'The Hole In The Ground' was inspired by horrifying real-life events.

Seána Kerslake (c) Twitter

Seána Kerslake (c) Twitter

The horror follows the story of single mother Sarah (Seana Kerslake) whose son (James Quinn Markey) disappears into the woods, however, when he returns his behaviour - believed to be linked to a mysterious sink hole in the woods - grows increasingly disturbing and Sarah begins to believe that the boy who returned may not be her son at all.

The film's writer and director Lee Cronin explained that he was originally developing a story about a mistrust between a mother and child however after being inspired by a news story, his idea began developed to include the use of sinkholes.

In an interview with DigitalSpy, Lee explained: "There was a particular news story I saw about - this was a long time ago - a man in Florida was watching TV in his armchair in his sitting room and a small sinkhole opened up beneath him. He was unable to be rescued, he fell down into the earth and I thought that was horrific. If someone has a heart attack, it's very sudden, but this was crazily fantastical. It got me thinking and researching sinkholes and what they were."

Seana, 28, went on to explain why the trope of the evil child remains so "terrifying" in horror films.

She said: "I think there's something terrifying, somebody that you think you know so well and is almost a part of you, not being who you think they are anymore. You're not in everybody's heads and you don't know what they're thinking, so do you really ever know anybody and what they're capable of?"

Lee added: "I wonder, for a lot of people and having children, their presence is a huge part of their legacy moving forward in life.

"As grim as this sounds, leaving a piece of them behind. I'm not saying that's the only reason people have children, but I do wonder if challenging that legacy or darkening that or disturbing it really unnerves people."