Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Momo and Okarun share a close moment in Dandadan

    Momo And Okarun: The Gold Standard For Shonen Romance

    07/03/2025
    Ironheart Episodes 4 6 But Why Tho 1

    ‘Ironheart’ Explained: Explore MCU’s Bold New Chapter

    07/01/2025
    Buck in 9-1-1

    ‘9-1-1’ Has To Let Buck Say Bisexual

    06/29/2025
    Nintendo Welcome Tour promotional image of the maraca mini-game

    The One “Game” That Justifies The Nintendo Switch 2 Purchase

    06/25/2025
    Destiel Confession in Supernatural - Castiel (Misha Collins) and Dean (Jensen Ackles)

    The Destiel Confession: The Lasting Importance Of Supernatural’s Greatest Ship

    06/22/2025
  • Squid Game
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Switch 2 Games
  • Summer Game Fest
But Why Tho?
Home » Film » REVIEW: ‘The Hole In The Fence’ Is Disturbing But Stretched Thin

REVIEW: ‘The Hole In The Fence’ Is Disturbing But Stretched Thin

Allyson JohnsonBy Allyson Johnson06/20/20234 Mins ReadUpdated:02/12/2024
The Hole in the Fence
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

The Hole in the Fence

Director Joaquín del Paso delivers a disturbing story told with mounting dread in The Hole in the Fence. This horror, fable-like film, shot with urgency and inescapable foreboding sensation, excels in direction but falters with a script that fails to stick the landing or justify all of what we’ve experienced by the time the film culminates.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Sut during the summertime, when children and teenagers should enjoy their adolescence, students of an elite religious school, Los Pinos, are instead sent to a camp outside the city. As they dibs their bunk beds and partake in bonfire activities, they’re also enabled to act upon misogynistic, homophobic, and racist impulses as they seek to grab hold of a world most have been taught is theirs for the taking. Teachers and priests sit idly by, content with the mantra of “boys will be boys” as long as it aligns with their religious doctrine, believing they’re there to act as pillars that guide the children on their paths to physical and moral development. The basic premise is enough to set the tone for something horrific, and things only increase in tension once a hole is found in the perimeter fence, leading to mysterious reveals and incents that allow the adults to push their fundamentalist views further.

The Hole in the Fence is one of the more upsetting films in recent memory, unrelenting in depicting the brutalist nature of these children and those overseeing them. Strongest in the early moments, the script doubles down on how radicalized religious groups pray, mobilize, and use that energy and power to hurt, belittle, and incite violence against marginalized groups. All while denouncing any who don’t believe in their projected higher power. We see this in the racist treatment of a student who was able to attend the school due to the merit of his work rather than his inheritance or how the group bullies a boy they believe to be gay.

The film leans heavily on visual metaphors — take, for instance, the shot of the boys wandering down the street only to be led to a herd of sheep. That said, the direction is strong and benefits the story, which runs into problems when it runs out of story to tell and instead simply doubles down on the narrative it’s already been running with, unable to develop it beyond what’s been presented.

By the end of the film, it’s hard not to wonder what on earth the point of it was. The message is clear: organized religion produces dogmatic, institutionalized violence born and bred by their egocentric entitlement. It would make the leaders and their followers believe they are in step and conversing with God. But if that’s it — if the only intent was to deliver again the message that men are susceptible to cultist-leaning groups that prioritize and glorify toxic masculinity, then it feels disturbing for disturbing sake. It’s another reminder of the artifice built to provide indestructible walls that protect sinners masquerading as saints.

Not every film needs an inherent message — but The Hole in the Fence has such a clear, deliberate one that it needed to be more than just unsettling imagery. The dexterity of the filmmaking that managed to ooze with palpable foreboding isn’t captured similarly in writing, which is where the film is let down. Carve ten minutes off the film, cut some of the one-on-one conversations with the leaders, and the mystery shrouding this camp they attend as well as the destructive nature these boys act on when given a sliver of a self-justification — a missing friend means they feel righteous in their decision to burn a village down — and the film would’ve fared as more than just a flipbook of terrible people doing terrible things.

Shot with a thrilling, anxiety-inducing pace, The Hole in the Fence is unwavering in tackling the wreckage that comes from entitlement and mob mentality. Simmering with anger, the filmmakers needed to channel some of that emotion into a script that does more than simply lay out its main thesis and meander through it. Instead, the story required greater emotional pull and a structure that allowed it to develop instead of remaining static.

The Hole in the Fence is now available to rent on Prime Video.

The Hole in the Fence – U.S. Trailer

In U.S. theaters and on-demand via Amazon and Vimeo now! https://www.alteredinnocence.net/holeinthefence At a secluded exclusive summer camp in the Mexican countryside, under the watchful eyes of their adult guardians, boys from a prestigious private school receive physical, moral and religious training to turn them into tomorrow’s elite.

The Hole in the Fence
  • 6.5/10
    Rating - 6.5/10
6.5/10

TL;DR

Director Joaquín del Paso delivers a disturbing story told with mounting dread in The Hole in the Fence. This horror, fable-like film, shot with urgency and inescapable sensation of foreboding, excels in direction but falters with a script that fails to stick the landing.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleREVIEW: ‘Insomniacs After School’ Episode 11 — “The First Stars of Dawn”
Next Article 3 Things to Know About Marvel’s ‘Secret Invasion’
Allyson Johnson

Allyson Johnson is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of InBetweenDrafts. Former Editor-in-Chief at TheYoungFolks, she is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Boston Online Film Critics Association. Her writing has also appeared at CambridgeDay, ThePlaylist, Pajiba, VagueVisages, RogerEbert, TheBostonGlobe, Inverse, Bustle, her Substack, and every scrap of paper within her reach.

Related Posts

Superman Saves a Kid in Superman (2025)
7.0

REVIEW: ‘Superman (2025)’ Is Wonderful And Flawed, Just Like He Is

07/08/2025
The Old Guard 2
5.5

REVIEW: ‘The Old Guard 2’ Is Distracted And Half-Baked

07/02/2025
Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey in Jurassic World: Rebirth
5.5

REVIEW: ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ Is Best When Nobody Is Talking

06/30/2025
MEGAN 2.0 promotional image
7.0

REVIEW: ‘M3GAN 2.0’ Puts Action First

06/29/2025
F1 (2025) promotional key art
8.0

REVIEW: ‘F1’ Is A High-Octane Blockbuster

06/24/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Promotional image form Netflix
9.0

REVIEW: ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Brings Beautiful Animation And An Even Better Message

06/20/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
Taecyeon and Seohyun in The First Night With The Duke Episodes 7-8
7.5
TV

REVIEW: ‘The First Night With The Duke’ Episodes 7-8

By Sarah Musnicky07/03/2025

The First Night With The Duke Episodes 7-8 spends welcome time in pre-domestic bliss before new developments stir up trouble.

Alice In Borderland Season 3 promotional key image News

Netflix Announces Alice in Borderland Season 3 for September 25 Premiere

By But Why Tho?07/08/2025

Netflix has announced that the highly anticipated Alice in Borderland Season 3 will premiere on…

Together (2025) still from Sundance
8.0
Film

REVIEW: Have A Grossly Good Time ‘Together’

By Kate Sánchez01/27/2025Updated:07/04/2025

Dave Franco and Alison Brie’s Together (2025) is disgustingly funny, genuinely ugly, and just a good time at the movies.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 Alcatraz
9.0
PS5

REVIEW: ‘Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4’ Gives Old Games New Life

By Kyle Foley07/07/2025

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 is another example of how to breathe new life into a classic without losing touch of what makes the originals great.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here