20 Ft Below: The Darkness Descending (2014)

A lot of fun.

A Disappointing Continuation

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

'20 Ft Below: The Darkness Descending' was another film seen with not high expectations. Was worried as to whether it would be silly and do nothing new with a tired concept. It was though another film seen out of curiosity for primarily Danny Trejo, who can save bad projects and is one of those watchable enough actors too often poorly used.It was a good thing that expectations were not high because '20 Ft Below: The Darkness Descending' fails to deliver in many, make that most or even almost every, ways. It is not one of the worst films seen, of its genre and overall. It's not even among the worst of my recent film viewings which has seen a lot of above average to gem standard stuff and just as much wastes of potential. That Trejo is the best thing about it, being the actor who tries most without over-compensating and there are signs of his bad-ass persona, but criminally underused in a caricature role with a far too short screen time says a lot about the film's quality. Generally the actors try too hard and come over as cartoonish. Didn't find anything intriguing, investable or rootable about any of the characters and the dialogue is both stilted and over-heated. The direction is flat.Furthermore, the story just doesn't grab the attention, gets pretty silly to the wrong side of camp and hammy and is not easy to follow at times due to being an under-explored kitchen sink of different tones and ideas. It looks poor, very murky and drab in lighting and filmed with next to no care or coherence. In summary, fails to deliver and even Trejo can't save it. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Angel (Danny Trejo) is a tough intellectual anarchist who rules the deep underground of NYC. In the opening scene he kidnaps and kills the wealthy Jason Wells (Peter Dobson) which leads to an unsuccessful police sweep. Jake (Frank Krueger) is an ex-cop who lost his wife, rules the area between the streets and Angel's world. Chelsea (Kinga Philipps) is a reporter who successfully gets an interview with Angel and then takes her time leaving the tunnels.Jake's speeches on his lost love were as badly written and delivered as Angel's anarchy fluff. In fact the whole film had a nausea that reminded me of "Billy Jack."The film is supposed to be a metaphor about living in the dark and alone with Jake representing the microcosm and the underworld the macrocosm. It was done rather sloppily with unrealistic characters.For Trejo fans it is far better than "Voodoo Possession" but not as good as "Bullet." Can't wait for "Volcano Zombies."No sex or nudity. I don't recall any F-bombs.

I watched this under the title DARKNESS DESCENDS which is a little more palatable than the original. Sadly as it turns out this thriller is a complete waste of time, with a plot that just meanders along without anything in the way of purpose or drive. It's just another example of Danny Trejo grabbing a pay cheque while not really caring about the quality of the material in which he appears.The story is supposedly about a young and bland film maker who is making a documentary about the plight of the homeless living beneath New York (although the movie was filmed in Los Angeles, which is a poor substitute). There's a lot of discussion with weird characters living beneath the streets and by weird characters I mean actors giving exaggerated, caricaturish performances. Trejo is some gang leader trying to unite his followers with some semi-religious speeches to start a new war against mankind.The problem with DARKNESS DESCENDS is that it has no idea what type of film it wants to be. There are a few thriller aspects but they take up less than half of the running time. The dialogue is heavy and dull. There are even a few fight scenes but an action film this isn't. The whole thing is shot on the cheap in close up shots and the ending just fizzles away to nothing. It's not worth your time.

You can see that a lot of people were up for trying to make a good movie together, the problem is that they didn't bother to follow through. The whole feeling of this movie is off, there is the "darkness" and these hoods in the tunnels under the streets of NYC and somehow they can move in strange ways through the darkness and they are all so ninja quiet that they can sneak up on anybody. Danny Trejo is wasted in this movie, even though they are relying way too much on his voice, and face to carry the whole thing, so that they use him in nearly every second scene, it still isn't enough though. All of the cast seems like they want to make a good movie, even if they are mostly way over the top, and very boring to watch. One problem with the whole cast being the production team as well. The tunnels are pathetic, and Central is even worse, from the large man standing over a fire still shivering with no wind, to the girl with her shiny new guitar or the dumbsy twins who just can't wait to step over each other's lines. There is no end to the bad in this movie I did not Enjoy it at all, and to anyone thinking that they just have to watch every Danny Trejo movie, I would actually think even he will forgive you for skipping this heap. After all in this movie he is God, or so he says.