The Trailer:
Cast: Kelly Noonan, Joey Kern & Jeff Fahey
Synopsis: Samantha (Kelly Noonan), a New York environmental lawyer, decides to descend into the coal mines with her father (Jeff Fahey) and his crew on his last day before retirement where they become trapped after a collapse.
A+ for effort. Beneath isn't a new or particularly original concept. A group of people get trapped underground and now must find their way out. Sounds familiar, right? Well that's because there are so many movies with the same plot that it almost seems like a waste to watch yet another one. But alas, I watched and was impressed.
Because of the underground, crevice-like tunnel environment, there is a claustrophobic feel that is the foundation for the fear that is later built upon. The first moment I admired—and realized that from this point on this is going to different, though I don't know how I knew— is that upon entering the tunnels for the first time Samantha looks behind her at the morning peak of sunlight and Randy (Joey Kern), a crew member and ex-boyfriend, tells her "Say goodbye to the daylight". That line right there is what births this strange anxiety and worry that somehow she might not see the daylight ever again. To add to that newly born fear, a different crew member giving Samantha a tour of the mines mentions that a strange creaking noise is the sound of the mountain pressing down around them, an unspoken reminder that the tunnels could collapse at any moment. A truly great way to build up the tension and anxiety in our protagonist and us, the viewers.
The acting is nothing extraordinary, but it is believable. The dynamic between the crew members a prime example: they all shit-talk each other, but it's clear through their actions that they truly care for one another and would risk their lives for each other.I can only assume that this is the relationship between any group of people who willingly go into a dangerous situation together. Anyways, as I mentioned, it isn't great acting though. One actor in particular made me laugh at his forced, unbelievable screams of anguish. He was just kind of like "oh god, someone help me", I just cracked up. But other than that, collectively, their panic and and anxiety over what is happening to them is all believable. The moment when they're all yelling and wanting to blame one another seems plausible in this high-anxiety situation. This discourse is really what rooted Beneath into a likely reality.
What I also think is a smart choice on the writer's part is that they utilized what we know from all the trapped-underground movies we've seen before. They realize that their movie is not a new concept and use the common tropes in those movies to further confuse us. The face-distortion and the urban legend tale of miners who went missing in these same mines years earlier and the fact that now everyone seems to gain this "every man for himself mentality" muddles what we think is happening and what is actually happening. For me, I was constantly trying to figure out what was true and what was fantasy. And while I did have an idea of what was going (which turned out to be correct) I was still just as impressed by this tool that the writers exercised. This simple and brilliantly executed strategy raised this movie to a slightly higher level of sophistication.
While Beneath did have some downfalls —that I chose not to mention, because I truly believe that it's high marks should be highlighted— it is a decent horror movie that deserves a watch. I would certainly watch it again.
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