Advantages: Scary without the gore, clever
Disadvantages: some wooden acting, once only watch

...One of the most thrilling Brit flicks of recent years this film is a disturbing and intense psychological thriller. The film is about the dark side of human nature manifested in the form of sociopath Liz (Thora Birch) who's desire to gain the affections of school heart throb, Mike (Desmond Harrington) are seriously beyond the average school girl crush. The film starts with Liz narrating the events which occurred after her and her three spoilt private school buddies all decide that instead of going on a geography field trip they would indulge in some extra curricular activity in an old bomb shelter. Telling her therapist the events Liz blames her friend Martin for keeping them locked down in the Hole long after there food and water had run out. However when the police finally talk to Martin in transpires that Liz may be being less... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Truly gets under your skin, disturbing, genuinely intriguing and exciting.
Disadvantages: Some hammy acting, desires true concentration, truly awful British accents {except Thora Birch wo does very well}

...THE HOLE - STARRING THORA BIRCH, EMBETH DAVIDTZ, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY ET AL. WARNING - SPOILER AHEAD - YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THIS FILM WILL BE RUINED WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. GO STRAIGHT TO CRITIQUE IF YOU WANT TO JUST KNOW AN OPINION OF THIS MOVIE. SYNOPSIS : At a public school in the south of England Liz Dunn is obsessed with American pupil Mike Steel - several attempts at getting him to notice her fail so her best friend Martin offers to help - he shows her, Mike and their friends Geoff and Franke to an underground bunker deep in the woods - the thought being that somee time with him will ultimately make him love her. Martin agrees to seal the hole and come back in three days - initially the teens have fun, but this soon stops when they realise that Martin isn't coming back - they ealise that he is toying with them... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Well acted, Interesting premise
Disadvantages: None really

...Director: Nick Hamm Main Cast: --------------- Thora Birch.....................Liz Keira Knightley...............Frankie Desmond Harrington...Mike Laurence Fox.................Geoff Daniel Brocklebank......Martyn Overview: -------------- Four rich kids from a private school will do anything to get out of a trip to Wales, so when Martyn says he knows a place where they can hole up and party for the four days instead, they couldn't be happier. They go down into the 'hole', an old bunker out in the middle of a forest, and are locked in by Martyn, safe in the knowledge that after 4 days of enjoyment, he'll be back to let them out. Only he isn't. As the days pass, the 4 friends begin to panic, and turn on each other. Then one of them becomes ill, and things take a turn for the worse. My Opinion: --------------- I... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: good acting, Knightley is devine as Frankie
Disadvantages: so confusing it had more turns that my chicken chow mein noodles

...Having read the other opinions on this film I now feel compelled to share my unique views on the recently releases Brit flick that has got everyone praising it up to the nines. Lets start with the story line shall we? Basically there are four private school snobs who opt to skip a school trip to the welsh hills. In order to achieve this ambition they need somewhere to stay for a few days and where do they decide on? Yes you've guessed it...an unused wartime bunker aptly named the Hole. Thora Birch stars as Liz, the school down and out that has fell for the charms of the school hunk Mike. His popularity stakes in the school are for all to see. His dad is a celebrated rock and roll star and the sudden end to his relationship has Liz in all sorts of bother to entice the poor old bloke. Here is where we come across Martin, a long... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Very original, great musically, and really beautiful lyrics
Disadvantages: (none)

...Hole are a band who are always likely to be in the limelight. Not just because the lead singer Courtney Love was married to the late Kurt Cobain (of Nirvana), or because Courtney is a huge character in herself, but because the music is amazing. There is not many female-fronted bands around, (well not compared to the number of male-fronted bands), so when a band like Hole writes music of this calibre, it is certain to get noticed. This is Hole’s third album (with the title coming from the name of an American celebrity photo magazine) and drew very mixed reviews when it was first released in 1998. Hole fan veteran, John Peel, clamed it was “just rubbish” after praising and promoting both of Hole’s other albums on his Radio 1 show. However, others have said that this is Hole’s best offering to date. Gone... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Very very good book
Disadvantages: Even better as a film; worse as a cash-in companion volume

...Theediscerning rather came to the phenomenon that is Holes the wrong way around, in that he saw the film before he read the book. However the film was so good ~ a joyous telling of a brilliant story of circumstance, fate and odd segments of plot roped together to form a seemingly miraculous whole ~ that the book was a must~read. And although the film was never as successful as it should have been, the book was eventually everywhere ~ even in the original 100 in the BBC's best book campaign. It even turned up in multiple copies in theediscerning's local library, after a lengthy wait, so he was able to sample the book form at last. And at least this way, you can get some form of a review of the book, and a comparison with the movie. Green Lake, in all its forms, is a place of learning. 110 years in the past, Green Lake... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good scenes down the bunker - quite tense
Disadvantages: Not scary, a bit of ropy acting

...The Hole is a British horror / thriller from 2001, starring Thora Birch (American Beauty, Ghost World) and Keira Knightley before she got famous and started pouting. It tells the tale of four friends who decide to bunk off a field trip from their posh boarding school, and instead spend the weekend buried underground in a secret bunker. Why they would want to do that is anybody's guess; it must have been one particularly boring field trip. These kids, Liz (Birch), Frankie (Knightley), Mike (Desmond Harrington) and Geoff (Laurence Fox) are just looking for a good time, but something goes badly wrong… Anyway, the film is told with flashbacks between this fateful weekend and the present, in which a police investigation is being carried out into the deaths of three of the four students. Only Liz survived the ordeal, and she is being... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Gripping, Interesting story, Surprising final twist to the plot
Disadvantages: It won’t appeal to everybody, especially those with delicate stomachs

...Although not the most inspiring title for a film, The Hole is far from dull. Released in cinemas on April 20th, this movie provides some welcomed relief from the hype surrounding the box office hit, Bridget Jones’s Diary. Based on the novel by Guy Burt, (‘After The Hole’), this film centres on four public school teenagers who take refuge from a field trip by hiding in an wartime bunker. Convinced that they have successfully escaped a dismal stay in wet Wales, Liz, Frankie, Geoff and Mike excitedly climb down into the hole, armed with all the ingredients for the perfect party. The situation is further intensified by the fact that Liz is crazy about Mike, whilst Frankie and Geoff cannot wait to have some time to themselves. Nick Hamm’s film cleverly merges fantasy with reality, with the result that it is difficult for the viewer... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Plot, Keira Knightley, Britishness...
Disadvantages: Some boredem, Thora's English accent.

...such that they figure out why Martyn (Daniel Brocklebank, the student paid to let them into this ‘hole’) is keeping them there, and they ultimately ‘fool’ him into letting them go. This is where things get interesting (finally you cry!), as we see all 4 characters ‘escaping’ the whole. This seems to go quite heavily against the opening of the film, where only Thora escapes. Our old friend Ms. Doctorina realizes the slight contradiction here, however puts it down to poor Thora and her very mixed up little brain. The police arrest Martyn, and although his demeanor in the interview room is very arrogant intelligent perpetrator-y, his tale of events is very different to that of Thora’s, and we are shown a completely different apparent perspective of life at the school, and motivations behind going into the ‘hole’. For the moment the audience is confused, yet... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent plot, involving and engrossing
Disadvantages: Price, so shop around.

...With nothing to do one night, and nothing of any note on the TV, I switched the the sky movie channels for entertainment. Again I found little immediate interest and so settled with the other half to watch a film called 'holes'. I missed the first few minutes, so didn't realise that this was a Disney film, but it certainly has that Disney cartoon quality - in a film. I've seen so many Disney 'films' and they always seem to disappoint compared to the rather superb feature length cartoons they produce, but they got the cocktail just right with this one. The story goes that a young boy is wrongly accused of stealing some trainers. Good at heart and wrongly treated by a terrible injustice, he is sentenced to spend time at a 'correction institute' for youths. The general idea of this correction cantre is that the boys have to work... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful