By Connie Lee August 20, 2024
The Adams Family has grown on horror fans throughout the years because of the creative risks they take and their homegrown, DIY approach. And now, the filmmaking family has taken things to the next level with their wild and fun ecohorror, Hell Hole. While it is a bit different than their past works and rough around the edges, it still has a solid story that’s squirm-worthy and will make audiences laugh and cringe, often at the same time.
Synopsis
An American drilling crew discovers that fracking may be more terrifying than they ever thought when they unearth a French soldier and a parasitic monster that’s been living inside him for over 200 years. Once the creature is awakened, the crew fights to stop it as it tries to find its next perfect host.
Review
The Adams Family’s love for creature features of the past is apparent in Hell Hole. It’s a little bit of Alien, The Thing, and The Puppet Masters all at once. Between the practicality of its ultra-lethal critter and complex discussions between science and nature, this film would’ve been as effective in 1995 as in 2024. Even more, the Adams’ personality, quirks, and willingness to experiment add more character to the monster itself. They’re not worried about hyper-realism or anything like that; they’re in it to make the parasite as gross and unhinged as possible, and they’ve succeeded.
Just like Godzilla and the H-bomb and Brundlefly and mad science, Hell Hole tackles the dangers of fracking by using the parasite as an allegory, and this couldn’t be more clever. The parasite can be thought of as the consequence of disrupting living creatures who were part of nature long before humans. It would have never been awakened if it hadn’t been for people threatening its ecosystem with their digging. While there are several other movies about parasites, Hell Hole is distinct because it uses the simplest form of the creature and has the most to say.
Even though Toby Poser, who leads the cast as Emily and wrote and directed alongside her family, manages to ground and reel the plot back in, there is still much to be desired from dialogue and structure. The characters’ lines are quite clunky, making it feel like some scenes were a total mouthful to get through. This does get a bit better towards the second half, but the lines never lose their unnatural and slightly cheesy feel. On top of this, the transitions and tones are uneven, adding to the dialogue challenges and making it hard to figure out what the story wants to be by the end. It’s both silly and smart but has difficulty doing both simultaneously.
The effects are also a hit or miss, becoming more absurd and over the top as the film progresses. It obviously relies more on blood than believability, and there is a lot of blood. But this actually works in the film’s favour, adding to that gnarly, punk-rock feel of the parasite. Even if it’s not real, it’s still pretty scary to see flailing appendages arise from a mess of flesh and blood, especially because it’s hard to know exactly what they belong to.
As far as indie horror goes, Hell Hole is one of the more genuine and unapologetic films. Even with its flaws, it refuses to fit in the horror box others have gotten stuck in, and that realness is what makes it entertaining. By being itself and nothing more, it’s very easy to appreciate.
Star Rating
Hell Hole releases on Shudder August 23
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