jlthornb51
Anthony Waller applies his coruscating wit and insight to a horrific story involving a drilling project that breaks through to the very chambers of Hell itself. This is a quite powerful film, well written, intelligent, and deeply disturbing. Based upon a fake urban legend that purported to announce that a Siberian mission to drill nine miles down had discovered Hell and the cries of the suffering souls could be heard over microphones lowered into the earth, the motion picture expands and enhances that scenario. The imagery is haunting and the location shooting creates an environment of overwhelming dread and stunning intensity. As a film, it breaks through the conventions of the horror genre and provides gripping evidence that the existence of evil, if not Hell, is all too real.
Mikel3
We watched an interesting, yet flawed horror film last night called 'Nine Miles Down'. The premise is that an oil rig drilling farther down than ever before may have reached Hell or some other world. They detect what sounds like countless people moaning in pain and agony. The drilling crew disappears and one security man is sent out to see why. He does meet one survivor, but is she real or is she a demonic seductress from hell sent to steal his soul? The film had great potential based on the premise of finding hell, if only it was directed and written properly. It's one of those films that leaves it up to the viewer at the end as to what really happened.
MaximumMadness
I both was and was not surprised to learn that this film was once scheduled to be helmed by John Carpenter in the 1990's, before he dropped out. While I didn't expect to hear that news, it made a lot of sense, since this seems like the sort of film that Carpenter could really sink his teeth into, and I'm actually quite sad that we never saw his version of the film.Regardless, Anthony Walker stepped in to fill Carpenter's empty director's chair, with a cast including Adrian Paul of "Highlander: The Series" fame, and Kate Nauta, known for roles in films like "Transporter 2" and "The Game Plan." And despite this being a very obvious and often-times heavily flawed B-movie, it's actually fairly well made for the most part. Though unfortunately its flaws are too great for it to elevate itself to anything beyond "average."Based loosely on the infamous "Well to Hell" hoax (a sort-of social experiment/prank in which heavily modified audio from 70's horror film "Baron Blood" was circulated with the claim that it was audio from deep underground of people being tortured in Hell), the story focuses on tormented Security Expert Thomas "Jack" Jackman (Paul), who is sent out to investigate a remote drilling facility in the Sahara. He discovers that the team working at the facility on a deep-drilling experiment have suffered many casualties, with only one member remaining- JC, portrayed by Nauta. After a series of grisly discoveries, including wording written in blood and a bizarre audio clip from deep underground that sounds eerily similar to the wailing of people being tortured, "Jack" begins to question his sanity, and whether or not the situation has a logical explanation... or if the situation is being controlled by the forces of Hell itself.The acting unfortunately is fairly underwhelming. As much as I liked Adrian Paul in his "Highlander" glory days, he's unfortunately just not a particularly skilled actor. But I will give him credit, because he is at very least clearly trying to give a good, compelling performance. And he is quite charming in the role. The same could be said for Nauta, who similarly is just not very good here, but is giving it a very decent shot. Bit parts by the likes of Amanda Douge and even director Anthony Walker are decently played, however.Walker's direction is the standout part of the film. While I have hated some of his earlier works ("An American Werewolf in Paris" being particularly noteworthy of being poor-quality), here, he gives us a very stylish, slick visual representation of the story, and I liked a lot of the touches and ideas he brought to the film. Although I will question some of his choices, including a bizarre and unintentionally funny detail during the opening sequence, in which "Jack" investigates the drilling facility, and every single one of the hanging lights is "wobbling" for creepiness-effect. It just seems forced and silly that every single light in every single shot is wobbling.The script by Walker and Everett De Roche is unfortunately the undoing of the film, and is the main factor in bringing it down a few points. Because, frankly, despite having a lot of cool ideas, it's very confused, contrived and convoluted. And it is so over-stuffed with double-crosses, tonal shifts, twists and turns to maintain a sense of ambiguity, that I ended up finding myself losing interest, since it was trying too darned hard and giving me a headache trying to follow the story in any capacity. I understand that Walker and De Roche want the film to be dripping with mystery, intrigue and have an ambiguous tone where the audience has to decide what is happening... but it's just so forced here. It feels very amateurish in how the story was constructed. Ambiguity can be accomplished with tact, class and deliberation in good films, but here, it's accomplished through poor writing and needless amounts of twists. And without spoiling anything, the final 20 minutes are a cluster of constant twists and shifts that are so overwhelming and needlessly confusing, it almost ruined the entire film for me. I also will admit that I found a recurring motif of suicide (as "Jack" lost his family when his wife killed herself and their children in a murder-suicide) to be very uncomfortable, off-putting and somewhat too exploitive for the film. (Though this could just be my gut reaction as someone who is dealing with the recent suicide of a friend.)And unfortunately, that script drags down what would have been an otherwise pretty good, decent film down to the score I am giving it- a very average and sadly underwhelming 5 out of 10. I would still say that horror fans should give it a shot, because the direction is very good, and there are things to like about it, but the sloppy script holds it back from achieving its full potential.
Carlos Idelone
Are film-makers taught in school, that they can only use women, who look like models in their films? Or are sexual favors exchanged? Did only blonds answer the casting call for this film? I just get tired of this emphasis on looks, especially for women. I guess, they don't think, that an audience could stand watching a normal person for an hour and an half? A blond model in skimpy shorts in the Sahara! A blond model at the switchboard! A blond model in the flash- backs! AAAAAAAieeeeee!!!! Even the "supposedly" great Alfred Hitchcock, stuck blond models in all his later movies. I guess 'cause sex sells . . . Other than that, the movie was well done, with a good deal of suspense.
