Underground (2011)
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“If I wasn’t so scared right now, I’d make a ‘completely legless’ pun.”[/caption]
Twitter Plot Summary: A rave at a former military base goes slightly awry when the teens encounter a group of mutant creatures underground.
A word of warning to youths across the world: if you plan on attending a rave it is worth your time checking that it’s not based on the site of a former military base, where a science experiment has gone wrong and created mutant zombie creatures that feast on living flesh. It’s clear that, if this was indeed the case, it would add a seriously negative vibe to your weekend of hardcore trance. Who knows, what with the drug culture that is perhaps unfairly lumbered with this particular group, they may see flesh eating zombie creatures when they get high anyway.
So our small group of teens/folks in their early 20s are at a rave when one of them gets on the wrong side of a burly fellow raver and a fight ensues. Chased out of the area by gun-toting bouncers, they lock themselves inside a former American military bunker and soon discover that they are not alone down there.
Luckily for this particular bunch, at least one of the guys is former military so he knows how to use his fists if he has to. Beyond his skills there is little else to define the remaining characters beyond a cowboy hat and the skimpy outfits the women wear. You may reach a point where the women are defined either by the pitch of their screams or simply by the colour of their shirt, such is the muddy picture quality and lack of personality given to their characters.
The dialogue and story are as cliche as they come, it’s not one that does anything new or interesting with the genre. In fact more often than not it’s pitched far too seriously whilst demonstrating some truly awful dialogue. Minor spoilers ahoy! An additional element of plot features the group meeting the scientist responsible for creating the flesh eating monsters. This would have worked better if presented as notes and historical references to his work rather than a direct face to face meeting, but his presence in the second act does at least break up the repetitive routine of scream, run, die.
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This rave had gotten out of hand very quickly.[/caption]
On the plus side it does at least have some moderately impressive creature effects, and the gore is effective if not used all that frequently. The variety of death sequences — for there are many — are used inventively, even if many characters die as a result of their own foolishness rather than because the zombie creature things are clever.
This is a case where the locations used are more of a main character than the cast. Whilst this isn’t too flattering to the actors, it has to be said that they’re competent but let down by the generic script. Even the direction from Rafael Eisenman, known primarily for erotic dramas, is competent in the horror field. He should try doing more of them.
At face value it seems that Underground has mashed together The Descent with Outpost (themselves mash-ups of other genres), to mixed results. The idea at its core is sound, it just doesn’t all come together as well as it perhaps should have. Still, a worthy effort all the same.
Score: 2.5/5
