9 Miles Down

Security representative, Thomas "Jack" Jackman (Adrian Paul) arrives at a Sahara desert drilling facility only to find it abandoned. Upon closer inspection he discovers evidence of some sort of disaster. There are also signs of occult activity.

Jack is joined by a mysterious woman (Kate Nauta) who apparently survived the ordeal. She tells him about the bizarre deaths of her colleagues.

NINE MILES DOWN is an effective psychological / supernatural horror film with slow-building terror and an overall atmosphere of doom. Paul plays Jack with plenty of suspicion and dread.

Much better than expected...

There's really not many directions you can go with this type of movie. Anybody whose seen the pathetic attempts to reboot The Exorcist (i.e. Exorcist: The Beginning) has seen this premise. I'm not really sure it was a great idea to begin with, and beating it to death isn't helping. Still, this movie's got some going for it. Most of the horror is based on jumpy, sudden moves of creepy imagery. Yes, that's a bit cheap but that doesn't make it less effective. The actors do fine. Not outstanding, but they get the job done.

The story is pretty basic. Security officer Brit McStudly and scientist Dr. Hotpants (ok, not their real names but they were clearly chosen for their looks rather than talent) get stuck in the middle of nowhere in a research/drilling station where things have apparently gotten very real. So the two of them hang out there and one of them may or may not be under assault by demons. There's some vague connections to religious angles and a good deal of psychological tension. Again, decent...but not great.

Would I recommend it? Sure, if you've got nothing better to do. It's not stellar but it's far from the worst thing you've ever seen (then again this is IMDb so I'm sure at least one person will claim it is...and that person will be an idiot).

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.

This is yet another of those "not" horror movies. I was intrigued by the blurb, based on a myth that Russia had drilled so deep into the earths crust they could hear the screams of the damned from hell. Obviously filmed under a tight budget, the majority of the film features just two actors. And neither of them will win any awards for their performances, not even from the local drama club. I would have to class this as a psychological thriller rather than a horror movie. Nothing much actually happens through out the film, just some cat and mouse between the two main characters. And the ending is a bit of a mess. Not sure how this rates 5.5.

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.