The Deep Dark

I had the chance to sit down and watch the 2023 French horror movie "Gueules Noires" (aka "The Deep Dark") here in 2024, and given my lifelong love romance with the horror genre, of course I needed no persuasion to do so. Sure, I had never heard about the movie, but that hardly mattered as it was a horror movie that I had not yet watched.

The storyline is pretty straightforward, though you need to sit through about an hour of writer and director Mathieu Turi trying to establish the characters, story and atmosphere. And truth be told, that was just way too long of nothing overly interesting happening, and the movie suffered terribly from that. And with a run time of 103 minutes, squandering 60 minutes just wasn't a smart thing to do.

Needless to say that given my very limited exposure to French cinema, then I wasn't familiar with the actors on the cast list. Though I will say that the acting performances in the movie were fair.

"Gueules Noires" might be worth checking out if you enjoy horror movies that include a subterranean setting, strange alien-like creature design, gore, and a good old fashioned creature feature.

The creature in the movie was definitely interesting. I liked the design, and it is always great to see practical effects on the screen in horror movies, as there is something aesthetically pleasing to watching practical effects over CGI effects.

Just a real shame that writer and director Mathieu Turi squandered a full hour on something that could have been done in a fraction of that time, because it was seriously wasting screen time. And the overall movie suffered from that part. If it had been done in a different way, a quicker way without wasting an hour, the movie would have been way more enjoyable to sit through.

Sure, I found "Gueules Noires" to be a watchable movie, though it is hardly a movie that I will return to watch a second time, as it just didn't have enough contents in the storyline to support a second viewing, and the fact that you have to sit through 60 minutes of virtually nothing but people milling about underground just didn't really count as enthralling entertainment to me.

The ending of the movie, however, left much to be desired. It was a laughable ending to say the least, not to mention a slap to the face of those audience members who stuck through 103 minutes of watching the movie.

My rating of "Gueules Noires" lands on a five out of ten stars.

The atmosphere is bleak but the direction could've been better to make it a bit of slow pace/slo burn kinda deal but instead it just goes typical and there is nothing new to see here. The creature looks like a puppet, Idk when these movie directors are going to learn that not showing anything or less is also doable and builds up the tension even. Some lore would've been better, gory scenes don't have any impact.

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The French horror industry provided many movies during the 2000's and early 2010's and suddenly more or less disappeared, at least in France, and the directors moved away to Hollywood ( Alexandre Aja, Xavier Gens, Eric Vallette ) because of bigger budgets at their disposal and the opportunity to increase their popularity; bigger budget but also pain the ass producers on their back. This movie offers the peculiarity to show a first part which looks like a social drama, a semi documentary about pit coal workers, underground miners, during the fifties, a plot speaking of racism...And suddenly, after the first part, it suddenly turns into a horror film, as we have seen before in the American and also some French industry stuff. Good directing, acting, production design - which surprised me, especially in the first part, with Philippe Torreton whom I did not expect to see in a horror film. I like Samuel Le Bihan, in a charismatic leader role, tough, rough, fair, the same kind of character - or more precisely personality - he had in TOTAL WESTERN. Good French horror film which also made me think of Neil Marshall's THE DESCENT. But for me it is so surprising that there is NO FEMALE character in this film, in a period where strong lead women characters, even in actioners, are galore. Galore. It would not have surprised me to have here a woman sent among men, into the mine, fighting alone against the "thing".

PLOT: A group of coal miners are offered attractive bonus in return for escorting a scientist deep into an underground cave where the group encounters a terrifying mythical being.

While browsing Prime Video library, I stumbled upon "Gueules Noires" ("Black Faces" in English) and found it to be an engaging horror story that was fairly captivating despite its script flaws. The themes draw from a mix of survival horror, mythology, fantasy, and adventure, and backed with good technical execution, make the film a worthwhile viewing. Standout feature has to be excellent camerawork, given that filming had to be done in confined spaces and low-light environments. This added to the tension and in a claustrophobic environment, enhancing the horror experience. Lensman has made excellent use of clever lighting and shakycam to create tension. Editing is tight and never dilutes the tense atmosphere. There are no comic relief or other filler moments in the entire runtime. Once the dark adventure begins, you only get to see the light after the climax. Screenplay stays relevant throughout the film's length with every sequence contributing to plot's speedy progression. Actors too have delivered commendable performances. The dialogue is succinct and impactful, adding to the film's intensity.

The film obviously suffers from budgetary constraints. With a fatter wallet, better special effects and sets could have been arranged. While the script could have been stronger, the film compensates with other elements. Unlike most horror films, this film has tied up loose ends effectively and viewers won't be left with unanswered questions in the end. The emergence of the mythical being and its purpose are all well-explained in the end. The movie concludes with an ambiguous ending, allowing viewers to interpret it in their own way, which I liked a lot.

I am impressed with French Director Mathieu Turi's ideas and work and look forward to watching his upcoming projects.

RECOMMENDED.

Claustrophobic and disturbing medium-budgeted film packed with tension , shocking scenes , thrills , and chills. Factory boss Fouassier (Philippe Torreton) assigns a mining mission to Roland. Miners (Amir El Kacem, Thomas Solivérès, Diego Martín, Bruno Sanches) led by Roland are forced to take Professeur Berthier (Jean-Hugues Anglade) underground with them, to take samples for his measurements. Later on, they're exploring deep underground , the expedition gets horribly worse when they become lost , rockfall collapse and they don't find the dark way out . After delivering further into the cavern , things go awry. A landslide prevents them from going back up, and they discover a crypt from another time, unknowingly waking up a bloodthirsty creature.

Horror story filled with suspense, upsettling supernatural events, relentless terror, as well as lots of gore and blood . This frightening french movie concerns a group of miners, being trapped and chased into claustrophobic caves. Mathieu Turi (Meander) directs this scary horror film starring Samuel Le Bihan, winner of the French Cesar for Best New Actor in 1997 for Captain Conan, and being set in the depths of a coal mine in 1956. An horror film, taking place a chilling beginning, after that, the plot jumps forward 100 years, when a group of miners and a professor in search of samples become trapped 1000 meters underground; there they must find a way out and escape the sinister presence that lurks in the tunnels. Along with Samuel Le Bihan, the cast is completed by French Cesar winner Jean-Hugues Anglade (Queen Margot), Diego Martin (Rec 3), Amir El Kacem (Overdose), Tomas Solivéres (Mr. Henri shares a flat), among others.

This is one of the creepiest french horror movies of the last years and it contains thriller, chiller , cannibalism , blood and gore. The horror and gory moments are compactly made and fast-moving in which the brutal instincts of survival of the human beings are well shown. Ordinary terror film features an acceptable french cast , being shot on location in Wallers-Arenberg, Nord, France, Oignies, Pas-de-Calais, Bruay-la-Buissière, Angoulême and Morocco.

It packs a sinister, ghastly and horrifying atmosphere, full of eerie scenes by means of shaky camera carried out by cinematographer Alain Duplantier or with camera over shoulders and at times itself takes place from personal point of sight from cameraman .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Mathieu Turi, but nothing special because we have seen these terrifying situations many times before and even better filmed. Turi is a nice craftsman, a writer/filmmaker expert on terror films ,and he has directed a few movies and Shorts, such as: Meander (2020), Hostile (2017), Broken (2012), Sons of Chaos (2010). Well worth seeing if you like the terror films.

Other pictures dealing with this sub-genre about people caught and pursued in caves are the following ones : ¨Sub-human¨ (1972) by Gary Sherman with Donald Pleasence , Norman Rossington , David Ladd ; ¨What wait below¨ (1985) by Don Sharp with Robert Powell , Timothy Bottoms , Lisa Blount , Anne Heywood , Richard Johnson . And recently : ¨The cave¨ by Brian Hunt with Cole Houser , Piper Perabo , Eddie Cibrian , Rick Ravanello ; ¨The descent¨(2005) by Neil Marshall with Alex Reid , Natalie Mendoza , Shauna MacDonald , both them dealing with people caught into caverns and besieged , chased , attacked by packs of carnivorous , bloodthirsty , crawling creatures are waiting for them and finally ¨la Cueva¨(2014) by Alfredo Montero.