Hell Hole (2024)

September 7, 2024 7:32 PM

[TRAILER] The Adams Family (the real life family who made the excellent Hellbender) steps up from no budget to low budget with a tale of a US-led fracking crew working in Serbia who uncover a centuries-old French soldier alive (but maybe not so well) under the soil.

Directed by John Adams, Toby Poser. Written by John Adams, Lulu Adams, Toby Poser. (For some reason, Zelda Adams isn't part of this one.)

86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Now streaming in the US on Shudder. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (4 comments total)

It's interesting seeing The Adams Family work in a more traditional low budget format, with a crew, outside actors, locations, etc. And I do like the underlying story, so I enjoyed it well enough. But the movie is loaded with banter that doesn't land and isn't very funny.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:38 PM on September 7

I don't know. If this were not the Adams Family, I'd have more to say about shaky acting, indifferent lighting, etc.

Since it is, it is sort of fun watching them have fun, if that makes sense. Unlike Hellbender, I don't think it would do that well without grading on a friendly curve. Kinda Tubi level, tbh.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:49 PM on September 7

Solid middling for me; the extra budget seems to have flowed largely into location (travel?) and the digital effects for the critter in question, which wound up falling into an uncanny valley between the usual Adams "low budget but it's charming that they're swinging for the fences" and "incredibly convincing professional CGI".

If I didn't know it was the Adams, I'd have shrugged at this as a competent low-budget piece. Good filler if you're looking for a creature feature to fill an evening, but I'm not running around telling people to check it out like I did with Hellbender.
posted by Shepherd at 7:36 AM on September 8 [1 favorite]

FWIW, the effects are entirely practical, except for some of the blood-spattering-on-the-camera effects.

I thought this was fun overall, if a little lightweight, and have been a little surprised to see it get panned on Letterboxd. I like that the Adams are trying to expand their palette a little bit, adding more humor and more effects.
posted by whir at 3:05 PM on September 11