Deep Fear review.
Screambox dropped one of the biggest streaming releases of the season this week with Terrifier 2. The next day they quietly dropped another original worth checking out. Deep Fear comes to us courtesy of France. At turns claustrophobic, mysterious, scary, and surprisingly funny…it adds another winner to the Screambox original catalog.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Deep Fear
Directed by Gregory Beghin
Written by Nicolas Tackian
Starring Blaise Alfonso, Olivier Bony and Leone Fracois-Janssens
Deep Fear Review
Deep Fear doesn’t let you know exactly what you are supposed to be fearing until the last ten minutes or so of the less than 90-minute run time. It gives you plenty of atmosphere and smaller troubles to worry about…but it saves its monster for the climax. I think that most people will agree that the set up is a bit better than the final obstacle. It’s the downside of having a good build. It’s hard for the payoff to live up to the hype.
Three friends decide to spend their last day together with a trip into the catacombs under Paris. They encounter enough problems to make anyone turn back…but can’t find the way out. As they travel deeper into uncharted corners of the catacombs, they uncover a mystery no one could have prepared for.
Deep Fear is a short movie. It pads its already short run time with an opening act that doesn’t add as much to the character’s backstory as it should. But once we reach the catacombs we get a fine hour of surprises, suspense and fun. The very opening scene of the movie is of an unknown character trying to escape something deep in the catacombs only to be pulled back in screaming. That is the only hint we have that something dangerous lies below for a long time. It’s effective though. You think about it with every decision that drives the characters further down.
Inside the outer layer of the catacombs there is a small society of people who come to be free from the world. One of them is the sister of the unknown character from the opening scene. We learn that it has been two months since that scene took place and that her brother was never seen again. He had ventured into the White Zone…an unexplored area of the catacombs that is strangely modern compared to the rock walls and watery floors.
The group has been trying to strengthen the way into the mysterious area so they can explore it. There is one small tunnel, but it is on the verge of collapse with the train line running above it. You just know that is going to pay off at some point.
Deep Fear uses claustrophobia to good effect early. The only way to get to new sections of the catacombs is to crawl through holes barely bigger than a person. The deeper they go the more troubles they begin to encounter. Diseased rats fill a flooded corridor. A neo-Nazi gang patrols an area. There are bear traps and trip wires guarding against…something. Every turn is something new…and never the way out.
There are also some surprising moments of levity in Deep Fear. I found myself chuckling at something on a few occasions. The interplay between the lead characters is enjoyable too. But the real fun of the movie is in the final act as the friends make their way through the final wall into the White Zone.
I can see people not enjoying the climax of Deep Fear. The movie must make a choice after going through the wall of exactly what kind of movie it’s going to be. I think they chose to be a fun one…but again, you may have a different view of it. I think it’s worth the journey through the catacombs to see what’s on the other side for yourself.
Deep Fear is in French with English subtitles.
Scare Value
Normally I’d say the percentage of build to payoff here would be a detriment…but the build is very well done. Watching these characters descend deeper into certain, inevitable (but completely unknown) doom is a treat. Your reaction to what they find when they reach the White Zone will vary…but I thought it provided good fun. Take a trip through the catacombs and see for yourself. This Deep Fear reviewer enjoyed the joruney.
3.5/5
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