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One of the great things about horror movies is that they offer a universal experience. No matter where you go in the world, the same things are considered scary, which is why great horror movies are made all over the world. Today we’re going to be focusing on ones made or produced in Ireland, so if you’re looking for a fright, try one of these out.

The Sleep of Death

The Sleep of Death was released in 1980 and was written and directed by Calvin Floyd. It’s often described as a Swedish-Irish film, thanks to the prevalence of Swedish cast members. The film is based on the 1872 novella The Room in the Dragon Volant and is sometimes called The Inn of the Flying Dragon, in reference to the title of the novella. The story follows a young Englishman called Colonel Gaillard, played by Per Oscarsson, who goes to France to pursue a woman,...

When Bruce Campbell announced earlier this week that he and longtime Evil Dead producing partners Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi were preparing a fifth film entry in the series, he also unveiled the new movie’s director. Meet Lee Cronin, an Irish filmmaker with just one feature film to his credit. But Cronin’s sole movie to date provides several clues as to why he might be a solid, even inspired, choice to make the movie now being called Evil Dead Now.

(Trivia note: Lee Cronin was also the pseudonym of late Star Trek: The Original Series writer/producer Gene L. Coon, who penned some of the show’s most inadvertently campy episodes, like “Spock’s Brain” and “Spectre of the Gun,” under that name. This is not the same guy.)

Cronin made his feature debut in 2019 with The Hole in the Ground, an intense, highly atmospheric tale about a...

Stars: Seána Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall | Written by Lee Cronin, Stephen Shields | Directed by Lee Cronin

Director Lee Cronin serves up some pleasingly old-fashioned supernatural scares in creepy Irish horror The Hole in the Ground.

Seána Kerslake (A Date for Mad Mary) stars as single mother Sarah O’Neill, who moves into a dilapidated farmhouse near a remote village in rural Ireland with her young son Chris (James Quinn Markey), after fleeing an abusive relationship with the boy’s father. One night, Chris disappears and Sarah worries that he might have fallen into an enormous sinkhole that has suddenly opened up in the woods, especially when she finds one of his toys near the edge. The next day, Chris turns up safe and sound, but his behaviour is subtly changed and Sarah becomes increasingly worried that the boy is not her son.

Expertly crafted tension and paranoia take full effect in The Hole in the Ground, arriving on DVD April 30 from Lionsgate. After disappearing from his mother, a son returns home seemingly unharmed, but his mother fears the boy who has returned might not be her son at all. From writer-director Lee Cronin (Ghost Train), this ominous, original and Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh film “delivers skin-crawling scares throughout” and stars Seána Kerslake, James Cosmo, and James Quinn Markey. The Hole in the Ground DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $19.98.

Suspense, terror, and the supernatural meet when Sarah and her young son Chris move to a new home in the Irish countryside. One night, Chris vanishes; when he reappears, he seems unharmed and unchanged. But as Chris’s behavior grows increasingly disturbing, Sarah fears the boy who has returned may not be her son in this richly evocative feature debut from writer-director Lee Cronin.

Following its well-received world premiere at Sundance and theatrical release from A24, Lee Cronin's The Hole in the Ground is coming to DVD on April 30th from Lionsgate.

Read on for The Hole in the Ground DVD release details and cover art, and check here to read Heather's Sundance interview with co-writer/director Cronin and stars Seána Kerslake and James Quinn Markey.

"Street Date: 4/30/19

DVD Srp: $19.98

Program Description

Expertly crafted tension and paranoia take full effect in The Hole in the Ground, arriving on DVD April 30 from Lionsgate. After disappearing from his mother, a son returns home seemingly unharmed, but his mother fears the boy who has returned might not be her son at all. From writer-director Lee Cronin (Ghost Train), this ominous, original and Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh™ film “delivers skin-crawling scares throughout” and stars Seána Kerslake, James Cosmo, and James Quinn Markey. The Hole in the Ground...

Stars: Seána Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall | Written by Lee Cronin, Stephen Shields | Directed by Lee Cronin

Director Lee Cronin serves up some pleasingly old-fashioned supernatural scares in creepy Irish horror The Hole in the Ground.

Seána Kerslake (A Date for Mad Mary) stars as single mother Sarah O’Neill, who moves into a dilapidated farmhouse near a remote village in rural Ireland with her young son Chris (James Quinn Markey), after fleeing an abusive relationship with the boy’s father. One night, Chris disappears and Sarah worries that he might have fallen into an enormous sinkhole that has suddenly opened up in the woods, especially when she finds one of his toys near the edge. The next day, Chris turns up safe and sound, but his behaviour is subtly changed and Sarah becomes increasingly worried that the boy is not her son.

Mounting weirdness descends as a mother and young son set up home in the middle of a dark and sinister forest

Here’s an Irish folk-horror that clearly drew the right conclusions from the midnight-movie pairing of The Babadook and Under the Shadow: a film operating at a suspenseful, spider-like creep that allows it to skirt your defences and get some distance under the skin.

It opens with a broadly familiar set-up. Recently separated, subtly scarred Sarah (Seána Kerslake) installs herself and young son Chris (James Quinn Markey) in the kind of countryside fixer-upper-type property that conventionally serves as a magnet for trouble. Yet its foundations are undermined in unexpected fashion, first by the discovery of a vast sinkhole in the surrounding forest, then by the neighbourhood crone (Kaurismäki regular Kati Outinen) who pauses her catatonic murmuring to insist that Chris isn’t who he seems. As Sarah briefs...

To celebrate the release of acclaimed horror hit The Hole In The Ground, which opens in UK cinemas this week, we sat down with director Lee Cronin and star Seána Kerslake to chat about the startling new film.

After its debut at Sundance last month, Cronin and Kerslake have, by their own admission, been thrust into the limelight with the film which has garnered much praise from both sides of the pond. Here, they chat with us about their experiences at the festival, the grueling nature of some of the shoot and trying to do something different with the horror sub-genre.

In the film, Kerslake plays Sarah, a young mother who has moved to a rural home with a son, Chris (James Quinn Markey) next to a dark, dense forest. One night, Chris goes for a walk in the forest and when he returns, his behavior grows increasingly disturbing, so...

The debut horror feature from Irish filmmaker Lee Cronin, The Hole in the Ground, trods familiar territory with style.

The Hole in the Ground, like 2014’s now-classic The Babadook, centers on the relationship between a single mother and her young son as they are beset by forces seemingly beyond their control. But while The Babadook kept the nature of the intrusion firmly ambiguous nearly all the way through, co-writer/director Lee Cronin’s feature debut starts off that way but soon takes a more conventional route. That renders The Hole in the Ground more generic in some ways, although Cronin still manages to pull off an atmospheric shocker for much of its running time.

As the film opens we see little Chris (James Quinn Markey) and his mom Sarah (Seana Kerslake) driving in their aging car through a vast swath of Irish forest, the two of them are immediately made...

In the suspense thriller The Hole in the Ground, Sarah (Seána Kerslake) and her son Chris (James Quinn Markey) have newly arrived in the Irish countryside. Their new home is surrounded by a peaceful forest. One day while driving, they encounter Mrs. Brady (Kati Outinen), an older neighbor who has suddenly appeared in the middle of the road. As our exclusive clip reveals, things quickly take a startling turn. Sarah gets out of the car to speak to Mrs. Brady, who is acting very...

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Impressively realised and clearly punching above its weight in terms of budget The Hole in the Ground, despite its flaws, is a solid addition to the Irish cinematic landscape and to the horror genre as a…whole.

Smart and stylish, the first act is full of suggestion and an ominous sense of suspense, thanks in no small part to the taut score by Stephen McKeon. Then comes the emotionally autumnal colour palette, claustrophobically framed close-ups and some sweeping aerial tracking shots (a la Stanley Kubrick’s epic opening from The Shining), all of which tell you two things pretty quickly: 1) this is a well made film and 2) something bad is going to happen.

Enter the eponymous, if somewhat incongruous, Hole in the Ground. Without giving away any plot spoilers, suffice it to say that the film would have worked perfectly well, nay even better, without the Hole. It descends into generic tropes which are,...

While at the Sundance Film Festival, this writer had the opportunity to take in a ton of great genre films while in Park City, and here’s a look at my thoughts on a trio of terror-filled offerings that fans should keep an eye out for this year: The Lodge, The Hole in the Ground, and Wounds.

The Lodge: When it comes to crafting nerve-shredding horror, filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala proved with Goodnight Mommy that they definitely know a thing or two about terrorizing audiences, and for their follow-up project, The Lodge, the duo once again deliver up a haunting and unnerving examination of psychological trauma and parental conflicts, albeit in some very different ways this time around.

The Lodge follows siblings Aidan (Jaeden Lieberher from 2017's It) and Mia (Lia McHugh) as they set out to spend a few days leading up to the Christmas holiday with their dad’s new fiancée,...

While in Park City last week at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Daily Dead caught up with several of the creative forces behind the Irish supernatural thriller The Hole in the Ground, including co-writer/director Lee Cronin and co-stars Seána Kerslake and James Quinn Markey, who play a mother and son dealing with some invasive otherworldly forces that stem from a giant sinkhole near their new home in the middle of nowhere. During the interview, the trio discussed their experiences collaborating together on the film, pushing themselves on the ambitious project, and more.

Lee, can you discuss where the ideas for this story came from, and tapping into the power of this relationship between a mother and son?

Lee Cronin: Yeah, I think there are a number of different things that came together to create the idea for The Hole in the Ground, one being just a kind of an interest...

This Irish supernatural horror thriller The Hole in The Ground is currently screening at Sundance, and the buzz for this film is big! A lot of people are talking about how good and scary it is. This is apparently the horror movie of the year that you don’t want to miss.

I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m going to try and get into a screening of it before I leave. As a huge horror fan, I’m going to be so disappointed if I miss it while I’m here.

The story centers around a mother and her son, who starts to display some creepy, disturbing behavior after coming across a sinkhole in the middle of a forest. Here’s the synopsis:

Sarah (Seána Kerslake) moves her precocious son, Chris (James Quinn Markey), to a secluded new home in a rural town, trying to ease his...

Following the film's world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, A24 has released the official trailer for The Hole in the Ground, the new horror movie about a mother who worries that her son isn't actually her son anymore... or even human, for that matter.

The feature-length directorial debut of Lee Cronin (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Stephen Shields), The Hole in the Ground stars

Seána Kerslake, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall, and James Quinn Markey.

According to Entertainment Weekly (who also unveiled the movie's poster and hosted the exclusive premiere of the film's Us trailer), The Hole in the Ground will be released on DirecTV on January 31st, followed by a March 1st theatrical release from A24.

A horror thriller with a familial focus, The Hole in the Ground has the following synopsis (via Sundance):

"One night, Sarah's young son disappears into the woods behind their rural home.

"You're not my son." A24 has released a new official trailer for the Irish indie horror film The Hole in the Ground, which just premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival over the weekend. We already featured the UK trailer for this a few weeks ago, but this is a whole other look. The film is the feature debut of Irish director Lee Cronin, and is set on the fringes of a backwood rural town. The festival description sets this up quite well: One night, Sarah's young son disappears into the woods behind their rural home. When he returns, he looks the same, but his behavior grows increasingly disturbing. Soon, Sarah realizes that the boy who returned may not be her son at all... The film stars Seána Kerslake, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall, and James Quinn Markey. There's also a creepy new poster for this (ahhh the spider!

Horror lovers kill for a good demonic child narrative: “The Exorcist,” “The Omen,” “Children of the Corn,” “Goodnight, Mommy,” “Pet Sematary” — the list goes on. Last year, “Hereditary” took the creepy child up a notch with Charlie, everyone’s favorite decapitated bird sculptor/decoy character. The genius of Ari Aster’s electric debut feature was in turning inherited trauma into real trauma, and creating a film that spoke to psychological depths while also delivering high-class thrills..

This year, A24 has teamed up with Directv to release yet another family horror. “The Hole in the Ground” delves into supernatural folklore to weave a tale about the primal fears of motherhood. Directed by Irish filmmaker Lee Cronin, who wrote the script with Stephen Shields, “The Hole in the Ground” appears to have all the elements of a horror classic. In the newly released trailer, a mother is driven slowly to the brink...

Try as we might to dissuade vulnerable young parents in the movies from relocating their families to rambling, deserted homes in the countryside, preferably on the edge of a dark, looming forest, sometimes they simply have to learn for themselves. Happily, Lee Cronin’s “The Hole in the Ground” is largely in on the joke, putting the agonized single mom at its center through a veritable spin cycle of familiar horror dilemmas and distractions — a haunted child, a creaking house, a ghostly neighbor, even a mysterious, beckoning sinkhole — and seeing how she comes out of the wash. Thanks to the resourceful Seána Kerslake in the lead, she fares rather well, and so does Cronin: The Irishman’s trim, jumpy debut feature rewrites no genre rules, but abounds in bristly calling-card atmospherics.

Already acquired for the U.S. by A24 — and set for a March 1 release, following a pre-theatrical run on...

The Hole in the Ground Trailer Lee Cronin‘s The Hole in the Ground (2019) movie trailer stars Seana Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, and Simone Kirby. The Hole in the Ground‘s plot synopsis: “Trying to escape her broken past, Sarah O’Neill (Seana Kerslake) is building a new life on the fringes of [...]

Continue reading: The Hole In The Ground (2019) International Movie Trailer: Seana Kerslake’s Son may be an Imposter...

Last year at Sundance Film Festival saw the premiere of A24’s Hereditary, which went on to be the company’s biggest hit worldwide. Do they have another horror hit debuting at the festival this year? Lee Cronin’s directorial debut The Hole in the Ground will premiere in Park City and we now have the first trailer.

Following a single mother and her son moving to a new town, the kid ventures into the woods and discovers a strange hole…in the ground and after his mom finds him, he begins to elicit strange qualities. As we learned with Hereditary (and hundreds of films before it), it wouldn’t be a horror hit if it didn’t have a strange, perhaps possessed child, so it at least has that going for it.

Starring Seána Kerslake, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall, and James Quinn Markey, see the trailer below via Empire.

"It's not your boy." Wildcard Distribution has debuted the first official trailer from UK/Ireland for the indie horror film The Hole in the Ground, which is premiering at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in just a few weeks in the Midnight section. The film is the feature debut of Irish director Lee Cronin, and is set on the fringes of a backwood rural town. The description from Sundance sets this up quite well: One night, Sarah's young son disappears into the woods behind their rural home. When he returns, he looks the same, but his behavior grows increasingly disturbing. Soon, Sarah realizes that the boy who returned may not be her son at all... The film stars Seána Kerslake, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall, and James Quinn Markey. The giant hole in the ground from the title looks gnarly. Looks like a good thriller. Here's the first...

The first trailer for Lee Cronin’s Irish horror, ‘The Hole in the Ground’ has arrived ahead of its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The film has a bit of a ‘Hereditary’ vibe and is directed by Cronin, Seena Kerslake, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen and James Quinn Markey co-star.

Also in trailers – It’s a fight of survival in Us trailer for ‘Hotel Mumbai’

The film is set for a March 1st release.

The Hold in The Ground Synopsis

Sarah (Seána Kerslake) moves her precocious son, Chris (James Quinn Markey), to a secluded new home in a rural town, trying to ease his apprehensions as they hope for a fresh start after a difficult past. But after a startling encounter with a mysterious new neighbour, Sarah’s nerves are set on edge. Chris disappears in the night into the forest behind their house, and Sarah discovers an ominous,...

If you’re into horror films, you’ve got to check out this new trailer for the upcoming supernatural Irish horror thriller called The Hole In The Ground.

The story puts the focus on a mother and her son, who start to display some creepy disturbing behavior after coming across a sinkhole in the middle of a forest. I love films like this that incorporate ancient lore from different cultures, and this movie looks like it’s going to be great!

Here’s the synopsis:

Sarah (Seána Kerslake) moves her precocious son, Chris (James Quinn Markey), to a secluded new home in a rural town, trying to ease his apprehensions as they hope for a fresh start after a difficult past. But after a startling encounter with a mysterious new neighbour, Sarah’s nerves are set on edge. Chris disappears in the night into the forest behind their house, and Sarah discovers an ominous,...

Vertigo takes UK rights following A24’s acquisition for Us.

Lee Cronin’s Sundance-bound horror The Hole In The Ground has secured a series of international territory deals for sales agent Bankside Films ahead of its Sundance premiere in January.

Adding to yesterday’s North America deal with A24 and Directv, the film has now sold to Vertigo Releasing for the UK. Both the North America and UK theatrical releases are being timed for March 2019. Wildcard Distribution is releasing in Ireland.

Deals are also done for Spain (Festival Films), Latin America (Cinepolis), Germany and Austria (Weltkino), Italy (Koch Media...

As evidenced by Heather Wixson's article on the anticipated genre films announced thus far for the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Daily Dead is thrilled to once again cover the annual celluloid celebration in Park City, and ahead of its world premiere at Sundance in January, The Hole in the Ground has already secured distribution.

Variety reports that A24 and DirecTV have acquired North American distribution rights to The Hole in the Ground, with the latter expected to give the film a limited VOD release ahead of its theatrical release from the former.

The feature-length directorial debut of Lee Cronin (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Stephen Shields), The Hole in the Ground stars

Seána Kerslake, James Cosmo, Kati Outinen, Simone Kirby, Steve Wall, and James Quinn Markey.

According to Variety, "leadership at A24" is enthusiastic about the movie, describing it as "a remarkable debut film, weaving suspense, terror, and supernatural...

Lee Cronin’s forthcoming Sundance premiere “The Hole in The Ground” has sold North American distribution rights to A24 and DirecTV.

The horror-thriller will open at the annual Utah gathering in January, and marks the feature directing debut of Cronin on the heels of his buzzy 2016 short “Ghost Train.”

A24 will take the film out to theaters while DirecTV will offer a limited pay-per-view window before release, as the latter has on many similar deals including Jamie Bell’s “Skin” and Johnny Depp’s “Richard Says Goodbye.”

“Hole in The Ground” stars heatseeking Irish actress Seána Kerslake as Sarah, a mother who moves with her young son Chris (James Quinn Markey) to a country home on the edge of a forest, which happens to hide an enormous sinkhole. Her boy vanishes and soon reappears unharmed, though his behavior grows increasingly disturbing, leaving his mother to fear the worst — that the...

A24 and Directv have acquired North American rights from Bankside Films to the supernatural horror The Hole In The Ground ahead of its world premiere in the Midnight section at Sundance next month.

A24 and Directv have acquired North American rights from Bankside Films to the supernatural horror The Hole In The Ground ahead of its world premiere in the Midnight section at Sundance next month.

Lee Cronin makes his feature directorial debut from a screenplay he co-wrote with Stephen Shields about Sarah (Seána Kerslake), who moves to the Irish countryside with her young son Chris (James Quinn Markey) and...

UK sales company does strong business on trio of genre titles.

UK sales outfit Bankside Films has sealed a host of deals across three of the titles on its slate.

Rowan Athale’s Strange But True has now sold to Baltic States (Latvian Theatrical Distribution), China (Huanxi Media Group), India (Vista Films), Italy (Notorious Pictures), Latin America (Cdc United Network), Middle East (Front Row Entertainment) and Switzerland (Praesens).

Starring Nick Robinson, Margaret Qualley, Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Blythe Danner and Brian Cox, the thriller follows a couple who receive a visit from a pregnant woman claiming their son who died...