Dead Mine

I wanted to watch a horror movie yesterday and after a quick search I chose Dead Mine. Well,the "horror in a mine" concept is nothing rare so I didn't expect to encounter something new plot wise to begin with. What I was expecting to see in an Indonesian B-movie like this were some nice killing scenes and probably some scary or intense moments. Also, most horror B-movies nowadays usually make up for their "bad" plot with lots of blood and gore but that's not the case here. This movie isn't much scary either. Even at moments that the protagonists are hunted down and the watcher should feel the intensity of it the director just failed to make it happen.

Coming to the story now, I have to say it was not that bad.It actually had more potential than it delivered if I can say that. Of course, there are cliché characters placed here and there but it happens to most movies(I even found myself liking the character of Warren's gf) .The plot is quite good at first(not something entirely fresh but decent) and seems like it might lead somewhere good. Still the bad pace, the lack of attention to detail and the horrible 15-20 last mins of the movie where the story goes off track ruin the effort made before.

I know that what I've said so far will probably make you not wanting to watch this movie at all but its not entirely unwatchable. It's still better than many movies out there. So if you like horror movies and got nothing else to watch give it a try. It will be a decent one-time watch, though the last part of the movie might leave you with a bad aftertaste like in my case.

I remember the first time I saw the poster for this movie, and I decided to stay clear of the movie, believing it to be something in the likes of the "Chernobyl Diaries" movie also from 2012, as the poster is much alike, and that "Chernobyl Diaries" movie was just abysmal.

Then come 2013 and I found out that Joe Taslim is in this movie, so my interest was instantly caught, and I decided to give the movie a go regardless of prior assumptions.

And now having seen it, I sit here with a really bad taste in my mouth. The movie starts out well enough, but then it just peaks and becomes too much, and the movie just spiraled out of control and everything just fell to the floor.

The story is about a group of hired soldiers led by a treasure hunter to seek out the fabled Yamashita's Gold treasure. As the group becomes trapped inside an old mine dating back to World War II, they quickly figure out that they are not alone in the dark mine.

Right, well the story did have potential to be interesting and it did start out well enough and promising enough. But then suddenly after the first revealings of what has been lurking around in the long-abandoned mine, then suddenly director Steven Sheil decided to throw in three squads of what I assume to be reanimated dead Japanese Bushido samurai warriors. And that is when the line snapped for the movie. Once these were introduced, the movie just went from an adequate action horror movie to a laughable attempt at an action horror movie. It was just awful and abysmal to witness. These animated samurai warriors totally killed any shred of enjoyment and entertainment that the movie had.

As for the acting, then people were doing good enough jobs with their given roles. And as I mentioned earlier, then it was because of Joe Taslim that I decided to give this movie a chance. Unfortunately his role wasn't all that big, much to my disappointment.

It should be said that the movie actually does fare well on the effects and creature make-up department. Thumbs up for that, at least.

I supposed this abandoned mine should never have been opened, and then at least I wouldn't have wasted 87 minutes watching it.

I wish I could say this review contained spoilers because it would suggest there was something to spoil about this film. However, it was so abject that the director and assembeld cast have already done that for you. I won't bore you with the details of the risible plot because there are plenty of other reviewers who have done that. What they have not told you is that this film is a cheat. Yes a cheat. I don't care if you haven't paid a penny to watch it, if you watch it to the end, as I stupidly did, it will cheat you out of almost two hours of your life. You know that when a horror film starts out with a group of six, the monsters/ aliens/ zombies/ evil incarnations et al will pick them off one by one. Par for the course. Except in the final scene, we have one character turned into a zombie/ living dead figure another who submerges into a lake to escape the ridiculous Samurai warriors and a plaintive girl struggling up a beach with the warriors emerging behind her and.........roll the credits. Seriously, as the warriors approach her, it goes to black screen and then credits. So what happened to our hero who dived into the lake, the zombified character and the girl? Don't know. I am only writing this because I feel so angry that the film didn't even offer a cop-out ending. There wasn't even an ending! Did they run out of money? Did they become as bored as the rest of us and thought "Hey what, y'know everyone let's call it a wrap because there's a great cocktail bar near here and it's gotta be more fun than doing this." Cheats!

I wouldn't watch Dead Mine in the theater but for on television it's okay I guess. And by okay I mean it just passes, because it's still an average movie. The story was promising but at the end I thought it was poorly executed. For example when you're on the run for evil murderers you don't stop to watch how they butcher somebody, you just keep running. It's small mistakes like that that will bring the movie down. The actors are also not Oscar winners. It's pretty lame sometimes. But the story is still watchable if you have an open mind and are not too critical. With a bit more effort and better actors the movie could have been better but I guess they didn't have the budget for that.

Here we go again, different location, different nation, but the same WWII bunker story. Instead of the German's and the Nazi's we have the Japanese and the undead Samurai. This in itself should have made for some great and spectacularly gory fighting scenes... but it doesn't.

This isn't just down to the direction and special effects though; the story plays a major part in this disappointment. The writers, Ziad Semaan and Steven Sheil, meanders through the telling. It starts well and then gradually slows and slows. There are a lot of pregnant pauses and translating. All of which isn't necessarily needed. Then by the time, the crap hits the fan and the undead Samurai super-soldiers appear (which is way too late in the film) the director cannot increase the pace enough to re-envigorate the viewer.

The director, Steven Shiel, isn't too bad, though a bit more imagination wouldn't have gone amiss. Everything about the shoot is average. There's no play with light. Even though they're in an ancient bunker the lights work brilliantly - Great Japanese Electronics. Not once do the lights go out to create tension. Unfortunately, Sheil isn't able to create tension or suspense in the light. He could have tried different camera angles, blurred backgrounds with moving shapes-come-shadows. But, no. However, this doesn't damage the film too bad but it would have made it so much better.

The best thing about this film is the strength of the cast. Each of them gives a good performance of their character. Sam Hazeldine is particularly good as Stanley. He has screen presence. You know when he's on-screen and he delivers his lines superbly. He makes his character realistic and you can't help but believe in him. Two couples have some nice chemistry together. One is Warren Price (Les Loveday) and Rie (Miki Mizuno) who are lovers but just think about making the quick buck. The others are, Captain Tino Prawa (Ario Bayu) and his second in command - these two have a fine bromance going for them. The acting does lift the story and the film, but not enough. It's watchable, though, I don't think you'll be recommending it to anyone.

If you've not watched a WWII Bunker horror flick before... There are better than this around to cut your teeth on. Check out the Outpost series. However, if you're all watched up and there's nothing else on (which was my case) then this will pass an hour and a half. But the slowness and meandering story may bore you a little.

Feel free to check out my Absolute Horror list-come-chart to see this ranks or to find something to new to view.