The Hole - Die geheimnisvolle Falltür

Joe Dante hat sich nach langer Zeit wieder dem Horrorgenre gewidmet, das ihm am nächsten liegt. Also unauffälliger Familienspaß für die Kleinsten. Wenn ich The Hole als Kind gesehen hätte, hätte es mir sicher gefallen, aber jetzt bedeutet es für mich nichts Aufregendes oder Originelles. Ich habe mich gefreut, die alten Bekannten der dantovské Klassiker Dick Miller und Bruce Dern in Nebenrollen zu treffen. Insgesamt hat mir der Film überhaupt nicht gestört, ich habe mich irgendwie angemessen und leicht überdurchschnittlich unterhalten. Sicherlich ist es kein Fehler, diesen Film zu sehen, es wäre nur vielleicht unterhaltsamer, wenn beispielsweise Gremlins aus dem Loch herausspringen würden. (05.01.2012)

Imagine that children in the house find a hole. And there is something in that hole and they want to know what it is. It was pure garbage. I didn't even laugh and the final scene was so fantastical that even Tolkien in his Lord of the Rings series couldn't have come up with anything bigger. (20.08.2012)

Thanks God that nobody makes this kind of family horror movies anymore (and I’d better knock on wood). I’m not saying that The Hole made me suffer much – actually, I was almost surprised that it didn’t make me feel any aversion while watching it – but I simply refuse to accept child heroes in movies where (theoretically) someone is a jerk. To be fair, though, I admit that some scenes have a pretty nice atmosphere (and the first glance into the hole was quite tense, too), but I simply didn’t like the family-friendly plot. (14.10.2010)

In the American production The Hole, director Joe Dante clearly wanted to showcase some more serious subject matter in horror movies. However, he also aimed to entertain audiences. Somehow, though, he did not pull it off as it is not cohesive as a whole. This is partially down to some pretty bad CGI and lack of depth. Still, it is a decent scary movie with a fairly inevitable conclusion. (06.02.2020)