The Deep Dark (2023)
- Andrew Smith
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
"What they awakened should have stayed asleep..."
Plot
A rich professor bribes the manager of a French coal mine to let him have access to a lower level of it known as Devil’s Island because conditions are so dire. He enlists the assistance of the mine’s toughest worker and assembles a small team who gratefully accept the bonus he is offering for them to take him down. Blasting into a level sealed off since the 19th century, the party discover ancient cave drawings and a sarcophagus. Whilst the professor takes photos of the chamber and tries to explain to the bewildered workers why they are there, one of the miners opens the sarcophagus, releasing a terrifying creature from a long slumber which has designs on reaching the surface.
Review
It’ll obviously get a lot of comparisons with similar subterranean horror films, most notably The Descent (which is going to be the benchmark for a long time), but The Deep Dark almost manages to forge its own unique identity in a largely underwhelming sub-genre. Maybe it’s the brutal French nihilism that comes with a period horror like this. Or maybe just the fact that it is European made rather than another cookie cutter US monster movie gives it something a little different. I honestly think this one had a lot more in common with As Above, So Below (another subterranean horror set in France). But then this is part of The Deep Dark’s problem – when you’re watching it, you’re reminded of better films. There’s a good film here but not a great one.
I’m not quite sure what The Deep Dark set itself out to do: tell a more dramatic, subdued tale of the arduous jobs of miners and their hardships in a 1950s French mine or go for the jugular with a schlocky creature feature more at home in the 80s and 90s. The first half of the film is tough going. Great if you’re wanting a bit of a fictionalised account of what mining used to be like in 1950s France, with bits of colonial Morocco also thrown in. We meet the characters and the first thing you’ll notice is that it’s very refreshing to see a film with no female characters, not even someone shoehorned in for the sake of diversity. This is a period setting and so the setup is clear – lots of big, rugged and desperate men. They’re all given plenty of time for the audience to warm to them before they head down into the mine and see the banter and camaraderie that goes on. Thankfully, the era of working down the mines was coming to an end when I was growing up in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s but you could see the closeness and togetherness that these communities had with each other. These men depend on each other every day to survive work, particularly this mine in the film which has a high mortality rate and so trust became such a pivotal component of life. If you think you’re getting something too deep here, then think again because once the character’s traits have been established, you can quickly identify them as the rookie, no nonsense elder, the sneaky one, the family man, etc. The interactions between them never feel forced which helps The Deep Dark develop a solid group of protagonists. Once a blind horse is introduced into the film though, you’ll take bets on how long it lasts! This opening half does take a long time to get through, and I did find myself glancing at the clock, wondering when the actual plot I had been sold on was going to kick in. This part was fine but not what I had set out to watch.
Once they’re down in the mine, it becomes too obvious that these are just actors parading around on a soundstage. Some of the sets look way too extensive for them to appear like convincing mining tunnels, far too perfectly cut and clear of any debris. Considering part of this mine had been sealed away for decades, meaning it had dug out with very old methods, there’s no reason it should look as fresh as it does. It’s not very claustrophobic because there’s a ton of space in literally every shot underground. There’s never the impression that this group is trapped too far below the surface to be able to escape. There isn’t much difference between the sets too, so things get very repetitive on the eyes as you assume they’re just walking up and down the same tunnel. The choice of lighting, with the miners only using their headlamps, should have worked well but then at times, the screen is far too illuminated, and this couldn’t have come from the lamps themselves. However, the darkness does its necessary job and sound is used effectively, with the creature’s strange noises creeping up on the characters from the abyss before you can see it. Everything is saturated in a deep brown and greyish hue, giving the screen a drab and dull appearance almost as lifeless as the characters underground. There’s no ‘joy’ to be had on screen.
By the time the monster is awakened, The Deep Dark is well past the midway point, and the initial character exposition and drama becomes ultimately irrelevant and has little bearing on the fates of the characters underground. This becomes an even bigger problem as, due to the cinematographic lighting choices, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell apart the characters as they’re all about the same height, wearing the same outfit and become covered in dirt, their faces largely obscured by the helmets and lamps they’re wearing. Despite some of the labels banded about (The Arab, the Italian, etc), it’s not that important if the two main characters are kept in shot and safe for as long as possible. The rest of the cast are expendable assets. Even at this point, its clear that The Deep Dark is going for something a little more allegorical – just who are the monsters here? The creature about to destroy life on Earth or these miners who rob, threaten and bully each other despite supposedly being close-knit.
The monster itself looks great because it’s a practical effect and is different to what you would have expected to see. Named the Mok'noroth, there’s a Lovecraftian vibe to this creature; grotesque in appearance but a fantastic puppet prop from the effects team which is only brought to life using practical methods and not a drop of CGI in sight – multiple puppeteers had to control the creature as it moves due to its six limbs and bat-like wings. Director Mathieu Turi keeps it shielded in the darkness as best as he can, using the flickers of the headlamps amidst the panic of the miners to give the audience glimpses. In the film’s best moment, an injured miner uses the flash from the camera to light up the tunnel and see what he can hear coming for him. Each flash involves him switching the bulb for a new one and so the monster gets closer with every passing flash. But there’s something about the design of this thing which makes it look too lightweight and gangly for it to be nightmare-inducing. There are too many occasions where the scenes are too well-lit and you really get a good look at it, taking away a lot of its aura in the process. There are certain limitations to using a puppet and these come in the slightly jerky movements its arms and head have but, thankfully, most of the time these are masked by the darkness and shadows.
With there being such a decent sized cast to whittle down, the Mok'noroth gets down to business. It’s huge arms and razor-sharp talons are used to good effect in shredding and tearing apart human flesh so The Deep Dark does throw buckets of gore at the screen. There is a great sequence where a character has their head ripped off, only for the monster to use it to start communicating through. Given how serious the rest of the film had been up to that point, the tonal switch is a little jarring but it’s a fantastic use of practical make-up effects once again. The Deep Dark pulls no punches with its ending too – perfectly and brutally blunt, something I wish more American horror films would take note of.
Final Verdict
The Deep Dark might have needed a bit more polishing up and refining in places, particularly the sluggish opening, but when it does kick in, you get a great dose of old school creature feature horror with a definitively modern French twist to it. Despite its promises of doing so, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel but the rich (and unique) period setting doesn’t hurt its attempt and the creature gets top marks from me for effort.
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The Deep Dark Director(s): Mathieu Turi Writer(s): Mathieu Turi Actor(s): Samuel Le Bihan, Amir el Kacem, Thomas Solivérès, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Marc Riso, Bruno Sanches, Diego Martín, Philippe Torreton Duration: 103 mins |  |
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