The Hole in the Ground

Finally caught up! And with only a couple hours to spare. Today's horror was yet another super literally titled film (seriously, guys, nuance is ok), The Hole in the Ground. Yeah, you know what it's about. But in this case the hole in the ground is evil. So there's that.

Plot synopsis, GO:

Irish mom and her creepy son move to the country. He starts eating spiders. Mom begins to wonder if creepy kid is actually her son or if he's been taken over by some other being. Chaos ensues. Boom.

Plot sound familiar? Yeah, well, it is. The Omen, Poltergeist, The Exorcist, Children of the Corn, The Shining, The Orphanage, The Devil's Backbone, It, The Ring, Pet Semetary, Let the Right One In, The Ring, The Babadook... yeah, horror likes creepy kids. In that sense, The Hole in the Ground doesn't really tread any new ground. In fact, that's really The Hole in the Ground's entire problem: it doesn't do anything we haven't seen before. There's the whole angle of body replacement too, which is something we've seen in a movie or too. Like...

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Us, The Thing, Shivers, Slither, Face/Off (a masterpiece) and, of course, The Hot Chick.

So, yeah, Nothing original here brought to the table. What I will say for The Hole in the Ground, though? It does do these things pretty damn well. The movie is creepy, atmospheric, and genuinely scary at parts. It's well made and, even if it's immensely predictable because we've seen it all before, keeps your interest going. It's not originality that makes this a decent movie, but instead how it presents its unoriginality.

8/10