Tubi Thursday: The Strangeness (1985)

 As someone who actively seeks out the weirdest and most obscure Films, I still find stuff after all of these years.

This is one of those cases...

In possibly one of the earliest examples of an Opening Kill Trope I can think of, a pair of people go into a recently opened cave.

They're both killed by something.

In real life, this was shot in an actual Cave.  People later went in further and actually died from poison gas exposure!

* We also do get some fun stills of the Actors in a stylized way in the Opening Credits *

A group of folks are hired by a Mining Company to go into the same location.

They want to know if there's more gold to be found.

The group includes this Not Quint guy and his very confusing accent.

I supposed it's less confusing than the fact that Co-Writer/Co-Editor/Co-Composer/Co-Producer/Director is credited as a man.
Was it her choice?

They wander around the Mine for a while...a long while.

We briefly get a shot or two of the creature (nicknamed Binky by the crew).

Enjoy it when you can.

The VFX Supervisor would get mainstream work for the next 30 years!

They end up stuck down in the Mine and try to find a way out.

Meanwhile, the Cast is whittled down...eventually by the still mostly unseen creature.

It all comes down to 2 Survivors- even this has a Final Girl- and they escape from/blow up the creature after it takes out the Boss (who went crazy).

There's no Sequel, so I guess they won.
The End.

A Film with many good ideas and a decent monster.
Sadly, the Film does not live up to its true potential.

The idea- people trapped in a Mine with a crazy, Lovecraftian Monster- is a good one.  This one just can't quite make the most of it.

For starters, the Film had a Budget of $25,000, so the Film has many shortcuts.

The Mine- for instance- is only shown in chunks and always in very dim light.  When you see it in bright light, you realize that it is not made out of rocks.

Likewise, the creature doesn't do much and has that really stiff motion that comes from stop motion not being shot/treated properly.  I like the creature though.

This one is recommended to those that are willing to wait for the good stuff, but it won't make the average Horror fan happy.
In fact, at times, it might make you feel like this...

A Film that I like the idea of more than the actual Film.  This one is yet another that can honestly be treated well with a loving Remake/reimagining.