Hellhole Review (2022): Journey to A Filthy Hell, The Right Atmosphere For A Horror
Cast: Piotr Żurawski, Olaf Lubaszenko, Sebastian Stankiewicz
Director: Bartosz M. Kowalski
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
As we will see in this Hellhole review, the film directed by the Polish Bartosz M. Kowalski recently arrived on the platform and has climbed the positions of the most viewed titles in Italy, managing to satisfy an audience without particular pretensions, in search of thrills and dark atmospheres. Hellhole is inscribed in that horror sub-genre that exploits esotericism and possessions to try to shock its viewer, touching on a delicate issue such as the relationship with faith. It is not anything unique and original (the incipit is the carbon copy of the last minutes of a cult of the genre, The Omen), but the rather solid direction (at least initially) and the various twists that precede the finale are capable to keep the viewer at least intrigued by the story. A story that – at certain points in particular – is not suitable for the faint of the stomach: the crudeness of certain scenes, the concreteness of the filth and blood that soil characters and locations, and the realism of the violence perpetrated, give the horror on the screen a particular tangibility, also conveyed by the use of practical special effects and limited use by CGI.
An “old-fashioned” film that, while not starting from such particular and innovative ideas, is capable of entertaining. Too bad for some sudden changes of style and rhythm which, before a visually surprising final act, lower the tension, “ruining” the atmosphere that had been managed to build. also conveyed by the use of practical special effects and limited use of CGI. An “old-fashioned” film that, while not starting from such particular and innovative ideas, is capable of entertaining. Too bad for some sudden changes of style and rhythm which, before a visually surprising final act, lower the tension, “ruining” the atmosphere that had been managed to build. also conveyed by the use of practical special effects and limited use of CGI. An “old-fashioned” film that, while not starting from such particular and innovative ideas, is capable of entertaining. Too bad for some sudden changes of style and rhythm which, before a visually surprising final act, lower the tension, “ruining” the atmosphere that had been managed to build.
Hellhole Review (2022): The Story Plot
The film opens in Poland in the fifties, a priest enters a church out of breath: with him, he has a newborn marked by a strange birthmark on his chest. The man’s intentions are immediately clear: he wants to kill the child on the altar of that sacred place, asking forgiveness for his sins but invoking a greater good. He will be stopped a few seconds before carrying out the deed and shot to death by the police who raid. The story then takes a step forward, transporting us thirty years after what happened in the incipit: Marek (Piotr Zurawski) is a new priest who enters the ranks of a large and sinister convent, which also serves as a sanatorium for the sick mental area.
There the monks, in addition to trying to cure their patients, perform exorcisms on those who in their opinion are possessed by the devil. Practices and rituals that the newcomer is forced to attend immediately. Soon, however, we discover that Marek is not a man of faith: he is an undercover policeman who must investigate the disappearance of some local young girls, girls who had been brought to the convent on suspicion of possession. Nothing more has been heard of them and Marek must find out what happened to them.
It will not take long for the man to realize that there is something very strange in the monastery, and he will begin to be haunted by disturbing visions. The moments of the meals are those that for Marek is the most upsetting and disgusting: the slop that is served to him is nauseating and smelly, but he forces himself to eat it so as not to arouse suspicion. What is hiding in the dark corridors of this supposedly sacred place? One of the monks, Piotr, is willing to reveal something to him, but he seems very scared of what others might do to him…
Hellhole Review and Analysis
As we anticipated at the beginning and as you may have deduced from these few lines on the plot, the strength of Hellhole is not the originality of its plot. We know several of religious horror that starts from similar premises, and the narrative develops on rather predictable tracks. What makes the film a vision in its way intriguing is the atmosphere it can convey, dragging the viewer into a filthy and smelly setting, in which the horror is realistic and palpable. If it were not for the sudden change of tone at certain moments of the film (in sequences that result almost in ridicule, affecting the tension that had been managed to build), Hellhole would be a rather solid horror in its way, capable of infusing the right dose of chills (and above all of the disgust) even without a particularly brilliant script behind it.
We cannot, however, not dwell so much on the interpretation of the protagonist, Piotr Zurawski, who is convincing in his ruinous descent into madness, as on the final sequence of the film, which from the point of view of the staging is quite fascinating in its own way. As we anticipated, the scarce use of CGI and, on the contrary, the wide use of practical special effects, makes the horror of Hellhole concrete and tangible, also giving life to a demonic creature with an interesting design, which bursts on the screen to unleash (literally) hell.
Hellhole Review (2022): The Last Words
Hellhole is a horror that, while not starting from particularly original premises, involves the viewer in search of thrills (and disgust), without too many pretensions as regards the script and narrative development. Good interpretation of the protagonist and the staging in which the horror becomes tangible and real.
