The Hole tells the story of an abandoned war bunker hidden deep in the Eglish countryside & the four teenagers who want to spend a few days in it partying, sounds like fun to me. Liz Dunn (Thora Birch) has a huge crush on Mike Steel (Desmond Harrington) the son of an American rock star so arranges the unorthodox gathering & invites her friend Frankie (Keira Knightley) & her boyfriend Geoff (Laurence Fox) who happens to be best mates with Mike, Liz reckons she'll score with Mike no problem. However things don't go according to plan as when they try to leave the bunker they discover the hatch is locked tight. They slowly realise they are trapped, they are running out of water, food & soon the bickering & arguing begins as they wait in hope for someone to rescue them from the hole...<br /><br />This English production was directed by Nick Hamm & I thought The Hole was a top-notch thriller. The script by Ben Court & Caroline Ip is based on the novel 'After the Hole' by Guy Burt & was gripping, clever & engaging. It moves along at a nice pace, it has some nice twists & turns while it's one of those films which really comes together during the final 10 minutes when the truth is finally revealed, it may not come as the biggest shock in the cinematic world but it's effective, satisfying, you'll be thinking about it whether you liked it or not & it ties up everything that has gone before really well. The character's are good & well fleshed out, they didn't seem too clichéd & they were quite likable unlike most American horror/thrillers that rely on teens. On the negative side it's a film which I won't want to watch again in a hurry simply because once the twists are revealed the films impact is all but lost & I just couldn't get my head around Liz as a character or her supposed motivations. OK she comes out of the situation like some sort of genius who plays the system & the scared little girl routine perfectly but would anyone really have caused all that suffering & hurt which eventually leads to your best friend dying just so some bloke would notice them? I have a fantastic friend named Kelly & I know for a fact I wouldn't be able to sit by & watch her in pain slowly dying no matter what the reason & I find it hard to believe anyone could do what Liz does to someone they care for, it would kill me to see Kelly or anyone I like suffer for ANY reason. Anyway, despite not being able to get my head around this aspect of The Hole that well I still think it's good entertainment, it's different, it's memorable & I liked it a fair bit.<br /><br />Director Hamm does a good job, he doesn't seem to go for out-and-out scares but the film has a nice atmosphere to it. He keeps the pace going while maintaining the mystery elements of the plot so as to keep you guessing, for such a simple idea it all works rather well in my opinion. There's not much in the way of gore or violence, there's a disgusting toilet crawling with maggot's but that's as gross as it gets.<br /><br />According tot he IMDb The Hole had an estimated budget of £4,158,370 which sounds a very odd figure to just be an 'estimate'. Anyway, I'm a bit surprised because that actually sounds like quite a lot of money to me at almost $8,000,000 & considering there's no big name actors, no special effects, only two or three locations & functional rather than spectacular production design it seems a lot. Shot entirely in England. The acting was good, there were one or two moments where it might have been better but for a largely unknown cast they did OK.<br /><br />The Hole is an effective little thriller that I thought was well worth watching although probably not more than once. I liked it, it ain't perfect by any means but it's something a bit different, it definitely gets a recommendation from me.