Movie Review: HELL HOLE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: August 30th, 2024 / 06:03 AM

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Toby Poser, John Adams, Max Portman, Anders Hove, Marko Filipović, Olivera Peruničić, Aleksandar Trmčić, Petar Arsić, Bruno Veljanovski, Boris Lukman
Writers: Lulu Adams & John Adams & Toby Poser
Directors: Toby Poser & John Adams
Distributor: Shudder
Release Date: August 23, 2024 (Shudder)

“Man is the warmest place to hide” was a slightly misleading tagline for 1982’s JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING. The Thing wasn’t hiding inside people, it was replicating them.

However, the slogan would be a perfectly apt way to promote HELL HOLE, a relatively low-budget but effective horror movie that has an uncommon take on its subject.

It can be worrisome when writers/directors are also the leads. However, directors Toby Poser & John Adams, who wrote the screenplay with Lulu Adams, have a good grip on the reins while turning in fine performances. The earthy Poser is especially powerful as the no-nonsense project supervisor.

A prologue set in 1814 Serbian territory gives us a small, lost platoon of Napoleonic soldiers. A local woman mysteriously gives them a horse. With absolutely no dialogue, it is implied that the soldiers assume the woman relinquishes the horse because she doesn’t want a fight. Her ominous smile as they depart tells us otherwise. It’s not much of a spoiler to say it doesn’t go well for the platoon.

Then we’re in present-day Serbia, where an American-run fracking operation is being indefinitely delayed by flooding. Emily (Poser) is in charge of the mostly Serbian crew. Her husband John (Adams) is second in command, and Emily’s nephew Teddy (Max Portman) is the company cook.

There are also a pair of Slovenian researchers on site: college professor Nikola (Aleksandar Trmčić) and his grad student Sofija (Olivera Peruničić). They are here hoping to find pikas, small rabbit-like mammals. However, Sofija confesses to Teddy that her real passion is parasitology. This will come in handy.

An attempt to drill strikes something subterranean that produces an awful but organic smell. This leads the company to a bizarre discovery in the nearby woods. And then …

While the monster works conceptually and often manages to wreak mayhem simply by existing, what’s most intriguing about HELL HOLE is how it handles its multiple themes.

For once, the main characters catch on pretty quickly and believe the evidence of their eyes. But what exactly ought they to do, morally and practically? That dilemma fuels the story in ways that bring us right along with these folks.

HELL HOLE doesn’t ever fully articulate some of the items on its agenda, but the metaphors are unavoidable. It asks sound questions and makes its points well.

Co-director/co-writer/costar Adams also served as editor and composed the score. There are times when he goes for a music video effect, with quick cuts speeding up what would otherwise be a single shot of someone crossing the screen. The score’s metal edges put a lightly satirical spin on the action.

The gore and creature effects are mostly strong, especially an explosive motif that doesn’t lose its impact through repetition. In closeup, the monster has an over-the-top retro look, but this feels in keeping with everything else.

The filmmakers also get mileage out of their burned-out but enormous industrial location and an impressive-looking fracking machine.

HELL HOLE demonstrates how to make an economical but propulsive horror movie that is thoughtful but not pretentious, and often intentionally amusing.

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