I think of this movie as a horror fable. It's a fable in that it's a story with a lot of symbolic meaning, and it's not aiming to be fully realistic.
I loved it! But I can also understand how viewers could be disappointed if they're looking only for a straightforward horror story and they're not interested in unpacking the layers of meaning.
The underground world doesn't hold up to scrutiny. If you start asking, "how does this actually work?" and "how did it go undiscovered for so long?" it doesn't really add up. As a viewer, you can either accept it at face value or not. I didn't have any problem accepting it because the underground is presented as a spooky, supernatural phenomenon rather than as literal science fiction. It was a wise choice to avoid giving too many details about how it all works. (There is a bit of a sci-fi explanation given for its origin, but it's very hand-wavy and short on details.)
The core message that I took away from the story is that the people in society we might think of as different from us are not that different after all. We're all human, but we grow up in different environments that shape who we become and what possibilities are open to us. The big twist about Red's true identity drives this point home. The movie lets us believe the people from the underground world are monsters and that they are sub-human. But then we find out that Adelaide, a fully human character, is one of them! This forces us to reconsider our first impressions of the underground dwellers. Rather than seeing them as monsters to be hated, perhaps instead we should have compassion, and we should ask why they had to grow up in that awful environment in the first place.
Although the story is a fable, it's important to me that the movie also works as an engaging thriller. The acting is fantastic, the tension builds really well, and I found the doppelgängers truly creepy.
Review by BryanVIP 5BlockedParent2019-12-17T10:50:11Z
I think of this movie as a horror fable. It's a fable in that it's a story with a lot of symbolic meaning, and it's not aiming to be fully realistic.
I loved it! But I can also understand how viewers could be disappointed if they're looking only for a straightforward horror story and they're not interested in unpacking the layers of meaning.
The underground world doesn't hold up to scrutiny. If you start asking, "how does this actually work?" and "how did it go undiscovered for so long?" it doesn't really add up. As a viewer, you can either accept it at face value or not. I didn't have any problem accepting it because the underground is presented as a spooky, supernatural phenomenon rather than as literal science fiction. It was a wise choice to avoid giving too many details about how it all works. (There is a bit of a sci-fi explanation given for its origin, but it's very hand-wavy and short on details.)
The core message that I took away from the story is that the people in society we might think of as different from us are not that different after all. We're all human, but we grow up in different environments that shape who we become and what possibilities are open to us. The big twist about Red's true identity drives this point home. The movie lets us believe the people from the underground world are monsters and that they are sub-human. But then we find out that Adelaide, a fully human character, is one of them! This forces us to reconsider our first impressions of the underground dwellers. Rather than seeing them as monsters to be hated, perhaps instead we should have compassion, and we should ask why they had to grow up in that awful environment in the first place.
Although the story is a fable, it's important to me that the movie also works as an engaging thriller. The acting is fantastic, the tension builds really well, and I found the doppelgängers truly creepy.