Cast: Alexa Vega, Reiley McClendon, Saige Thompson
Director: Jeff Chamberlain
Country: USA
Genre: Adventure | Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Official Website: Here
Editor’s Notes: Abandoned Mine opens in limited release in select cities on August 15th.
The difficulty any film set underground has is that it immediately draws comparisons with Neil Marshall’s 2005 modern classic The Descent. This being the case filmmakers must either embrace this connection or avoid it altogether. Abandoned Mine definitely goes for the latter and for the most part it succeeds.
The set-up is as simple as it is familiar. Five friends with a history of scaring each other decide to camp out in front of an abandoned mineshaft on Halloween to tell ghost stories and toast marshmallows. Led by college quarterback Brad (Reiley McClendon) the group including best friend and jock Jim (Adam Hendershott), new girlfriend Sharon (Alexa Vega), ex-girlfriend Laurie (Saige Thompson) and her friend Ethan (Charan Prabhakar) reluctantly shelter from a rainstorm inside the mine itself. After becoming trapped they must find another way out but as always, there’s a complication. Many years ago a miner and his daughters were imprisoned in the depths of the mine and the legend states that they still haunt the tunnels waiting for their chance to escape.
The difficulty any film set underground has is that it immediately draws comparisons with Neil Marshall’s 2005 modern classic The Descent. This being the case filmmakers must either embrace this connection or avoid it altogether. Abandoned Mine definitely goes for the latter and for the most part it succeeds.
There have been several films of this type recently and the majority are just lazy imitations of The Descent but Abandoned Mine is better than that for several simple reasons. Firstly, it simply doesn’t try too hard; this is a simple premise executed well. Too often horror films play their cards too early but writer / director Jeff Chamberlain, helming his first full feature, has resisted that temptation. In doing so the viewer is drawn into the distressing situation with the characters, imagining their claustrophobia and suffering with them as they struggle to find a way out amidst the collapsing ceilings and tight passageways. When things do take a more macabre turn it is handled with reverence to the horror genre rather than simply plucking scenes from past films. Of course there are stereotypes, the characters for one, but it is impossible for a horror film to be wholly original and if handled correctly, as Chamberlain has, then it makes for an enjoyable, and scary, film.
…this is a simple premise executed well. Too often horror films play their cards too early but writer / director Jim Chamberlain, helming his first full feature, has resisted that temptation.
Secondly there are no over the top effects and lamentable CGI. Chamberlain has relied on simple horror tropes for his scares such as jump cuts and mysterious sounds in the dark, and these create an atmosphere of dread with far more validity than implausible monsters and disfigured inbreds could ever do. One thing that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t though is the occasional use of found footage as each of the group have cameras on their helmets. Some of this really adds to the atmosphere but at times it is laboured and unnecessary.
The cast do everything expected of them in roles that are probably a little less shallow than in the usual teen horror films and the only real issues are when the plot tries to add more back story to them than is necessary, something that at times seems like a second thought.
There are some decent twists in the story but nothing that most audiences won’t see coming, although just how it develops will be a surprise. That said the ending is a little disappointing and I wonder if there were other ideas mooted during production. All in all Abandoned Mine is a decent addition to a genre that is full of poorly crafted imitators.
[notification type="star"]60/100 ~ OKAY. All in all Abandoned Mine is a decent addition to a genre that is full of poorly crafted imitators.[/notification]
