The eighth feature helmed by the nuclear Adams Family, Hell Hole once again mines from pointed genre influences for the filmmakers’ home-grown creative approach. They’ve previously explored killer carnivals, witch covens, and psychic slashers, and now they train their lens on an environmentally resonant creature feature. Following an American fracking team stationed in Serbia, the Adams’ latest scales up in terms of visual effects, but somewhat strays from the one-man (or rather, one-family) band ethos that made their crop of low-budget horror films so intimate and enticing in the first place. When the guts and goop start flying, however, there’s no denying that the Adams Family have cooked up another bloody good time, even if the overarching mood doesn’t feel as consciously constructed.
Co-directed by spouses John Adams and Toby Poser, Hell Hole opens with some vital background. In 1814, a troop of Napoleonic soldiers wanders the Serbian wilderness after being pushed out of the Illyrian Provinces. Though they’re weak and on the brink of starvation, a crawling, tentacled creature sends them running through the forest for their lives. 210 years in the future, Americans Emily (Poser), John (Adams), and Teddy (Maximum Portman) find themselves on the same land, this time leading a fracking expedition that they hope will result in a big payout. Even before they begin drilling, though, environmental scientists Nikola (Aleksandar Trmčić) and Sofija (Olivera Peruničić) show up to warn that their venture will likely prove devastating for local wildlife. While both parties have different relationships to their surrounding environment—as prospective resource or preserve—they will soon encounter a parasitic being that defies the very laws of nature, no matter the ethics of interacting with it.
While Adams and Poser have prominent roles (as they typically do), the on-screen absence of their daughters is certainly felt in this production. While eldest daughter Lulu is credited as a co-writer alongside her parents (and whose year abroad in France surely influenced a compelling Francophone component of the film), youngest Zelda appears uninvolved. As a young adult, it obviously makes sense for the magnetic Hellbender star to forge her own path apart from her family’s filmmaking practice. As a current Columbia University student, model and musician, it appears that she’s doing just that; here’s hoping that she continues to be involved in future Adams Family projects down the line as her schedule allows.
What’s more anomalous is the fact that the family brought cinematographer Sean Dahlberg onto the project, a role that is typically also shared by Adams and Poser. While Adams still contributed to the film’s edit and original music, aspects which root Hell Hole in the punk, DIY spirit of their previous works, their presence behind the camera is missed. While Dahlberg—whose credits include a slew of horror films and music videos—is a great match for this ambitious monster movie on paper, he can’t replicate the familial gaze of their previous films. Given their daughter’s lack of pronounced involvement, as well as robust acting duties for Adams and Poser, it makes sense to outsource this department, but the visual sensibility is noticeably different. It’s like giving a stranger a camera to take a family photo—the same smiles and attitudes permeate the picture, but the baked-in quirks of the kin behind the camera will inevitably be replaced by a palpable unfamiliarity.
Of course, the true star of Hell Hole is the creature created by MastersFX, with additional special effects makeup courtesy of Todd Masters. Trey Lindsay, who’s worked with the family since The Deeper You Dig, also contributed visual effects and stop-motion animation, which lend the creature an uncanny yet tangible presence, especially as its tentacles writhe and morph in order to slither into any human orifice available (before you ask, absolutely no holes are off-limits). The film makes an interesting observation by noting that, for some unstated reason, Emily and Sofija are immune to the slithery parasite, which only seeks male hosts to lay its eggs within. Considering that previous Adams Family output have contained interesting musings regarding gender—particularly womanhood and the feminine experience—it’s odd that this plotline didn’t materialize into a stronger thematic preoccupation here, especially with the compounding factor of the monster’s explicitly phallic extremities.
Rejecting their unique brand of Americana folk horror in order to investigate the slimy nature of U.S. international interests, the Adams Family continues to thrive, even if Hell Hole is a marked departure for the team on creative and collaborative fronts. It may not feel like the most emblematic of the family’s close-knit filmmaking style, but it is undeniably branded by their touch, rife with naturalistic dialogue and sludge metal galore. Above all, the film emphatically demonstrates the filmmaking collective’s ability to grow and adapt to change, not unlike the film’s novel body snatcher.
Directors: John Adams, Toby Poser
Writers: John Adams, Toby Poser, Lulu Adams
Starring: John Adams, Toby Poser, Petar Arsić, Aleksandar Trmčić, Marko Filipovic, Anders Hove, Max Portman, Olivera Peruničić
Release Date: August 23, 2024 (Shudder)
