepy. The movie features on a single young mother who gets a desolate new house in Ireland with her young son. One day while jogging in the woods she discovers a giant hole in the ground and advises her son to not go out by himself. If course he does and when he comes back he'sSoooooooo creepy. The movie features on a single young mother who gets a desolate new house in Ireland with her young son. One day while jogging in the woods she discovers a giant hole in the ground and advises her son to not go out by himself. If course he does and when he comes back he's not the same. It's little things at first, slight mb mannerisms and the way he reacts to spiders and other kids he used to hate. But as things get increasingly strange she decides to confront him with truly terrifying consequences. The movie is a slow burn to be sure but it's very well done and undoubtedly suspenseful. It all leads up to a nightmarish finale that's worth the wait. Fine performances and confident direction highlight this great piece of genre.

4/5… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

davidler

Feb 18, 2021

Centering the focus on the heroine and the decisions she makes, an interpretation arose around confronting fears and the consequences of passivity. There are cliches but I enjoyed the plot and almost continual tenseness of this film.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

CallOfTheVoid88

Nov 30, 2021

For the most part, the tale holds up well. At points, it appears to be veering towards the tired trope of "is the horror real or in the mind of the pill-popping primary character," and we wonder whether Chris has been taken over by an evil entity.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Mar 28, 2019

By being a filmmaking debut it's quite respectable because it's a well crafted horror thriller, yet it never stops feeling conventional.
I mean it never goes for the cheap scares but it doesn't really go to other places either.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

JLau

Sep 27, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A little Irish kid is acting creepy because he's actually been replaced by an alien (?) that was under his house in a "hole in the ground".… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

movieworshiper8

May 28, 2019

the movie wasn't perect . the emotions of the mother's face were not wisible and the film was not scary. you can see it once but,not a good horror movie

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Marcin1234

Dec 7, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The movie itself is slow and boring with zero original ideas. Then you realize it's just a front for feminist propaganda. We have a female protagonist with background of abuse by her husband (even though it has nothing to do with the plot), and her son getting more and more aggresive. One of a telling scenes is where his mother wants to set a spider free and calls it a "she" fpr some reason. Then her son says daddy would kill it and so he kills it too. Then you have a guy just bragging about beating up other man. Or an old guy getting angry and destroying evidence. At one point the protaginist is even dressed like the "we can do it" chick.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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