The Hole (2001 film)

The Hole
Directed by	Nick Hamm
Produced by	Jeremy Bolt Lisa Bryer Pippa Cross
Written by	Ben Court Caroline Ip
Starring	Thora Birch Desmond Harrington Keira Knightley Daniel Brocklebank Embeth Davidtz Laurence Fox
Music by	Clint Mansell
Distributed by	Pathé
Release date	20 April 2001
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Hole is a 2001 psychological horror film directed by Nick Hamm, based on the novel After the Hole by Guy Burt. The film stars Thora Birch, whose headlining credit and highly publicized seven figure salary was attributed to her appearance in American Beauty. It also features Keira Knightley, in her first significant role in a feature film.

The film premiered in the United Kingdom in April 2001. Dimension Films, which in October 2001 acquired the rights to distribute the film theatrically in the United States, never did so; it was instead released direct-to-video nearly two years later, by Dimension's then-fellow Disney subsidiary Buena Vista Distribution. The film was shot at Bray Studios and various locations around southern England, including Downside School in Somerset.

The film opens with the appearance of a dishevelled, blood-soaked Liz (Thora Birch), one of four private school pupils, also including Mike (Desmond Harrington), Geoff (Laurence Fox), and Frankie (Keira Knightley), who have been missing for 18 days. Liz is interviewed by a psychiatrist, Dr. Philippa Horwood (Embeth Davidtz), and describes what has happened to the four.

Liz describes how she told Martyn (Daniel Brocklebank) about her unrequited love for Mike; Martyn promised to help, as he and Liz were best friends. Martyn took his four classmates, musician's son Mike, his best friend Geoff, Liz and popular girl Frankie to an abandoned underground nuclear fallout shelter, where they decided to stay in order to avoid a school field trip. The four students climbed into the shelter, Mike reluctantly, and Martyn locked the door shut.

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