Synopsis: When their single mother (Teri Polo) uproots seventeen-year-old Dane (Chris Massoglia) and his ten-year-old brother Lucas (Nathan Gamble) from New York City to the sleepy town of Bensonville, the boys' summer fun grinds to a halt. With their mother always at work, the brothers spend their days bored and unattended. But the drudgery is disrupted when they find a seemingly bottomless hole under a locked trap door in the basement. As any curious kids would, they engage in a series of tests and experiments, only to learn that the dark pit seemingly goes on forever. Hoping for answers about the house's past, they share their discovery with Julie (Haley Bennett), the girl next door. Soon, strange shadows seem to be lurking around every corner and nightmares begin coming to life, forcing the trio to face their innermost fears in order to put an end to whatever is coming out of the hole. [Synopsis courtesy of the TIFF]
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a feature film by director Joe Dante, but he certainly hasn't been forgotten. The cult around his films from "Gremlins" to “Explorers” or even 1993’s criminally marginalized “Matinee” (featuring one of John Goodman’s best performances to date), continues to loom lar...
Read More »Some directors are simply in the right place at the right time. This is why Tim Burton has spent the last decade recycling the same ideas, visuals and motifs to ever-diminishing returns with ever-escalating budgets. Surely Burton would not be where he was had the ever-underestimated Joe Dante not tu...
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