The Strangeness (1985)

A group of explorers surveying an abandoned goldmine are trapped in a cave in, and find themselves at the mercy of a slimy, mysterious creature.

Director:

Melanie Anne Phillips

Writers:

Chris Huntley, Melanie Anne Phillips

Stars:

Dan Lunham, Terri Berland, Rolf Theison

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dan Lunham	...	Geoff Calvert
Terri Berland	...	Cindy Flanders
Rolf Theison	...	Myron Hemmings
Keith Hurt	...	Morgan
Mark Sawicki	...	Dan Flanders
Chris Huntley	...	Tony Ruggles
Diane Borcyckowski	...	Angela Platt
Robin Sortman	...	Brian
Arlene Buchmann	...	Amy

Storyline

A group of explorers surveying an abandoned goldmine are trapped in a cave in, and find themselves at the mercy of a slimy, mysterious creature.

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Plot Keywords:

cave | trapped | explorer | creature | mine | 

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Taglines:

will anyone get out alive!

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Genres:

Horror

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Details

Official Sites:

The Strangeness

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Abwärts ins Grauen

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stellarwind

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A sizable number of the underground cave scenes were shot on a set built in director Melanie Anne Phillips's grandparents' garage.

User Reviews

First hour is pure torture!

A group of 7 gold prospectors head into a mine that was recently opened back up after an earthquake. Of course, they don't pay attention to local legend that something is down there and killing people. This low budget ($25,000) horror flick has a slight cult following and I'm not exactly sure why (unless it is because it is so obscure). I'll admit the last half hour is pretty entertaining, but the hour getting there is pure torture. Lots of walking and talking and our titular strangeness doesn't appear until 45 minutes in. Even in the extras co-writer Chris Huntley admits it commits the unforgivable sin of being boring. I would forgive them if they were strict amateurs, but this group graduated from USC so I would hope they know an exploitation film should be exploitive. Anyway, like I said, the last half hour is cool as three survivors battle the stop motion monster and there is a cool John Carpenter-like score. I wanted to see more of the monster, but it is literally on screen for 45 seconds.

Even if the movie isn't the best, Code Red DVD has given this great attention. You have interviews and an audio commentary by director Melanie Anne Phillips, producer/actor Mark Sawicki and co-writer Huntley. The tales about how the film was made are pretty fascinating and inspiring (like a cave set being built in a backyard). Even more interesting are Sawicki and Huntley's USC student shorts, which are actually all better than the feature production. Huntley was a pretty talented artist and it is a shame he didn't go on to anything else. Sawicki has worked steadily in Hollywood as a visual effects and camera guy. The film's VHS is kind of legendary for how dark it was and I'm sure this is much better. However, you still get scenes where the only image are five helmet lights bouncing around in the blackness. Safe to say, the original MY BLOODY VALENTINE is still "horror film set in a mine" champ.