9 Miles Down

It's one of those movies that had potential but somehow does not really uses it.

The storyline is your typical ingredients for a good psychological thriller/horror movie that constantly has you and the viewer questioning their mind. A man is sent to a deserted drill site in the Sahara desert, where a series of unexplained deaths have taken place. As soon as he arrives, a mysterious woman appears who claims to be the survivor of the scientific team, but who is she really ?

Already at the start the movie just rushes by without letting the atmosphere really do its' work. And as soon as the storyline really gets off, the film deteriorates into one big confusing mess. It just uses the same old "hallucinations within an hallucination within an hallucinations etc." formula over and over again ad tedium.

The female character barely adds anything to the storyline, she's just eye candy and the ending still doesn't explain anything about her.

Shame, because the movie did have some potential. Oh well, still better than Rob Zombie I guess.

To start off... I watched this movie with nothing better to do. I figured it would be a sad B Class Movie. I was wrong.

This movie had a creepy feel to it, like that of Paranormal Activity and other movies like that. The whole movie is psychological warfare of sorts. You never know who is telling the truth in the movie. This movie may confuse some people with its constantly changing view points, but to Horror fans, it will appeal greatly. The Gore is great... One complaint I did have; The special effects were "limited". Which is to be expected from a "B" class movie. The plot of the movie is what really drew me in the most, the psych of this movie will have your mind battling itself for the whole film. The Good vs. Evil theme prevails through the entire movie. I have to say, This was quite a good movie. If you get a chance to watch it, watch it. It will keep you awake.

The effects, scares, creepiness - all work very well. The "going out of his mind" sequences are all very well done. The dialog his horrendous. Had there been more care taken with this and some better editing this could have easily been a 8 to 9 on the imdb scale. Instead too much focus on the "horror movie" look and feel.

When you see a 5.5 rating usually you expect near-trash stuff. Well it turned out to be so much better than expected. The strongest thing about this film is, you get what you expect from a thriller (suspense, twists, gore etc), but in a believable way. You don't get bored and constantly you have to question whether reality or insanity is driving the characters of the film. Adrian Paul is above average, Kate Nauta is fine but surely cannot pass as a... scientist. If it was shot with bigger star power, it would get the rate it deserves, but still a 7/10 is fine, considering the budget. Now the 100 people that rated it with 1 or 2, where surely expecting something else. My recommendation: see it

In so many details "Nine Miles Down" was very different from the average blockbusting US-made movie telling this kind of tale. Following Jackman through that somehow horrific place in the desert is a promising start into a solid, almost old fashioned end-of-the-world adventure. Normally, nowadays the story tends to dwindle to something stupid. Not here. You can really stick with it, from the very beginning the whole thing is intriguing and every single step and turn makes sense. If there is danger, the guy uses his brains, he turns around, and a blind spot doesn't automatically mean a noisy monster jumping out of it. Dialogues are kept short, but to the point, and casually even enter deeper realms. No cheap effects, thrilling story, good acting, and guessing participation is guaranteed to the very end.