Ever since I watched The Descent I’ve had an irrational fear of being trapped underground with cannibalistic monsters. Thankfully, my life choices rarely force me to venture to those lower depths, though I’ll often take a chance on watching a movie that does. It’s rare to find one that lives up to The Descent and Ben Ketai’s Beneath is no exception.
Big city environmental lawyer Samantha Marsh (Kelly Noonan, Haunt, Road to Paloma) returns home to celebrate her father’s retirement. For some reason, she agrees to join him down in the mine for his last day of work. They break through a wall, the mine collapses and it would seem that something is trapped down there with them.
As claustrophobic and frightening that this situation can be, Beneath only manages to scratch the surface of possibilities. And even then, it doesn’t really give us anything we haven’t seen before. Of course the characters turn on one another. Of course there’s something down there with them. Or is there? Maybe. Who knows? Honestly, at this point, who cares?
Another Slow descent into Madness
As soon as things fall apart, things really fall apart. Boring stereotypes do exactly what you’d expect and interesting effects are overused to the point of having no effect whatsoever. It’s sad to see cool horror movie staples like Jeff Fahey (Planet Terror, Body Parts), Brent Briscoe (Zombeavers, The Minus Man) and Joey Kern (Cabin Fever, Bloodsucking Bastards) in something that flatlines so quickly. Not recommended.
Instead, I suggest you skip this one and go straight for The Descent or Sanctum.
Availability: Netflix US, Netflix Canada
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