Deep Fear

Almost scary Almost had a good story Almost had a good ending

The actors were really really good. That's the only reason I finished it.

The story has been done better, and in the same catacombs.

The ending is dumb.

Do not recommend.

The first act is ok, sets up the story. Second act was properly claustrophobic. Third act it lost all steam and got silly.

A lot of the reviews here are spoiling the surprise in The moviE with just the title.

Instead watch the 2014 As Above So Below. That's really well made and a much more engrossing tale with an epic ending. Seems todays movies have forgotten story telling.

This chatty French horror film has similarities with 2014's 'Up Above, So Below'. I found that film's success surprising for such a lacklustre production, so my enthusiasm for 'Bunker 717' (sometimes known as 'Deep Fear') was muted. The results here are pretty good.

Three students decide to celebrate their graduation by exploring the catacombs underneath Paris. They appear to be followed down there by a couple of skinhead ne'er do wells.

Things start off slowly and it's a pity some of the time wasn't spent allowing us to get to know the characters better; they are all fairly likeable, but sketchy. The main antagonist, who is impressive but used very sparingly, would also have benefited from some semblance of a backstory.

This is low-key, but mainly fun. The claustrophobic setting is well conveyed and there's a real sense of 'things lurking in the shadows'. This, and a convincing level of gore, coupled with an effective ending, makes for a fairly effective 80 minutes. My score is 6 out of 10.

DEEP FEAR is a claustrophobic chiller that takes us beneath the streets of Paris. This isn't the usual catacombs movie, it takes us into an unexplored -except by taggers- region. As in other such films, there are ample opportunities for the young explorers to be threatened, terrified, and given a lesson in extreme caving along the way.

Some of the ultra-tight squeezes are reminiscent of movies like THE DESCENT, with some similar dangers.

One strength is that the aforementioned youths are not presented as annoying jerks, out to make a mockery of everything. In fact, they're all pretty serious. This makes it all the more effective when they finally reach their destination, and the true horror begins.

A gory, increasingly intense creeper with a perfectly grim finale...

This is your run of the mill horror movie about people poking around in places they really shouldn't be going in. That said, it does have some things working for it:

• Decent cinematography - There are some well shot scenes in the catacombs and sewers that give a very claustrophobic vibe and dark foreboding atmosphere
• Good Gore - There isn't much in the way of this for the first half of the movie, but when it shows up there is plenty of it and done in a way that is believable
• Competent Acting - All of the actors knew what they were doing and conveyed the correct kind of emotions when they needed to

On the other hand, it has some stuff that undercuts it:

• Awkward Music - There are a few times throughout the film where inappropriate music suddenly comes in that really takes you out of the movie and scratch your head wondering what kind of effect they were going for here
• Weak CGI - for the most part the things using it are kept hidden or use POV which negates this, but for example a scene of someone getting blown up uses some clearly CGI'd effects. Not close to the worst I've seen, but far from the best
• Lack of Explanation - I suppose this is more of a personal opinion, but there is never a reason why or how the bad guy survived in a place like this which can be a bit irritating
• Lack of Subtitles - This applies only to the (not-French) dialogue which is never given a translation but only comes up in the very end of the movie. It isn't needed, but it can be irritating to try and figure out what the person is saying when it might illuminate their backstory somewhat
• Generic Ending - I won't go into too much detail, but yeah, this goes the route of so many other horror films, and doesn't even explain how it happened which seems like a cop-out.

Overall though, definitely worth a watch for any horror movie fan.

French horror movies, there aren't many of those so when I come across one I like to give it a chance. This one, although mild horror, isn't bad at all. I had fun watching Deep Fear even if the story seemed a bit far fetched but then again that's mostly the case with movies in this genre. The catacombs are real but what they stumbled on here was very unlikely so to say. The acting from all unknown actors to me was more than decent. They all delivered and played their role well. Maybe the story could have used a bit more bloody scenes, just to make it better, but overall the movie is worth watching.