Well, there are a few series from the 1980s and 1990s that demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that you do not need huge budgets to tell gripping stories. A compelling premise and excellent writing were necessary.
It goes without saying that television shows from that era gave us a slew of horror classics, many of which deserved a reimagining but were never given the opportunity.
Monsters, a syndicated horror anthology series created by Richard P. Rubinstein and Mitchell Galin, is one of them, with three seasons and 72 terrifying episodes. Monsters, which aired from 1988 to 1991, follows a family of monsters that watch different horror movies on TV every week.
Every episode included is a stand-alone drama with plenty of dread, dark comedy, and ironic endings, as well as a slew of deadly monsters. The Hole, the sixth episode of the third season, takes advantage of the anthology boom of the aforementioned time period and serves up its own wild variation. This episode, directed by David Severeid and written by Haskell Barton, is widely regarded as one of the best and most memorable in the series.
As a result, get ready for today’s video, in which we will go over The Hole in great depth. Those who have seen the episode are encouraged to share their impressions in the comments area, and for those who have not yet seen it, we strongly advise you to do so.
So, let us get started!
The Hole – Terrors From Beyond The Grave
Boasting a current IMDb rating of 7.1 and based on a story by Gerry Conway and Wayne Berwick, the episode begins with a trio of soldiers – Sergeant Kenner, Corporal Torres, and a South Vietnamese lieutenant blowing up what looks like a hole and exploring deeper underneath the base. Torres clearly isn’t in the mood looking for any trouble; all he wants is an ‘in and out’ and he states it to the sergeant who in turn, tells them not to worry and that he will take good care of them. An unconvinced Torres starts leaving behind shot-gun shells on the cave walls with the sole purpose of not getting lost.
With the trio venturing deeper into what looks like a maze of tunnels, they come across a Viet Cong base. Both the Lieutenant and the Sergeant are kind of surprised to find hordes of weapons, ammunition, and important documents left unattended.
As for Torres, he disregards their concerns and suggests the Sergeant call it a day to which the latter reminds him that their mission is to not only recover the documents but also interrogate the survivors. Their conversation suddenly gets interrupted by the groaning noise of a horribly injured Viet Cong soldier. The trio is appalled to see his terrible condition and Torres is almost about to shoot him dead when the Lieutenant tells him not to and tries speaking to the dying soldier in the hopes of extracting information from him.
After the soldier dies, both Torres and the Sergeant ask the Lieutenant regarding his conversation with the Viet Cong soldier. The Lieutenant calls the deceased ‘delirious’ and tells them about his brief chat with the VC soldier – while the initial plan of the Viet Cong soldiers was to dig out a fortress with the solitary goal of trapping and puzzling the enemy but it so happened that they dug their tunnels a little too deep and ended up awakening something evil underneath, especially one that became angry at being disturbed from its grave.
The Lieutenant further tells Torres and the Sergeant about the Viet Cong burying their dead inside the walls of the tunnels and the duo eventually realizes that all this while, they have been ‘crawling through a cemetery’. The whole affair of evil coming out of the ground seemed as if ‘the earth might be avenging all the blood spilled on it.
The trio decides to leave at once but only for Torres to lose his way and barely save himself from getting blown up by a grenade trap. With Torres looking around for the rest of his team members, he suddenly gets attacked by a rotten skeletal hand coming right out of the wall. He screams in horror and starts shooting at the hand. The Sergeant is able to reach out to Torres but only after the skeletal hand disappears back inside the wall.
With Torres telling him about something grabbing him and then vanishing back inside the wall, the Sergeant disregards his statements and tells him how it is all in his mind and that he is ‘only spooked’. The trio resumes their journey to find a way out of the tunnel only to hear a sudden screeching noise coming from a distance.
The Lieutenant tells the rest to keep going while he decides to check it out himself. Of course, he is shocked to see a swarm of the undead approaching him and he starts shooting at them. Suddenly, a zombie attacks him from behind and rips apart his jugular vein. As for the remaining duo, they also get attacked by the zombies and barely manage to escape the corpses.
It is only after Torres and the Sergeant have been roaming inside the tunnels trying ways after ways to get outside that they realize that there is actually no way out. Torres is exceedingly demotivated and he is reminded of the VC’s words, of how the tunnels just won’t let them escape and how the undead will come for them. The Sergeant, however, still does not want to give up; he thinks of digging his way out.
While Torres sits back lamenting how they will never be able to see daylight again, the Sergeant keeps digging up the cave roof, and finally it appears like he has managed to dig his way up to the outside world. Torres is overjoyed to see light coming through from above but unfortunately, he gets ambushed and dragged inside the walls by a zombie. As for the Sergeant, he is almost successful in lifting himself up through the hole but to his horror, he finds himself back at the Viet Cong base where he gets attacked by the rest of the zombies who pull him back into the hole underneath.
Want To Know What Do We Think Of?
Hats off to Director David Severeid for successfully managing to keep his audience glued to their seats throughout the runtime of 20 minutes. You know it is not an easy task to churn out something ‘this thrilling’ especially when the time frame is limited.
But starting from making the narrative move at a brisk pace to not even for once breaking the flow of the dark serious tone and of course, the claustrophobic setting throughout, Walter Raim’s background score really does the trick. The Hole also has a solid cast performance by Ahmad Rashad, Antone Pagán, and Glenn Kubota but there are no second thoughts about the zombies being the high point of this episode. You know, they are the real deal. Also, watch out for the final scene because, in your heart, you know that you were rooting for Sergeant Kenner.
Conclusively, one of the most terrifying episodes of the horror anthology series, The Hole is precisely what nightmares are made of. Don’t miss it!