Deep Fear (2022)

Deep Fear shows some promise but much of its potential, like the French catacombs, in which it is set, remains undiscovered. Lets start with the positives, a solid if by now mostly familiar back story, helped by decent acting, from the capable, cast. You certainly buy into the main characters anxiety and fear. A creepy, unrelenting threat, they have to face. A dash of well rendered 80's and early 90's nostalgia. Its a reasonable horror recipe, so what goes wrong? First out of the box is the predictable, by this time, exhausting, woke pandering. Yes diversity good, racism bad, we get it. Thanks for the lecture. Then there's the fact that about half the movie is spent wandering around the catacombs, being guided and then, being lost. Its an interesting setting but after a time the novelty wears off. To top it off, when the real scares start to kick in, they are not well handled. The outcome is yet another film that, maddeningly, "sort of works" but doesn't quite get, where it wants to go. In summary, an interesting idea, let down by inconsistent execution. The results a horror flick that's moderately watchable but left this viewer feeling somewhat indifferent. Note: this film has subs, as its in French.