Interview with Joe Dante on The Hole

[froodle]

Shooting a horror movie with kids might not sound that exciting to the average gore fan, but when you have Gremlins director and Eerie, Indiana creator Joe Dante at the helm, you know it’s not going to be a howler.

“This was not unlike a number of other scripts I get sent,” Dante explains. “Horror movies with kids in them – I get a lot of those. Often they’re not very good because they’re predictable. But this one I found pleasantly unpredictable and I didn’t know where it was going. I didn’t know what was in the hole and I found that the answer was surprisingly poignant.”

After reluctantly moving from New York to the sleepy town of Bensonville, brothers Dane (Chris Massoglia) and Lucas (Nathan Gamble) discover a mysterious hole under a trapdoor in their basement that has an unfortunate knack of unleashing their darkest fears. If that all sounds a little spooky for family viewing, Dante benefited from his convincing cast of talented young stars.