Nine Miles Down

Having seen the trailer to make sure it was OK, i thought the movie looked quite good delivering a story that contained a little horror, drama and mystery all rolled in to one.

There is nothing bad about the acting or the idea behind the story. It was just that the plot was weak and confusing at times (for me at least).

If you are looking for something that will scare you then, you will be disappointed, it may have you wondering at times like the previous comment mentioned as to whether "hell is real, or a state of mind." but that is about all. The characters are just planted in the middle of no where with no introduction as to who they are or what they doing in the sahara.

The howling wind and the sand beating against the facility windows and doors in the first 5 minutes, is probably the most frightening thing about the movie but the rest is just average looking for cheap thrills with peeks at partial nudity at times and the old scary hag routine.

There are however elements of good effects giving you a glimpse as to what could have been if it had been thought about more but instead you are left feeling a bit disappointed knowing there was so much more scope to the storyline and the female character at the end.

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.

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).

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

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...