Subterranean environments can provide a good setting for horror movies, and there have been many that have made good use of old wartime bunkers. Well, when I say that they have made good use of them, they have served as a reminder that some of those locations still exist, and their dark history can add to the atmosphere of a film. When it comes to the actual quality of the films themselves, that can vary wildly. Bunker 717 aka Deep Fear is a chiller with one or two decent moments throughout, but it ultimately fails to deliver the kind of atmosphere and tension that most genre fans will be hoping for.
Sofia Lesaffre plays Sonia, a young woman who decides to visit the Paris catacombs with two friends, Henry (Victor Meutelet) and Ramy (Joseph Olivennes). They don't just want to see the usual tourist areas though. They want to go towards the area that many don't usually see, the 717 Bunker. Meeting some others who are already down there, and who make it quite the lively and graffiti-tagged party central, it isn't long until everyone suspects that they have been put in a bit of danger. A couple of skinheads have targeted our lead trio, following them down into the bunker, but there's also something else down there that they all need to be wary of.
I was surprised to learn that this wasn't the feature debut for director Grégory Beghin. The same goes for writer Nicolas Tackian. While everything is competent enough, it suffers in a way that feels like it was crafted by people without experience. The writing and structuring of the script means that there's not much development (in tension, character, or major plot details), with a first act that puts everything in place far too quickly, leaving viewers to play a waiting game until the characters become aware of the threats facing them. Then you have the ridiculousness of the third act, which wouldn't be so bad if there were enough better moments to distract you from thinking about how ridiculous everything is. Although the pacing isn't too bad, it could do with being tweaked just a bit, which is something you could say about every main aspect of the film.
Lesaffre does pretty well in her lead role, but nobody else makes an impression. While Meutelet and Olivennes aren't bad, their characters aren't well-developed enough to stand out from the group when they meet the other underground explorers. I would name you other cast members, but that would imply that they managed to do better than Meuteley and Olivennes, and that isn't true. The film is basically Lesaffre being shown getting into trouble, and those around her being a disposable mass of potential victims.
I really wanted to like this, and spent a while swaying between this film and another new release that just landed on Shudder (Huesera: The Bone Woman). I think I made the wrong choice. While there's nothing that I would point to as absolutely awful, there's nothing here that's very good. At least the runtime is quite brief, clocking in at about 80 minutes, but you could spend that time in the company of many better viewing options.
4/10
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