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THE STRANGENESS (1985)Directed by David Michael Hillman Seven people head deep into a mine that has been closed for years due to “mysterious deaths” and “eerie legends”. Dumb luck strands them in the mine. An evil from the dawn of time keeps them there. The plot is as straightforward as Attack Of The Beast Creatures. But, it’s all in the details. Beast begins in medias res with the shipwreck having occurred and the characters (and us) being dumped onto an island. The Strangeness begins (after a couple of false starts) with a campfire scene where we meet the characters before they all head down the mine. Beast starts off with a bang but swiftly reveals that it doesn’t have a lot of follow-up. The Strangeness starts slow and builds to a very well done closing half. The first 35-40 minutes follow the characters as they approach the mine and go in. We have the two “mine guys”. The brusque company man. The vague geologist. The Scottish or Irish “cave expert”. The writer who is chronicling the re-opening of the mine and his wife. At the start, the characters are a bit bland. But, they grew on me in the same way that the characters in "Final Exam" did. They become interesting and -- here’s the great part -- I didn’t want to see them die. The geologist is not defined at all but the others have their defining quirks and they all have a little twist in their characters. The company man turns out to be quite mad. The cowardly writer turns out to be rather brave. The rather dull wife turns out to be filled with ingenuity when she needs to be. It works. It helps that the caves themselves are so great. Stephen Thrower’s Nightmare USA discusses the making of the film. Ignore this chapter until you’ve seen the film. In fact, I’ll stop this paragraph here and start a new one. The caves are great. Claustrophobic and creepy. You really feel like you are deep underground and trapped. It helps that all the lighting seems to be from actual on-screen sources, lanterns and flares and such. The only spots you see lit are what the characters see. That’s how you light a cave, ladies and gentlemen! Going back to the opening half-hour or so -- Is it slow? Possibly. But, the filmmakers are setting up all the characters so I can’t find fault there. The settings keep changing also so it’s not as if we’re trapped in a static room. They get to the cave soon enough and the tension builds from there. If Hitchcock or De Palma had directed this, would the first act have been stronger? Sure. Probably. In fact, it’s one of those openings that works better the second time around. I liked the film so revisiting the characters without worrying about the scenes in the caves becomes fun rather than a “waiting, waiting” experience. After I’d written that last paragraph, it occurred to me that it’s not the opening 35-40 that are a problem. It’s the first 10 (or so) minutes. The pre-credits sequence is poor and feels tacked on. The opening credits are kind of silly. The first scene after the credits with the two “cave guys” driving to the site is really pushing the exposition hard. If you can get past these little hiccups, the film exponentially leaps and bounds towards creamy strangeness goodness. I like The Strangeness. There, I said it. I’d say it again if I had to. AUDIO AND VIDEO EXTRAS FINAL THOUGHTS |
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