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THE HOLEDirector:
Nick Hamm
Starring:
Thora Birch, Desmond Harrington, Keira Knightley
The
theatrical trailers might have pushed this film as Yet Another Teen
Slasher Movie, but Hamm’s film, based on Guy Burt’s novel about a
group of young people who become trapped underground in a disused bunker
for eighteen days, is far more interesting than that, even though, with
due respect to Hamm, the film plays like a lengthy episode of the Urban
Gothic TV series. Viewers will probably have difficulty separating
what’s real from the various twisted versions presented by the leading
characters, but Hamm’s lecture-like commentary track will help to
clarify things and add to the viewer’s appreciation.
Pathe’s Region 2 disc is much better than the Region 1 version currently available: it offers 5.1 audio (at 448kbps), adding ambience, and weight to Clint Mansell’s brooding synth score); a selection of deleted and extended scenes including a teasing coda set a year after the movie (totalling about ten minutes). It also has unnecessarily elaborate animated menus and a couple of trailers. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is especially good considering that much of the film takes place in gloomy shadows. The film also has a narrated English soundtrack for the visually impaired, but Pathe’s largess sadly doesn’t extend to the deleted scenes, which don’t have English subtitles.
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