Beneath

The movie start with a scene in a bar where the female lead says she is going to go down in the coal mine to show the guys that she can totally do what they can do. She does indeed go down into the mine because she wouldn't be part of the movie otherwise. A couple of guys working a digger break into some sort of tunnel. Almost immediately afterwards, there is a collapse and they are all trapped. It's unclear whether this is just a coincidence or whether the two events are related. Trapped and with the air going bad, they go to a rescue shelter to wait it until until help arrives. Of course, that's not how it plays out because that would make for a really boring movie. The two men who were working the digger are missing. Spooky stuff starts happening. Et cetera.

This movie does have some thing going for it. The female lead is not the best but the supporting cast is good. The underground environment is believable and suitably claustrophobic. The make-up effects are pretty good. What lets this movie down is the script. I get keeping the audience in the dark at first to build suspense but this movie keeps the audience in the dark for the whole movie. The female lead starts seeing things almost right away but doesn't bother to mention this tidbit to anyone. We never really find out why either. We never really find out why anything is happening or how much of this even is happening. There's a lame stinger ending that just made me roll my eyes. There are some good elements but they don't even come together in to anything.

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.

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.

We have seen the story before... trapped in a mine, a group of people struggle to survive. Yes, we have seen it and similar stories more than a few times before, but seldom so well. Solid acting quite effectively conveying fear, despair, and madness; a crescendo of well paced action, a VERY claustrophobic setting, a compelling twist of the unexplained, all blended together to make a real movie out of something that could have just ended up a clone of many others. I say this even admitting that I am not usually a big fan of movies with premises like this. I really liked descent (the comparison is, in some ways, inevitable), but didn't love it as much as some, and yet I put both these movies on par and rate them highly (for me a 7 is high... the mark of a movie well worth watching). If you are one of those people who loves this type of movie, I suspect you will rate it even more highly than I did.

If it could be faulted it is that the mystery madness (without giving too much away) is never thoroughly explained, and this contributes to a rather notable question mark at the end. It did not bother me... I find the mystery compels us to feel confusion in a way similar to the characters themselves, but for some viewers it will stick in their craw and they will cry foul because the director didn't spell it out for them. But this is a character and survival piece more than anything, so it can be forgiven if it defies leading us by the nose through a neatly sewn up narrative.

With that said, make what you will of it. Sit back with the big screen and good surround sound if you have it, and a significant other maybe, and enjoy.

My quick rating 4,9/10. The trapped in the coal mine flick is back. Being trapped with "something" is a common theme for horror/thriller movies to use so can't go anywhere really on originality. Ther are a few good things about this movie even though it is straight formula. The most important is the way the focus is back and forth between something being down there (demon, spirit, etc.) or just hallucinations due to lack of oxygen and the miners losing it mentally. Throughout he whole movie you will be wondering which it is (and no i am not saying). The other plus is the fact that the use of lighting is well done to only allow the lights the characters have illuminate the scene. That being said the movie spends a solid 10 minutes of an 80 minute film in complete darkness. Literally. This doesn't mix too well with often entirely to shaky footage when you can see. This major distraction is unbearable at some parts and takes away greatly from what could've been a good flick. Still worth seeing but I suggest on cable.