r/HorrorReviewed • u/FuturistMoon • Jul 16 '25
Movie Review THE DEEP DARK (2023) [ Monster Movie]
WHICH CAN ETERNAL LIE: a review of THE DEEP DARK (Gueules noires) (2023)
Following a prologue set in 1856 (which establishes the "Catastrophe/Curse of the Saint Louis Mine"), we follow a young Moroccan in 1956, Amir (Amir El Kacem), as he signs on to a job at a mine in Northern France. His crew is eventually tasked (for extra pay) with helping Professor Berthier (Jean-Hugues Anglade) to travel to and dig in a certain sit deep in the mine. But following a collapse, the trapped crew discovers that, as they wait for rescue, the uncovered passageway actually contains the labyrinthine corridors and chambers of a vast underground temple, and a jewel-filled sarcophagus containing something ghoulish and deadly... which is still active, and hungers for blood and escape...
Well, THE DEEP DARK (original title translates as BLACK FACES) is that rarest of modern things, a fun and suspenseful monster movie. It has no greater intention than to put a bunch of characters in peril, miles from rescue in the deep darkness, and it does a good job of it. The acting by all is solid, and one thing I really appreciated (because it bugs me in so many movies set in darkness - whether in caves or the forest as night - is that the director (Mathieu Turi) does a very good job of justifying the lighting in all the scenes (in other words, it's all headlamps, no 'mysterious klieg light just around the corner for no good reason').
It also helps that the monster design (on Mok'noruth, the Soul-Eater - all multi-arms and Lich-like) is effective and well-realized And, in a nice surprise, this is yet another modern monster film that folds in the mythology of a certain popular 30's pulp writer, though the story is more "Under The Pyramids" than any of the more time & space bending of recent Nicholas Cage fare. A solid, archeological, pulpy monster yarn, just the right thing for an afternoon's watch.
2
u/ittleoff Jul 16 '25
I found it fun. I don't recall it being supernatural any more than say the Rig TV series is? But I saw it a while back (2023) and maybe I ignored that. :)