Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Mathieu Turi
Starring: Samuel Le Bihan, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Philippe Torreton, Amir El Kacem,
Thomas Solivérès, Marc Riso, Diego Martin, Bruno Sanches
The horror genre has escaped the lazy trend of rebooting previously
male-dominated movies with female casts because most horror movies have
female protagonists to begin with. Writer/director Mathieu Turi's
The Deep Dark will likely find itself summed up as "The Descent
with blokes," given how similar its basic setup is to Neil Marshall's
cult film. Where Marshall sent an all-female cast into the depths of a
subterranean cave system filled with monsters, Turi does likewise with a
bunch of gruff male miners in 1950s France.
Following an 1856 set prologue in which miners encounter some kind of
creature before their shaft explodes (ooh matron!), we cut to 1956
Morocco, where Amir (Amir El Kacem) is hoping to be selected by a
visiting representative of a French mining company. If selected he'll be
sent to work in a French mine, earning the sort of money he could only
dream of in Morocco. After rubbing the representative the wrong way,
Amir is indeed selected, but he's sent to "Devil's Island," a
notoriously dangerous mine in Northern France.
There, Amir finds himself part of a crew of miscreants led by a veteran
miner, Roland (Samuel Le Bihan), who is tough on his men but
known for keeping them safe. The crew is given the task of escorting a
professor (Jean-Hugues Anglade, now unrecognisable from his
handsome leading man days of the '80s and '90s) 1000 metres deep into
the mine, where he hopes to make a discovery that will ultimately put
everyone involved in grave danger.
The Deep Dark is essentially a monster movie but Turi is
burdened by bigger ambitions than simply giving his audience some
schlocky thrills. So much time is spent detailing the workings of a
mid-century mine that by the time the monster shows up the movie is well
past the midway point. I have to confess I found the portion of the film
that immerses us in the hardships of mining more involving than the
subsequent monster action, but it's ultimately pointless as it has
little bearing on the main narrative of miners battling a monster.
While the early scenes convey the claustrophobia and gruelling nature
of working beneath the earth, once the miners reach their subterranean
destination it becomes all too obvious that we're watching actors on a
soundstage. The tunnels are too well lit and expansive to exploit any
feelings of claustrophobia.
I'm not sure why so much time was spent establishing the character of
Amir either, as once the miners get to work he becomes just another
member of the crew for most of the film. When he sees Amir receiving
some racist baiting, Roland assures him that once in the mine "we're all
the same colour, the colour of coal." This becomes a problem as it makes
it difficult to tell the characters apart when they're all wearing the
same outfit and covered in soot. The film tries to resolve this by
reducing the characters to various labels: the Italian, the Spaniard,
the Arab, the fat one, the asshole etc. They're all ultimately just
grist for the monster mill.
Said monster is an impressive creation, either stop-motion or a
convincing digital approximation of such. But it's also a little too
goofy for a movie that takes itself as seriously as
The Deep Dark, and would look more at home if it was battling Bruce Campbell rather
than a group of acclaimed French thespians.
There are some impressive rubbery gore effects, likely inspired by Rob
Bottin's legendary work on The Thing. The highlight sees the monster speaking through a recently severed
head, but again it's a moment that belongs in a far sillier movie.
The Deep Dark is an impressive showcase for its talented
FX artists, but otherwise it's a poor cousin of movies like
Aliens, Predator and even The Descent.
