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DEEP DOWN The Hole in the Ground marks a potentia
l global breakthrough for the Irish horror genre. After its world premiere at Sundance and ahead of its release here, we speak to its first-time director Lee Cronin and some of his supporting cast and crew. words Jack O’Higgins portrait Killian Broderick LEE CRONIN - DIRECTOR Irish film has done well for itself in the last few years, but it’s yet to unleash anything like The Hole in the Ground. Director Lee Cronin’s debut feature is an unsettling, atmospheric work that combines the paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers with the otherworldly terror of H.P. Lovecraft. The film follows Sarah, a mother who moves to rural Ireland with her son Chris to escape an abusive relationship. After a bitter argument, Chris’ behaviour starts to change ever so slightly. Soon, Sarah begins to suspect that her son has been replaced by a monstrous imposter. Could it have something to do with the huge, foreboding hole located in the forest behind their house? It’s a tense film that favours creeping dread over cheap jump scares. It’s no surprise then that it finds itself in the perfect position to be the breakout Irish film of the year. Following a premiere at the Sundance film festival, the film will see a wide release in Ireland. Meanwhile, its American release will be handled by A24, the distributors behind recent critical darlings like Hereditary and The Witch. This has been a long time coming for Cronin and his close collaborators, including producer John Keville and DOP Tom Comerford, who have been toiling away on short films for the past ten years. After their last short Ghost Train gained serious traction, the road was paved to make a feature film. The initial inspiration came when Cronin read about a sinkhole swallowing a man up in his home in Florida. But it was only when he combined the image with a relationship he’d be developing between a single mother and her child that the project started to take shape. What was it about this relationship that intrigued him? “I think it’s a really scary notion that you could know somebody your whole life, and then something subtle changes and you question who they are. I think anybody in any relationship has those moments. That’s the core, identifiable thing that you can start to play with to create an entertaining experience. Hopefully, when the parents come home after seeing the film and let the babysitter go, it’s going to cross their mind when they look at little Timmy in bed!” Cronin himself is not a parent. If one didn’t know better, they might suggest that the film is articulating subconscious fears of parenthood. “Maybe!” he laughs. “I’m a four-time godfather and I have nine nieces and nephews. I’ve seen plenty of the terror of parenthood. I look at the situations certain members of my family have faced as parents and seen how difficult that can be.” The film was shot around Dublin and Wicklow over 24 days. As with many independent films, it was a tough shoot but that’s not reflected in the final film, which is incredibly accomplished. That was due to a large amount of pre-production and planning. “I knew what I wanted it to be. I wasn’t trying to find the film on set. It was very planned, very designed. You sometimes hear about rough cuts of films that were two and a half hours long, but the longest version of this film that exists is 98 minutes long. That’s because we went out having decided everything beforehand.” ➝ 44