‘John and the Hole’: Disturbed Teen Holds His Family Hostage in Eerie Psychodrama

Sandra Miska

Almost every teenager has gone through a rebellious phase, usually one in which they resent their parents or siblings, but 13-year-old John (Charlie Shotwell) goes above and beyond in psychological drama “John and the Hole.” Jennifer Ehle and Michael C. Hall co-star as John’s parents, Anna and Brad, who find themselves stuck in a partially constructed bunker along with their teen daughter, Laurie (Taissa Farmiga), thanks to young John.

On the surface, John isn’t a kid who sets off alarms. Like most boys his age, he loves video games, time alone in his room, and isn’t much for making conversation at family dinners. He lives a comfortable upper middle-class life and, thanks to private lessons financed by his parents, is on the path to being a star tennis player. His parents don’t give any sign of being abusive or neglectful, although work and other commitments keep them from giving their kids their full attention. John is closest to Laurie, although her new relationship with a boyfriend keeps her more and more away from home. 

Shotwell gives a committed performance as the opaque John, who unnerves the adults around by standing around and asking question after question. Early on, he asks Anna what it’s like to be an adult, and while it seems like an innocuous question at the time, we soon see the lengths John will go to in order to get a taste of adulthood. After discovering Anna’s prescription sleeping pills, he first tests them out by drugging the lemonade of Charlie (Lucien Spelman), the family gardener. Soon after, he drugs his parents and sister, puts them one by one in a wheelbarrow, and dumps them into the bunker, which is basically just a hole in the ground with no way out without a ladder. Needless to say, the trio aren’t happy when they wake up the next morning and come to the slow realization of what their son/brother has done. Although he brings them food and water, he icily ignores their pleas to be rescued. 

Meanwhile, John’s life on his own plays out like some less-funny, more twisted version of “Home Alone.” He does things that one would expect any 13-year-old on their own to do, like order a gross amount of chicken nuggets and invite his best friend to stay over and play video games. He also engages in dangerous activities, such as driving his parents’ car and almost drowning his friend, Peter (Ben O’Brien), during a game of chicken. He also shows signs of having his death wish, as he has a habit of floating face down in the family pool.

“John and the Hole” is the directorial debut from visual artist Pascual Sisto and the script was penned by Oscar-winning “Birdman” screenwriter Nicolás Giacobone, who adapted his own short story. As dark as the film is at times, Sisto and Giacobone present some goodness, as the adults around John are mostly decent, particularly Charlie, who comes to check on the family days after John calls him pretending to be Anna. There’s also Paula (Tamara Hickey), Anna’s friend who seems concerned about John after he spins her a lie about his family leaving him behind while they care for his grandfather, although she stops short of inviting the boy to stay with her family. As time goes on, we start to see the cracks in John as loneliness creaks in and his vulnerability finally shines through.

The scenes of Anna, Brad and Laurie stuck together in the hole are all too brief. There are moments of tension, such as when Brad accuses Anna of doing something to John that pushed him to do what he did, but nothing is talked through or resolved by the end. There’s a frame story shoved in involving a single mother, Gloria (Georgia Lyman), telling the story of John to her 12-year-old agoraphobic daughter, Lily (Samantha LeBretton), and while it somewhat ties into the themes of the film pertaining to parent-child relationships, it doesn’t really gel with the rest of the story. 

“John and the Hole” releases Aug. 6 on VOD and in select theaters.