Michael C. Hall and Taissa Farmiga thriller John and the Hole: Review
If you need your fill of creepy, suspenseful movies then IFC Films has you covered. John and the Hole is a movie about a kid who finds an unfinished bunker in the woods behind his house and decides to hold his family captive in it.
The kid does not exactly exude personality early in the film so you spend the majority of the movie trying to figure out what his next move is and what he is capable of.
As mentioned in the title, John and the Hole features Michael C. Hall (Dexter) as John’s father, Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story) as John’s sister, and Jennifer Ehle (Little Men) as John’s father.
John himself is played by Charlie Shotwell who I thoroughly enjoyed in the Netflix film Eli from a few years ago. (Side note: That movie has a very daring twist that you’ll either hate or love as a viewer.) Shotwell carries this film and has gotten a lot of love from critics for his performance and is certainly a rising young actor to watch.
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I went into John and the Hole with no idea of what to expect so it initially reminded me of the 2019 film The Hole in the Ground where a kid finds a large hole in his backyard at the beginning of the film and for the next hour you start to notice he’s not acting the same.
John and the Hole does not ever get to as dramatic a point as The Hole in the Ground does, but it does give you several moments of wondering how far John is willing to go.
The suspense is in wondering what John’s plan is or how things will play out once he has placed his family in the hole. How long can he keep friends and family from asking questions? Is he going to kill his family? Will he kill to keep his secret? What mistakes will he make? Will the family find a way out of the hole? Will someone find the hole and how will they confront John? There are a lot of thoughts that will go through your mind while watching this film.
John and the Hole has a lot of suspense, but the ending is a big letdown
There are points that bring the tension up to an “edge of your seat” level but when it comes down to it I have to admit I was underwhelmed by the way John and the Hole ends. I do my best to avoid spoilers but I do want to set that expectation.
The movie only wins me over by finishing on a powerful closing scene and it does not. With that said, there will be those who disagree with me. If I play devil’s advocate to my stance I might think the ending was perfect because of what it says about the family dynamic and I could probably spark a discussion about what might be next.
Speaking of which, there is a side storyline that pops up at some point in the film. I wanted this story to go somewhere, and it does, but even the meaning behind that side story isn’t clear. Overall, this is not a movie I would recommend heavily to a casual moviegoer. This is a movie that only a person that enjoys analyzing the deeper meaning and themes behind a movie will enjoy.
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If it helps at all, the writer of the film is one of the writers behind the Oscar-winning film Birdman (which also won an Oscar for best original screenplay) so the quality is there, I just personally wanted more from the ending.
Will you watch John and the Hole when it arrives in theaters and on-demand this weekend?