Beneath

I went into this movie expecting the same lame dribble that is most horror movies these days, but to my delight, I was pleasantly surprised. Beneath managed to pull of a genuinely creepy vibe throughout, and some fairly good scares as well. This movie has the ability to get under your skin, and if you are as claustrophobic as I am, you're in for a treat. My only real complaint was the rather standard attempt-one-last-shock ending that was ridiculously easy to see coming. Aside from that, Beneath is a solid horror flick.

About a decade ago, "The Descent" debuted. This film was about a group of cave explorers who became trapped and were picked off one by one by an unknown entity. Or, it is possible that they THOUGHT such creatures existed and they killed each other off in the process. A few years later, they made a sequel. Well, if you really, really love these films, Beneath is almost like seeing "The Descent Part III".

Beneath begins at a retirement party for a coal miner. At this party, in addition to everyone getting drunk, the man's daughter (who is a college student) is invited down into the mine in the morning--to see if she's brave enough to go there. Well, she shows up but soon the unexpected occurs--there's an accident and a group of miners (including the lady) are trapped. If this isn't claustrophobic and scary enough, soon they start seeing and hearing things. Are these the ghosts of other miners who died here decades ago, is there some evil presence or are they just letting their imaginations run wild? Well, the viewer isn't 100% certain and although you see some scary looking stuff, you cannot be sure that it is or isn't real. Could it just be a form of mass hysteria? All you know for certain is that the film soon becomes a violent bloodbath, as the survivors start attacking each other and soon, perhaps, none of them will be left alive.

If you like scary films, Beneath creates a nice atmosphere. It's very scary and dark and plays on many of our worst fears. The director, Ben Ketai, does a good job of building the tension and keeping the tension going. As for the script, it is a bit derivative since it is so much like the Descent films. Additionally, I didn't really like the female character, as you're expected to believe that a person who has never been in the mines might be tougher and have greater survival skills than the men who have been working there for years. Simply, she seemed more like a plot device than a real person*. Plus, I find it hard to imagine that the coal mine would let a visitor go into the shafts to hang out with the workers. Still, if you like a film with thrills and scary stuff, it does have plenty of that. Familiar but I must admit it's still pretty horrifying.

*Please do NOT get angry because of this comment. My wife is an engineer and I have been a stay at home dad for many years. I love women and appreciate their hard work--but the character seemed underdeveloped and not exactly logical. Had she been a guy invited into the mines, I STILL would have thought this character would have been the first one to die simply because he was out of his element.

The scariest aspect of "The Descent" (2005) wasn't the monsters (or even the backstabbing female-empowerment politics) but the narrow cave crevices the characters managed to squeeze through, the endless maze of tunnels they could so easily get lost in, the darkness that hid unseen dangers. "Beneath" has a lot of the same feel--the claustrophobia of the mine itself is as bad as whatever else is down there. And no, the crew isn't simply trapped underground, running out of oxygen and waiting to die. Worse yet, there's something else in there. What was in the unmapped cavern the miners accidentally breached, causing the cave-in in the first place? Many of the miners were buried by the cave-in--or were they? The survivors can wait for rescue, right? Or can they? It's not clear what the miners should be scared of, but it's clear they should be scared, and the audience along with them. As a haunted house movie, this mine is one hell of a haunted house. And whatever's going on in that house, it's not good!

This movie only got those three stars because of the supporting actors who were actually pretty good. The director went with shaky camera, flashing lights that last too long, in the darkness that lasts too long, and way too long of a build before anything happens.

I mean seriously, you put 6 full minutes of flashing lights and darkness into 80 minutes of movie? The main character sucks at acting. And there is nothing scary in this movie. Nothing. Note even a cheap thrill scare.

The other reviewers talked about the claustrophobia of the cave....... But that doesn't do anything for those of us who aren't claustrophobic.

I love when I skeptically click on these 5.4 rated movies on imdb (what it's at now), but what I get is a 6.3 calibre movie. There wasn't any point in this one where I was like "nah, that wouldn't happen" or "nah, I'm bored." This was just solid all the way through, with no boredom, no cringe moments, no scenes that drag out, just pure claustrophobic terror. I will say most of the jump scares were predictable horror tropes (girl turns around quickly and there's a face behind her, etc.), but they were still high quality for what they are. It's interesting, the fact that something this good only got a 5.4 has me wondering about other horror movies around that score. Maybe there's a lot more good ones then I thought.

Good scares, good atmosphere, good acting, good gore, basically good everything. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is that it's a very simple premise. It accomplishes what it set out to do, but what it set out to do is not very ambitious. This isn't high art, like Event Horizon or Annihilation. It reminded me of The Descent, although not quite as good due to less character development. In The Descent, I really cared for the characters. In this one, not so much.

If you want simple and effective claustrophobic horror, this is it.