For a number of years independent filmmaking family, the Adams’, have been synonymous with Fantasia. The festival has screened the last three of their features, with this year playing host to a fourth. However, whereas The Deeper You Dig, Hellbender, and Where the Devil Roams were 100% Adams family productions, their new film, Hell Hole, sees them bring in help from outside their bloodline.
In addition to expanding the crew and lessening the load of responsibility, the usual directing trio of father John Adams, daughter Zelda Adams, and mother Toby Poser, has been trimmed down to just the parental units. This move is born out of the youngest Adams going to college and the shoot happening off of their family land, in Serbia instead. The story is also less Adams than die-hard fans will be expecting. The exceptionally talented group have become well known for their witchy low-fi stories of broken families and identities. As beautiful as each of their other works are, they deliver a hefty emotional punch. In contrast, Hell Hole is a more fun and free tale of the power of nature, and the need for humankind to leave well enough alone.
Set within the confines of a Serbian fracking project, Hell Hole confronts the research team with a literal blast from the past. During the fracking process they uncover a very alive corpse from the Napoleonic age. As if that wasn’t distressing and strange enough, the reanimated soldier is host to a deadly parasite with a hunger for manflesh. With Hell Hole, Adams and Poser are making their interpretation and homage to films such as The Thing and The Fly. Their latest venture is a wacky b-movie that is tonally unlike their more recent work. It takes some getting used to, but does provide plenty of moments of unbridled crazy fun.
As entertaining as the carnage is, it can be a little hard to keep track of the cast of characters. With the exception of Where the Devil Roams, which expanded the roster, most Adams films have been kept intimate. For projects such as The Deeper you Dig and Hellbender the cast was limited to pretty much just themselves. Here, the cast grows to include a son for John and Toby’s characters (which given that they usually have daughters is strange enough), and a plethora of Serbian workers. With so many characters it can become hard to track who is who, and there is not quite enough development for some for them to fully make an impact. Knowing the backstory of every single person is not vital for a shocky b-movie such as this, but it does hamper Hell Hole’s chances of being seen as anything deeper than that.
One thing that does remain consistent across every Adam Family production is the kick-ass score. The family’s band, Hellbender, are once more on composing duties and whenever the score begins to play, Hell Hole becomes electric. That the band manage to alter their sound ever so slightly for each movie, whilst at the core retaining their identity, is no small achievement. Here the bass strums work as an ominous, almost Jaws level, foreboding warning.
Whilst Hell Hole is not the 100% authentic Adams film that devoted fans have come to appreciate, the film does broaden the team out to a wider audience. The more silly moments will play beautifully to a crowd and may just draw in some new fans into the ever growing film cult that the team are cultivating.
Hell Hole
Summary
A departure from their usual tone and style, Hell Hole is the Adams family’s answer to b-movie zany gore, and whilst not as magic as their other films, still provides plenty of fun.
Hell Hole was reviewed at Fantasia 2024. Hell Hole will arrive on Shudder from 23rd August 2024.
