The Mine

I love horror movies and honestly, I'll give almost anything a chance which means I have watched some truly awful movies. Abandoned Mine is definitely not even a candidate for that list. It's not a great movie, but it's far from terrible. I felt invested enough to continue watching until the very end.

Sure, it's cliché. But I think the movie goes out of its way to acknowledge that. It has a generic title. It takes place on Halloween. The characters tell a scary story in front of the haunted, abandoned, so-scary-oh-god-no mine about its past on the not quite 100 year anniversary of the tragedy that caused it to be haunted. So, I don't think the movie's really trying to take itself all that seriously.

The actors are actually fairly strong for a movie like this. Alexa Vega is always a treat and though she's playing the female character who's afraid of everything, it's hardly ever grating which takes talent. Reiley McClendon straddles the line between jerk and jerkily charming for most of the movie. Adam Hendershott plays a generic, ex-jock character and does it well though his freak out at one point is actually quite good. Charan Prabhakar plays a character that is a stereotype but is also very aware of that; his deadpan delivery of some of the more outlandish lines really sells the character as the best thing about the movie for me. Then there's Saige Thompson. She's not a bad actress but she's definitely the weakest of the group, her big, dramatic moment being the worst in the film.

The main thing the movie does wrong is abandon the majority of its ambiguity near the very end causing it to lose whatever originality it had.

And it's pretty clear from the initial scene that this is a B movie all the way. Though the rating should give it away with only a PG-13. In my experience, new movies with high budgets tend to go in for gore, which means an R rating. However, I love B movies and the hokiness that comes with them (and find fear is not based on disgust), so I gave this one a try. The overall movie was decent to be sure. There were the typical stereotypes (dumb jock, cool jock, comical Indian, dumb blond, smart blond with short hair) and they were done well-ish. Though I will admit to finding every joke made at the expense of the Indian guy a bit much within the first 5 minutes of his appearance.

The real problem was in plot development. It was one of those where the writers clearly were unsure how to end the film after they gave an actually well done and surprising twist. They do play with time so separate events overlap at the end so you get numerous perspectives and that was really well done and entertaining. But the plot itself just sort of ended without a nice tie up. If that doesn't bug you, then give this one a try. However, I will warn you that you ought to keep the remote handy for fast forwarding in the beginning. The character development is long and since the film takes place at Halloween, viewers are forced to watch a montage of five minutes (but felt like an eternity) of two girls trying on costumes. Unless they are drag queens (and they aren't) there is no realistic way for two average white girls to have that many current Halloween costumes. It that sort of unbelievability that kills a B movie since they have so much less to work with. I relied on fast forward to take me through and I wasn't totally disappointed that I did continue on.

A mine is reportedly haunted by one of the men who used to work there and his two daughters, who were killed in front of him. Skeptical about the hauntings, five friends decide to take a trip down into the mine as part of their Halloween outing, but when strange happenings start going on, the group members start to realise that maybe there is more to the story than what they originally thought.

Abandoned Mine is pretty poor in every sense of the word. Poor plot, poor story and poor execution. The only decent thing about it was the acting as this wasn't that bad at all. Unfortunately you can only go so far with only decent acting when everything else is so poor and even an experienced actor would have struggled to make this movie more interesting.

For a reportedly creepy horror it really isn't very creepy at all and that's a bit of a pity really because the setting of an abandoned mine is a good one. You just have to see movies such as The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 and The Descent to see how movies where the main setting - or part of one - is underground and can work really well in bringing an uneasy feeling to the audience. Abandoned Mine doesn't do that, though, and instead of being a creepy horror it just turns out to be a Jackass type of movie.

The twist of the movie (if it can be called that) can really be seen coming very early on as well, especially given what we already know about the group members. I have seen much worse but that doesn't mean that this is any good.

Definitely wouldn't recommend watching this one.

It's hard for older persons such as myself to enjoy teen movies. The real problem as I see it for The Mine is that these teens are not 14 but more like 18, and one has just done pre-med, implying she's intelligent. Her excuse is that she's still in love with the lead bloke. The love triangle is actually quite adult and sweet. The story, basically, is pretty solid and nouveau, but it would have made way more sense for theses kids to have been 12. Now that would have made this movie a work of genius. They decide to party at Halloween outside an abandoned mine, one that is known to be traitorous, and one where many have met misfortune or just disappeared over the last 100 years. So obviously it's a dangerous mine. First problem. Why then is there barely a sign or proper seal to prevent entry to the mine? Second problem. Why are these kids out in the wilderness without checking the weather forecast? Third problem. Why do they agree to enter the mine rather than go back to their car when a thunderstorm strikes? At least they agree, sensibly, to only go in as far as necessary to be out of the rain. Fourth problem. Why do they agree to descend further into the mine just because their idiot lead bloke thinks it would be a hoot? One of the girls appears to be on serious anxiety medication for a start, and she's the med student, and she's first to go down! Fifth problem. How is it they are so stupid as to immediately find themselves, all of them, stuck done a vertical entrance shaft? OK, it's a teen movie, and we the suffering public have to put up with teen movie after teen movie where teens are almost always painted as idiots. Why there is no outcry against this trend I'll never know. Oddly, from here on it actually gets a lot better. The twists and turns of the mine are actually quite interesting, well lit and designed. I didn't find it claustrophobic down there. The filming is actually quite good. If you make it to the last third of the movie the story actually reaches a level of something quite profound for a teen movie. I was actually really glad I got through the cringes at the beginning. I'd even go so far as to wish the filmmakers well and assure them that The Mine was sufficiently impressive for me to look up what else they've done. Good luck to all concerned. A pretty good effort, but please spend longer when next you write your lead in.

Some people amaze me when they review a movie that they only watched for 15 minutes and automatically rate it the lowest possible score. No way this is a 1 out of 10. It's not even a 3.6 out of 10, which is its current rating. I give it a solid 6, give or take 1 point depending on how graphic you like your horror films to be.

There's no need for me to give the plot outline, it's already been given. For a low budget film, the acting, the lighting, the setting and the story are all above par. And let's not forget it is a bit claustrophobic at times as well. Not as much so as THE DESCENT, but still very good for the small amount of money involved. Again, I would like to give props for the lighting. For a movie like this, set inside an abandoned mine, the lighting couldn't have been any better. Great job all around. Not violent, but very well paced, acted and directed. If nothing else, great fun for the entire family. Kid-friendly stamped and approved.