Over the past decade, a family of DIY filmmakers has carved out a significant name for themselves in the horror genre, delivering admirably minimalist works tightly wound with eerie creativity.  The Adams family (not the “snap snap” one) is made up of parents John Adams and Toby Poser and children Lulu and Zelda. Collectively, they form Wonder Wheel Productions.  Each member takes on multiple roles in creating, writing, directing, acting, and composing the music for atmospheric pictures that are passionately small-scale but carry a precision that many films with a larger budget can only dream of.

I’ve been a fan of their work for a few years now, having discovered them with their 2021 breakout feature Hellbender at the 25th Fantasia International Film Festival.  Before that, 2019’s The Deeper You Dig gained them many followers, and it’s another example of scrappy make-it-workedenss that is wickedly fun.  The premiere of Where the Devil Roams in 2023 failed to gain much traction, but the Adams clan went right back to work with their next project, a creature feature that is premiering on Shudder and represents a shift in tone and, unfortunately, quality for the resourceful filmmaking family.

In Hell Hole, the Adamses attempt to channel modern B-movie lore with their Serbian-set tale of a long-dormant parasitic creature that emerges from the ground to wreak havoc for an unprepared fracking team.  The American crew has been twiddling their thumbs as they wait for clearance from an environmental regulatory crew to begin their drilling.  When they get to penetrate the frigid ground, they unwittingly unleash an ancient beast from an icy tomb.  Carnage ensues.

What should be a monstrous romp through Serbia’s forgotten backcountry is a sluggish and unfocused trek backward into Z-grade feature filmmaking.  You can see where the script was going, aiming to give the audience a gnarly good time by mixing monster mayhem with the eco-horror popularized in the ’70s, but it’s the pacing and execution that gets the better of the Adams crew this time around.  As the awakened terror proceeds in its disgusting destruction of the crew, it does so without any spark of darkly humorous inventiveness that made the earlier films from Wonder Wheel so appealing.

As always, Adams matriarch Toby Poser is the standout star as Emily, the head of the fracking crew.  Beginning the film, annoyed at the pointless delays, she shifts Emily to a relatable heroine driven by the need to survive and use whatever resources are available.  Poser has a raw talent and considerable screen presence, so much so that when I saw her in Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher, I realized how much I would like to see her stretch her wings beyond the family nest more often.  The rest of the cast, including husband John (playing “John”) and Olivera Perunicic as soft-spoken environmental liaison Sofija, deliver a wide range of performances that land between serviceable and dismal—all struggle to elevate the plodding script.  

The pacing is all over the map, with interminably inert scenes dragging on and pivotal moments of exposition barely touched on.  Hell Hole can never find its rhythm, suggesting the cohesive unit, usually so strong with finding the spooky in the simplest of set-ups, got lost in a dead-end maze of their own ambitions.  Speaking of ambition, the creature design may have flashes of ingenuity, blending practical effects with CGI, but the budget constraints win out, resulting in an impression that is laughably cheap.  Leaning into that schlockiness would have made all the difference, but no one seems able to get on board with the tone.

Hell Hole is constantly at odds with itself, an unremarkable addition to the creature feature genre and a rare misstep for a creative family that has more than proven its worth in the horror market.  The aurally assaulting score from John Adams is a perfect example of how jarringly out of sync the film is.  Instead of pulling the viewer deeper into its attempt at B-movie charms, you were brought back to reality each time the music threatened to split your eardrums down the center.  You’ll wish this one had been kept a family secret, far away from prying eyes.