Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Dead Mine Blu-ray Movie Review

Letters from Zombie Iwo Jima

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 27, 2013

The language of Dead Mine is English, but the cast is international, and the locations, themes and credits reflect the pan-Asian reach of HBO Asia, which co-produced the film, one of the company's first original ventures. The film was released theatrically in Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia, but in the U.S. it can only be seen on video courtesy of XLrator Media. (Your guess is as good as mine why it wasn't released through HBO, which, like its Asian cousin, is controlled by Time Warner.)

In theme and structure, Dead Mine shares a lot with another XLrator release, Outpost: Black Sun, but where the latter drew its threat from Nazi Germany, Dead Mine unearths monsters left by imperial Japan when it fought the Allies in the Pacific. Director and co-writer Steven Sheil employs the reliable and time-honored formula of sending a group of explorers on a mission to a remote region, where they find something unexpected, uncanny and dangerous. One of the elements that distinguishes Sheil from so many contemporary horror directors (and it's a quality he shares with Steve Barker of the Outpost series) is his willingness to use old-fashioned practical effects instead of relying entirely on CG creations. As a result, Sheil's scenes have a density on camera, and his actors deliver interactive performances, that add substance to Dead Mine's overall impact and raise it a cut above (if you'll pardon the expression) the pack. Despite a somewhat disappointing ending, the film is worth your time.

In a classic teaser opening, a group of Indonesian bandits are encamped somewhere in the wild, when one of them slips away into the jungle to relieve himself. There he finds a strange, man-made device that resembles some sort of trap (its true function will be revealed much later), which prompts him to go looking for signs of life. The signs of life find him. Exit bandit.

Some months later, we catch up with a "mission" in the same region commanded by Indonesian Army Captain Tino Prawa (Ario Bayu). It isn't exactly a military operation. Prawa and his sergeant, a good-humored giant named Papa Ular (Bang Tigor), have been ordered to accompany Price (Les Loveday), the son of a wealthy industrialist with enough clout to get the Indonesian government's attention, on some sort of unspecified exploration. Price is accompanied by his girlfriend, Su-Ling (Malaysian-Chinese model and actress Carmen Soo), his Japanese expert, Rie (Miki Mizuno) and a former soldier in the Australian military who now works for Price's father as an engineer, Stanley (Sam Hazeldine). Two more Indonesian soldiers, Ario (Mike Lewis) and Djoko (Joe Taslim, currently appearing in Fast & Furious 6), round out the expedition crew.

Price hasn't told the soldiers what they're looking for, and he doesn't explain his interest in one particular "dead mine", an abandoned mine that the Japanese military adapted for use as a military bunker during World War II. He simply directs Stanley to check out the integrity of the cave, which is located in an area wracked by seismic activity. Before Stanley can make much progress, however, the group is attacked by bandits (probably the same group from the teaser) and forced inside the mine, where the entrance collapses behind them. Trapped beneath the ground, they have no choice but to find another way out. At this point, everyone wants to know what Price is really looking for. When he tells them he knows the location of "Yamashita's gold", Stanley scoffs that it's a myth.

According to legend, a Japanese general named Yamashita (nicknamed "The Tiger of Malaya") accumulated a vast hoard of stolen gold during the Second World War, which he had his troops hide somewhere in the Philippines. Treasure hunters have sought it for years, without success. Price says that an exploration group employed by his father's company recently uncovered records company indicating that Yamashita's gold was actually sent to Indonesia—indeed, to this very "dead mine". As the group descends deeper into the tunnels and caverns, however, no evidence of a treasure appears. Instead, they find decrepit lab facilities and records of disturbing medical experiments. They also encounter odd signs that viewers will recall from the film's teaser.

At this point, it would be unfair to say more, except that Scheil has a few surprises beyond the full reveal of the creature(s) responsible for the death in the first few minutes of Dead Mine. Indeed, to set up his elaborate final act, he needs enough additional exposition that some of the action has to be intercut with the kind of lengthy dialogue scene that usually spells disaster in a film that depends on tension and suspense, but Schiel gets away with it, because the acting is good and the cross-cutting is effective.

If there is a flaw in Dead Mine, it's the abruptness of the ending. Many horror films leave room for a sequel, but Sheil seems to have ended Dead Mine with the implicit threat that the movie will not be satisfactorily concluded unless he is granted a Part 2. The film is an enjoyable ride, but don't go in expecting closure.

Dead Mine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dead Mine was shot by Australian cinematographer John Radel. Although definitive information on the shooting format was not available, it appears to be a digital capture, with all of the usual advantages that digital provides. The image on XLrator's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is clean, sharp and detailed with excellent black levels and contrast. The color palette is just as capable of bringing out the deep greens of the Indonesian jungle as the red blood of mayhem occurring underground. A number of other sights that I can't describe without spoilers also have distinctive colorations, though not of the bright or "popping" variety, and these too are memorably rendered. The actors appear to have been cast and made up for the distinctiveness of their features, so that the characters can be easily identified, even if, like me on the first viewing, you don't quite catch their names.

With no major extras and only one audio track, the 91-minute program resides easily on a BD-25. No compression artifacts or other side effects of digital capture and mastering were observed.

Dead Mine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dead Mine's soundtrack, presented here in lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1, lets you hear its full, aggressive presence in the opening moments of the film, as sounds of the jungle surround the listener: rustling, dripping, animal cries and an indefinable chomping sound that could be millions of insects chewing at leaves. It's a disturbing, overbearing sensation that prepares the viewer for the experiences to follow. When the expedition led by Price is fired upon, bullets whiz past from various directions, and the explosion of a hand grenade is palpable. As the team proceeds underground, vibrations, creaks, metal fatigue and other, less easily identifiable sounds are everywhere.

Bass extension is powerful and will challenge your subwoofer. Dynamic range is excellent, allowing dialogue to be reproduced clearly, despite the strong accents of some of the actors for whom English is not a first language. The effective horror score by Charlie Mole (Mr. Selfridge) sounds great.

Dead Mine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra is the film's trailer (1080p; 2.35:1; 1:39). At startup, the disc plays trailers (in 1080p) for Outpost: Black Sun, Thale and The Thompsons, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Dead Mine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dead Mine is a typical genre film. It uses familiar elements and tries to fulfill expectations, rather than challenging the viewer to see the world differently. It's cinematic comfort food for horror fans, but it's also well-made, features a talented cast and creates interesting visuals that are different from those we usually see in contemporary creature features. A few extras would have been nice, but the Blu-ray's technical merits can't be faulted. Highly recommended.