Not the first time I've watched this one but after giving it another view with fresh eyes, I have to give this one a 5 rating "Meh" at the very best. If you suffer from speluncaphobia, claustrophobia, cleithrophobia, or nyctophobia (fear of caves, enclosed spaces, being trapped/locked in, and darkness) this movie will probably really be a nerve-jangler. Watching it with fresh eyes, however, it's not so much "scary" as overdramatic and utterly ridiculous. So. Many. Holes. in the story, in the plot, in everything. None of the characters are memorable or likable...not even "Sarah" (played by Shauna Macdonald), the bereaved widow/mother. I will say, however, that my heart was moved by her performance when she came to in the hospital and discovered that her child had been killed in the auto accident. She played that part brilliantly, and - mercifully - briefly. I'm assuming the producers/directors/writers wanted to make "Juno" (played by Natalie Mendoza, whose headshot below, incidentally, is far too Photoshop'd to do her justice) the antagonist/villain but they couldn't really pull it off. She came across as a female actress trying to come across as a "tough guy" and it really didn't work. The rest of the cast were such bit-part players that I couldn't remember who was who, who did what, which went missing and how, etc etc. That's how vanilla this entire film was. The creatures were never explained, although a half-hearted sentence was thrown in (for good measure, I suppose; it really didn't say anything we hadn't already figured out by this point) and the lame explanation that was given could be easily debunked: If they were, indeed, "creature who had adapted to living in complete darkness and were totally blind" then why would they go above ground into the daylight to supposedly hunt and bring their prey/kills down into the darkness? Were these "Mole Men" or "Bat People" or what? To make it even more ludicrous, they at one point had to throw in a "Mole/Bat Female", completely with developed breasts that hung down because she - like the others - moved on all fours (hands and knees) like any other nocturnal animal, I suppose. This "mole/bat female" thing became (of course) enraged when one of her offspring attacked the humans and got killed or wounded for its troubles. And so on and so forth.... So many holes in the entire story and it isn't worth my time to sit here and explain everything away. Just suffice it to say that it wasn't a complete waste of time - it had its moments but IMO the "fear factor" was due more to the tight crawl-spaces and harrowing tunnels they had to traverse, more than the "mole people" - but just go into it realizing the plot is as thin as wet tissue paper and just as sturdy, and there's really nothing to buy into about this. Would I watch it? Yeah...if you're bored, it's not a bad way to completely waste 93 minutes. But now that I've watched it with fresh eyes, I won't bother seeing it again. And the ending is just....silly, for lack of a better word.
Review by ShubesBlockedParent2023-08-31T00:19:25Z
Not the first time I've watched this one but after giving it another view with fresh eyes, I have to give this one a 5 rating "Meh" at the very best. If you suffer from speluncaphobia, claustrophobia, cleithrophobia, or nyctophobia (fear of caves, enclosed spaces, being trapped/locked in, and darkness) this movie will probably really be a nerve-jangler. Watching it with fresh eyes, however, it's not so much "scary" as overdramatic and utterly ridiculous. So. Many. Holes. in the story, in the plot, in everything. None of the characters are memorable or likable...not even "Sarah" (played by Shauna Macdonald), the bereaved widow/mother. I will say, however, that my heart was moved by her performance when she came to in the hospital and discovered that her child had been killed in the auto accident. She played that part brilliantly, and - mercifully - briefly. I'm assuming the producers/directors/writers wanted to make "Juno" (played by Natalie Mendoza, whose headshot below, incidentally, is far too Photoshop'd to do her justice) the antagonist/villain but they couldn't really pull it off. She came across as a female actress trying to come across as a "tough guy" and it really didn't work. The rest of the cast were such bit-part players that I couldn't remember who was who, who did what, which went missing and how, etc etc. That's how vanilla this entire film was. The creatures were never explained, although a half-hearted sentence was thrown in (for good measure, I suppose; it really didn't say anything we hadn't already figured out by this point) and the lame explanation that was given could be easily debunked: If they were, indeed, "creature who had adapted to living in complete darkness and were totally blind" then why would they go above ground into the daylight to supposedly hunt and bring their prey/kills down into the darkness? Were these "Mole Men" or "Bat People" or what? To make it even more ludicrous, they at one point had to throw in a "Mole/Bat Female", completely with developed breasts that hung down because she - like the others - moved on all fours (hands and knees) like any other nocturnal animal, I suppose. This "mole/bat female" thing became (of course) enraged when one of her offspring attacked the humans and got killed or wounded for its troubles. And so on and so forth.... So many holes in the entire story and it isn't worth my time to sit here and explain everything away. Just suffice it to say that it wasn't a complete waste of time - it had its moments but IMO the "fear factor" was due more to the tight crawl-spaces and harrowing tunnels they had to traverse, more than the "mole people" - but just go into it realizing the plot is as thin as wet tissue paper and just as sturdy, and there's really nothing to buy into about this. Would I watch it? Yeah...if you're bored, it's not a bad way to completely waste 93 minutes. But now that I've watched it with fresh eyes, I won't bother seeing it again. And the ending is just....silly, for lack of a better word.