Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!
Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
suite92 Four homeless art students squat in a supposedly abandoned London house.Things go well for a while. The windows and doors look covered with old boards, which should be no problem to break into. The place has been abandoned for a number of years, and not everything works right at first. They discover some old clothes with fresh blood on them. That does not seem to set off their sense of danger.The next morning, joy turns to despair quickly enough. The windows covered with boards had solid metal beneath the boards; the back door was the same. The front door, which Toby so carefully broke into and re-engineered the previous night, has been bolted down with solid metal. Toby's tool box has gone missing, as has every cell phone they had. They try to get the attention of the police outside who are looking over there 'borrowed' van. Hm. The cops cannot hear them.The captor gasses them, then takes Toby away. The rest look for him, but have little success at first. Their captor ties up Zoe as well, then the torture segment starts.Luke and Molly think they have the drop on their captor. They end up killing Toby instead. Then the captor gasses them. He saws off Zoe's lower legs, then turns his attention to Luke and Molly.Molly manages to get free, and strikes her captor with an iron rod, but only once. She leaves that to chance. Molly finds what is left of Luke, then tries to find an exit, now that she has a set of keys. She also finds the captor's back-story which tells partially why he keeps repeating all the torture.Does Molly make it out alive?-----Scores------Cinematography: 10/10 Love the 2.35 aspect ratio. This picture starts out beautifully on the visuals, and continues that way.Sound: 10/10 Creepy, good tracks, well chosen and recorded.Acting: 5/10 Could have been a lot better.Screenplay: 8/10 Tells a story, and does it fairly well.
gozonuts The director and writer are one in the same - Daniel Simpson, shame on you! You borrowed clichés from other bad horror movies and put them the worst of them in this pile of #$%^ that would be alright as a student project in high school. You are presumably not a teenager. This particular scene ticked me off to no end : antagonist beat the heck out of the maniac only to find out that it is their friend they kill. I mean they beat the living bejesus out of him with a nail studded 2X4 and about 50 blows. When the antagonist does finally manage to immobilize the maniac, she gingerly pops him over the head and runs off like an silly cow, despite her friends lying in pieces all over the joint. She of course gets caught and killed. This kind of lame writing is physically painful and just insulting to the viewer, as it shows the writer/director is either uninspired and lazy or contemptuous of the viewer, or both. What sense does it make for the maniac to mutilate people simply because his father was killed in some horrible event in WW11? Who the hell wasn't involved in a horrible event then? The entire bloody war was horrible. This was just a lousy excuse for a movie and it all falls on Simpson's head; the actors weren't bad but what could they do with this script?
DanielKing An implausible yet intriguing set up is fatally undermined by a terrible script and plot holes you could drive a stolen VW van through.Because the actors have no decent lines they all resort to shouting and gurning, which the director allows them to do. Presumably because he was trying to deflect attention away from the absurd plot developments which spoil what could have been a decent British attempt at the torture porn genre.If that's what floats your boat then you might still get something out of it. Personally, I prefer my horror to be frightening as opposed to merely repellent.
amesmonde Four London Art Students squat in a derelict house to save money with the intention to live-free in a meaningful, creative and partying student lifestyle environment. However, they find themselves trapped inside a large house and their unlawful entry may come at a price, possibly their lives.Daniel Simpson's director / writer feature film debut is an exciting offering of a well-crafted film with an effective and expensive looking production design. The lighting is excellent, creating a dark and ominous atmosphere in the confinement of the empty building. He throws in enough camera angles, movement and cuts though-out to prevent events ever becoming static.Spiderhole begins customary enough with a carefree student Molly having a check-up at the doctors on a sunny London's day, but once she meets her three friends to go on a squatting adventure of free spirited living things take a turn for the worse and it becomes a claustrophobic nightmare.Simpson sets-up the perfect intro for a haunted house thriller, shadowy corridors, locked doors, complete with bangs and bumps. You almost feel you're in for a rework of 1962 The Haunting. Nevertheless, as the supernatural element is dispensed with and the 'torture porn' element begins with plenty of blood, mind-games and grime to get Saw-esque fans jumping in their seats. Executed with some excellent practical and realistic looking effects and blood.Although the characters are thrust into the horror very quickly the Brit slang dialogue is naturalistic enough to keep the tension on track. George Maguire's performance as the edgy sculpture lover is notable and Molly character is written logically and cleverer than most heroines of this genre and is wonderfully played by Emma Griffiths Malin. Both Amy Noble and Reuben-Henry Biggs are more than adequate in the supporting roles and a nod goes to John Regan's subtle performance as The Captor.Jason Cooper & Oliver Krauss score and the sound design is pounding, nauseating which fittingly adds to the on screen action, touching nerves and senses, evocative of the feelings stirred by Marco Beltrami & Marilyn Manson's RE (2002) score.Some plot and style elements are reminiscent of Creep, The Collector, Severance, REC, Catacombs, Hostel and Saw 2 to name a few, however, there's enough originality, mystery, twists and a surprise ending to satisfy the casual horror viewer. Overall, if you enjoy blood, torture and captivity Spiderhole is made for you.
