User reviews

As a big fan of creature features, I was excited to check out Hell Hole. While the movie still had some fun moments, it was mostly a disappointment. The biggest issue with the film concerns the amount of dialogue that neither advances the plot nor meaningfully develops the character. The movie's plot is very basic, so there wasn't much to develop. Similarly, almost all of the characters are underdeveloped. These dialogue scenes feel as though they stretch on for forever because the action scenes are either very brief or poorly executed. So it movie often seems as though it's 90+ minutes of redshirts chatting with only brief breaks for action. Another big issue concerns the ending as I felt like it was wrapped up way too quickly with the fates of a few characters not fully understood. Ultimately, Hell Hole is a movie that falls well short of its relatively high potential.

The entire film takes place on Mount Rtanj, in an abandoned mine building with the same name. The history of this mine is very rich, and I suggest that viewers of the film explore it.

The story is thin. The acting is terrible. The dialogues are tragic. Literally, nothing in this film is good, but I still had a lot of fun. The plot is as transparent as gauze, and not only has it been seen a thousand times, but it's also been executed perfectly in at least a hundred other films. In this film, as a native Serb, I find a comedic aspect that someone who isn't from Serbia probably wouldn't notice.

The constant mixing of Serbian with English is very well thought out and adds an interesting element to the film.

The characters from Serbia are portrayed very accurately. Their knowledge of English is very poor, they are stupid and uneducated (and all of them are armed - which might be a bit exaggerated). In the film, the use of Slovenian and Macedonian languages can be noticed in fragments. The final scene is interesting and presents a view of Slovenian daily newspapers. By the way, I hope the sequel to this film is never made!

All in all, I think this film should be avoided entirely, and I only enjoyed it because my native language is used in a rather humorous way.

Well . . . If you can sit through the clumsy writing, pregnant pauses and 90s-style soundtrack, this will do as a creature feature that you can watch while doing laundry, vacuuming, or making bird houses. The basic plot is familiar: a team of frackers, joined by scientists and eco-types, unearth a critter that time had forgotten, therein accidentally unleashing a monster on the land.

Nobody in HH can act, with the exception of director/actor Toby Posner, who does the best she can with the limited material. (Frankly, had the delivery of the lines by the other actors been tightened up a few notches, this movie would have been fairly decent.) What budget was on hand was spent on the creature, which is admittedly pretty decent for a low budget movie.

Can''t say I recommend it, but if it is the only thing on, you could do worse.

2/10 due to the interesting intro.

While the concept for the film made me pop it on, who wouldn't want to see the exploits of a Napoleonic solider reinserted into modern times with a xenomorph surprise right?

Thankfully the creative minds behind Hellhole toss that away quickly and you can go back to flicking your feeds.

The dialogue is terrible, but shines in contrast to the GOD AWEFUL FX that looks like it was a middle school AV club project on a low budget school PC.

If Hell Hole had been edited into a short film, 15 minutes, pivoted from the overuse and abuse of the TRASH effects to more of a thriller, you might have something to share.

Your popcorn deserves a better night out then being paired with this film.

I found the cover for this movie interesting enough to make me stop up and take notice. And with "Hell Hole" being a horror movie that I had neither heard about, much less actually seen before, of course I would sit down and give the movie a fair chance. I am a huge fan of the horror genre after all.

The storyline in "Hell Hole" was pretty straight forward, and it sort of semi-entertaining. However, writers John Adams, Lulu Adams and Toby Poser didn't exactly revolutionize the horror genre with this 2024 movie. If you are a diehard horror fan, then you might get a small kick out of this movie, just keep in mine that you're not in for anything grand. I have to say that the narrative is slow paced and there isn't really a whole lot going on to drive the movie forward, which means parts of the movie are rather sluggish and difficult to sit through.

The only familiar face on the cast list, for me at least, was actor Anders Hove. He was only in the movie for a short time, but it was still a nice thing to have a horror icon such as Anders Hove showing up in a movie such as this. The acting performances in "Hell Hole" were fair.

There was some pretty fun and enjoyable gore in the movie, especially when people were blowing up when the alien parasitic creature would burst out of the host bodies. That was actually quite fun to watch.

When you have a movie that is starring, written and directed by the same two people, you just know it is not going to be a stellar viewing experience.

My rating of directors John Adams and Toby Poser's 2024 movie "Hell Hole" lands on a three out of ten stars, with the gore actually dragging the movie up from an otherwise two out of ten stars rating.

This movie could have been cult status if it would have taken itself more seriously. It puts you In the vein of The Thing, Hidden, Alien,, and so many other Scifi cult classics. The special effects was excellent, everything we want and need in these Science fiction movies. The acting was somewhat ok, the storyline was cliche but the protagonist creature was original. A fracking crew working deep in the Serbian wilderness uncovers a parasitic creature. This movie is from the filmmaking family behind Hellbender. The creature needs a human/body to host. Toby Poser and her husband John Adams true to the horror genre.

Overall I found this to be an entertaining experience, despite some flaws. This was a fun sci-fi creature feature that enjoyably didn't take itself too seriously while retaining some creep factor and intrigue.

The Adams family are always enjoyable to watch, despite some stiff and stilted dialogue at times throughout the film. Some of the CGI and practical effects were more successful than others but I enjoyed and appreciated the concept and intention behind all of it. The acting was decent from most of the cast, with a particularly solid performance from the actor playing Danko.

I wish we could've gotten a little bit more as far as plot goes. I feel like we lightly touched on a lot of different storylines, but nothing was really delved into. Regardless, this is enjoyable for what it is... a fun cat and mouse monster flick with some cool visuals and a lighthearted vibe. 5.5 rounding up to a 6, would recommend.

Arriving in Serbia for a mission, a drilling crew arrives looking to prepare a special location into a potential fracking site in the future, but when they uncover a frozen soldier in the operation with a body-hopping parasite inside must try to contain the creature it completes its reproduction.

This was a fairly fun and enjoyable genre effort. One of the main factors to like with this one comes from the stellar setup that brings the group together with several intriguing storylines being brought into the fray. The initial exploits of the crew being sent there to evaluate the condition of the site into a potential source for a fracking operation in the future gives everyone a great starting point to have the group meet up in a remote camp in the wilderness which brings about the discovery of the body. This stars up the fine secondary storyline where the body begins to showcase signs of still being alive despite being alive for several centuries and the series of tests that try to look into the true cause of the persons' status which triggers all sorts of alarms about not just what caused the character to stay alive but also the potential damage to the operation. This has quite a lot to like as well within the confines of the creature feature realm. The abilities of the parasite being a cocooning organism that keeps its victims alive once they become infected with it who can then manipulate the host to do whatever it wants while giving off several hints that they've become a host to the creature so there's a lot of intriguing biological facts given about the organism. It all come off rather logical as well, how the different investigative tactics look into the history of the creature's presence, how they can determine the origins of it and what's going on with it running wild through the various members of the facility which includes some great effects work on the infection sequences where it defends itself or possesses a body to move to it's next host. These are gruesome and bloody enough to be quite enjoyable, providing the film with some enjoyable points about it. This one does have some immensely problematic factors about it. The biggest issue here is the lack of urgency in what's going on when the group initially discovers the presence of the parasite as barely anything happens with the discovery. The discovery of the creature and how it becomes a body-hopping parasitic being looking for new hosts to carry on their line, endangering not just the camp but humanity as a whole with the implication of the escape into the world at large, manages to carry with it no big attempts at ramping up tension or thrills in the revelation. Due to the constant conversations about what's going on and the fact that they talk about it in the presence of the infected who never tries to engage in any kind of physical superiority over the crew, there's a decidedly tame feeling during this section which is the opposite of how they should be presented. With a finale that goes for more sympathy than it does anything else which is a weird way to go about it, these are what hold this one down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

This has some good elements but it ultimately disappoints. The good elements include a fairly novel monster that's well-utilized; some gory, gross and darkly funny splatter effects; and reasonably good performances. But they're ultimately outweighed by the bad elements: a rather lackluster premise that's like a throwaway X-Files episode; unlikeable characters; and a tepid ending that sputters to a lackluster conclusion. Worst of all is repetitive and redundant expositional dialogue. The characters talk and talk about everything that's happening and they over-explain the nature of the monster, its lifecycle and biology.

This movie definitely brought the unique vision of the Adams family, both in how they shot the film and the deepness of the story lines it explores. I actually appreciated the banter and obnoxious humor of John against the nerdy scientists, rig workers, and Emily played by Toby Posser. Toby brought the sardonic wit we love from her. I will not get into the story line but I do appreciate the thought they put into the monster and how it had survived for millennia with a nod to H. P. Lovecraft! I appreciated how they set things up in the past long ago and brought it to a very contemporary setting. I think this setting is a new one for the Team! For me, it was another gem from The Adams Family!

I am a fan of Adams family. I have watched both "The Deeper You Dig" and "Hellbender". Good movies, especially Hellbender, by those talented artists who obviously love a lot the horror genre, and they try to leave their mark on it. I respect their effort, with the means they have at their disposal. These are not groundbreaking movies though, neither great ones. Their movies are not scary neither much intense. For example, HELLBENDER is something like a "Coming of age/indie/art horror". It's easy to make a garbage movie like every other horror movie nowadays, with masked killers or demons killing everyone, but this is just a copy of a copy of a copy. Adams' movies have identity and their movies are kinda unique.

That doesn't mean they're very good. And "Hell hole" is my least favorite movie of them. Of course it's not scary as expected but at the same time, it's not much intense neither interesting. Keep in mind though, this is more comedy than horror. At least, i saw it that way. And when i understood what this is about, i had a lot of fun, there were even some hilarious scenes during the last 20 minutes.

So, it's important to lower your expectations and undestand what this is about. If you expect something as i described it, you will find this movie entertaining as well.

In any case, this is definitely not a MUST WATCH movie and i expect something better in the future. HELL HOLE is not a failure imo but neither a step forward by those film makers.

I Did not like this film at all. I am a horror fan but this was a no from me. I did not enjoy anything but the monster effects. You have enough actors and location but was poorly put together. Did not like any of the characters and storyline was so dull. I've seen much better films with one or two characters and one place with a much better storyline. I find there is no imagination in this movie apart from the creature effects. I gave it a fair chance and watched it all the way through and it just was not good. If I could have I would have given a zero rating..but that's just my opinion others may enjoy this film but it wasn't for me.

I'd only seen one other film from these creators before (that being Hellbender), which struck me as an attempt at a folk horror / coming of age story with nice cinematography but not much substance. Hell Hole continues the tradition with terrible generic dialogue, but at least it was quite entertaining in its campiness, making up for the equal lack of depth and characterization with over-the-top gore and patently silly interactions. It reminded me a bit of the Resident Evil game series (in more ways than one), which got good once it started leaning into its more ridiculous aspects and trying to have some tongue-in-cheek fun with them.

Hell Hole's too repetitive to watch more than once, but for a one-time-thing, the practical effects, cool setting (Here's to post-Soviet industrial decay!) and comedic elements (which I'll charitably hope were intentional) make it worth seeing at least once, even if it's just when you come home from the bar and feel like watching something disposable.

I can't help but think that they spent more money on the film poster than the production itself. Had it not been for the quality of the poster I'd have not even given this a second look.

I had high hopes, but quite quickly I felt let down and watched this with a mix of apathy and disappointment.

Sure, it's 'fun' in a certain sense, but really feels like a series of unrelated scenes stitched together in the editing room without the editor having a copy of the story to hand.

You expect somewhat wooden acting in low-budget films, but some of the abundant trees in this film had more character to them. Sorry, but not one for me.

Well, this could have been a hidden gem. But unfortunatly it is not. The setting is very good, the bleak abandoned mine with nature reclaiming the whole area. So the "brown" area (previously mining or industrial area) setting is perfect. The idea has been used many times but not really this way: the "scientific" background is different.

So it had a lot of potential, but blew it entirely.

The acting is really bad, most of the cast overacts like the serbian professor or the scientist girl. Dialogues are too long and cutting is also flowed. There is a lot of exposition in the dialogues which could have been avoided and traded to a little more action. Overall the characters are pretty dumb, just slowly figouring out the situation and then not believing each other. Even after they all know the truth they do not try to figure out mechanisms to kill the monster (for example to burn it somehow.

The ending is also really bad not concluding the story in any way.

Certanly after watching it the feeling of a missed opportunity is owerwhelming. With such a good setting, a not bad idea, the eastern European taste it could have been a classic.

This is a fun, low budget, creature feature that has more pros than cons: it's funny, the charters actually have personality, there are some fun practical effects (and some terrible ones too) and the directing & editing are competent. I wanted something fun and silly to put on and this hit the mark.

If you're a sucker for creature features and find guilty pleasure in cheesy movies then you'll probably enjoy this.

Main complaints are too much dialog but not enough one-liners (if they'd gone over the top with the silly effects or cheesy dialog I would have liked it more and would probably bumped my rating up) and the ending was... abrupt & bad.

To be fair, this movie is a 5, not a 6, but so many folks are hating on it I wanted to give a little more love because this film definitely has an audience with people like me.

The acting in this film is ROUGH. The premise sounded interesting and I was intrigued after watching the trailer, but as soon as I started I knew I made a bad choice. For the first few minutes I actually thought I was watching a dubbed film because the acting and dialogue was so strange. Everyone was extremely wooden and none of their reactions to the horror elements fit at all.

The cinematography was decent I guess? The score/soundtrack of heavy guitars was off putting and didn't work in the context of the scenes.

I love a well executed low budget horror film, but this was truly an amateur production all around.

I loved the concept for this film as a fracking crew uncover a deep frozen creature under the ground that spells death for all the male crew. It's a mixture of John Carpenter's The Thing and Tremors with some great gore fx, but the creature is just an okay design and the story runs out of steam - fast. The thing that saves it, is that the cast is pretty good and it's entertaining everyone someone explodes. It's a fun and entertaining film but doesn't compare to the rewatchability of the above mentioned films. I think horror film lovers will get more out of this film than genuine audiences unless you're a fan of the filmmakers' previous films including Hellbenders (which I really enjoyed).

Hell Hole sounded exactly like the kind of movie I'd enjoy. It has an intriguing premise involving a parasitic monster in a remote setting. When I saw that it was made by the Adams family, who have produced several darker horror films in the past, I was even more interested, as I generally support their work, even though it doesn't always align with my tastes. Most films like this end up being SyFy-level productions with poorly written characters getting picked off by cheap CGI monsters. But with the Adams family's usual preference for a more subtle approach, Hell Hole had the potential to be a genuinely interesting film.

First off, the creature was made with practical effects, with some CGI used for certain scenes. The challenge with movies like this is that they require a certain budget and a skilled team for the creature effects to feel convincing. Otherwise, the results can feel cheap and amateurish. Unfortunately, Hell Hole fell into this trap. While I appreciate the effort to focus on practical effects, the monster doesn't look believable, and in many scenes, it's clearly a puppet being maneuvered over the characters. There are a few moments when you get a closer look at the creature's face, where the details are decent, but otherwise, the effects don't hold up. The CGI used for things like blood splashes, often from characters randomly exploding when being shot, also looks unconvincing, and these scenes end up looking poor every single time.

The acting is another drawback with some of the actors delivering their lines unconvincingly, which is an issue given that the movie relies heavily on dialogue. Most of these conversations are unnecessary and end up dragging out the scenes and the movie as a whole which makes this pacing issue even more apparent.

Overall, I liked the story itself and think it had real potential, but the execution just didn't quite come together. That said, I appreciate the effort put into Hell Hole. I enjoy these types of movies, and it's clear the team didn't just throw together a creature feature for a quick profit. They put in genuine effort. Unfortunately, though, the final product didn't quite hit the mark. [5.4/10]

I recently watched Hell Hole (2024), the follow-up project from the team behind Hellbender, on Shudder. The story follows an American fracking company drilling in Serbia, where they discover a Frenchman from the 1800s in the area they're excavating. As they investigate his bizarre behavior, they uncover a dark secret buried within him that has kept him alive for centuries-but what exactly is it?

As mentioned, this film is co-directed by and stars John Adams and Toby Poser, who also directed Hellbender. The cast includes Maxamillion Portman (Where the Devil Roams), Anders Hove (The Quiet Ones), and Olivera Perunicic (Subspecies V).

This movie is phenomenal, especially considering it was made on a $1 million budget. It's a perfect blend of "The Host" and "Slither," with a unique twist on a familiar premise. The special effects are top-notch, and the CGI is impressive, particularly given the budget. The kills are excellent, with plenty of blood splatter and gore. The acting is solid, and the characters feel authentic, supported by well-written, lighthearted dialogue. There's a sprinkle of humor throughout, which helps the film strike the right balance between fun and suspense, keeping you hooked and anticipating what's coming next. The last 25 minutes, set in the woods, is pure horror gold.

In conclusion, Hell Hole is a strong addition to the horror genre and an absolute must-see for genre fans. I'd rate it 7.5-8/10 and highly recommend it.