The scariest aspect of "The Descent" (2005) wasn't the monsters (or even the backstabbing female-empowerment politics) but the narrow cave crevices the characters managed to squeeze through, the endless maze of tunnels they could so easily get lost in, the darkness that hid unseen dangers. "Beneath" has a lot of the same feel--the claustrophobia of the mine itself is as bad as whatever else is down there. And no, the crew isn't simply trapped underground, running out of oxygen and waiting to die. Worse yet, there's something else in there. What was in the unmapped cavern the miners accidentally breached, causing the cave-in in the first place? Many of the miners were buried by the cave-in--or were they? The survivors can wait for rescue, right? Or can they? It's not clear what the miners should be scared of, but it's clear they should be scared, and the audience along with them. As a haunted house movie, this mine is one hell of a haunted house. And whatever's going on in that house, it's not good!
Review of Beneath
