THE STRANGENESS is about an abandoned mine, it's valuable contents, and the hideous whatsit that lives there. After an earthquake, and a pair of mysterious disappearances, a group of six surveyors / geologists and their guide head for the mine. For the snotty, greedy head of the team, gold is more attractive than science. Unsurprisingly, horror and death ensue. The story is straightforward, and plays like the second cousin of BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE. The characters are fairly familiar, 1980's monster fodder. The monster itself, apart from a few noises and glimpses, takes forever to show up! Until then, semi-drama, clunky "humor", and general ding-a-ling dialogue pad things out. About the creature: It's a stop-motion, H.P. Lovecraft-type nightmare, complete w/ squiggly tentacles and an oozing, vertical mouth! Is it worth the wait? Sort of. There's an awful lot of extra-thick cheeeze to wade through before we get a -brief- look at this thing. EXTRA POINTS FOR: Some of the gooey death scenes. Worth a watch...

The Strangeness (1985) * 1/2 (out of 4)A group of people hear various legends about a certain cave they are about to enter. They decide to go ahead with their journey and it doesn't take long for them to get trapped in the cave with a giant monster who wants to kill them.If you're read Stephen Thrower's NIGHTMARE USA book then you'll recognize this title and the various stories that went along with it. This film was shot for $25,000.00, which was an incredibly low amount for the 1950s let along when this movie was made. One should keep that in mind when they're watching THE STRANGENESS because the film doesn't have too much in it. It's one of those films that you can tell didn't have much money to spend and obviously there's not too much to see.I give the filmmakers a lot of credit for trying to pull the film off but sadly it didn't work. I thought the story was actually something that could have worked, although parts of it did remind me of THE BOOGINS. The cave location should have been put to much better use but sadly the cinematography is just so dark that many times it's hard to see what is going on. Another problem is that the budget didn't allow for a monster so we get a really awful looking bit of stop-motion that is more laughable than anything else.Trying to pass off a stop-motion monster just didn't work and it's too bad that there wasn't some sort of physical monster here. The performances range from bad to decent but there's not one that would hard or damage the film. You don't have many other special effects in terms of the violence or gore. The majority of the running time has the characters walking and talking and then walking and talking some more. There's no question that the film just doesn't have much happening because they couldn't afford it.THE STRANGENESS certainly isn't going to win any major awards over its final product but considering what the filmmakers had to work with, buying them a beer if you ever meet them would be a nice gesture.

Ah, Code Red, you have a tendency to release rarities to DVD that range from lost classics ("Soul Survivor" and the upcoming Messiah of Evil" SE) to terrible ("Don't Go In The Woods...Alone!") to watchable but mediocre ("The Unseen" and "The Dead Pit") and the truly mind boggling ("Boardinghouse") Well, "The Strangeness" falls into the third category. I've been wanting to see it since I read the entry on it in Stephen Thrower's essential 70's/80's Horror Tome "Nightmare USA," and lo and behold, Code Red gives it a DVD release.The plot is nothing special: A group of people people surveying a abandoned mine end up trapped in a cave, and what do ya know, a slimy tentacled monster. So yeah, nothing new, and nothing spectacular. On the plus side, the creature itself is a pretty nifty creation-done using Stop-Motion animation, and looking like a mix of H.R Giger (it's pretty much looks like a combination of a phallus and a vagina) and Lovecraft. Also, the direction is competent, the low budget sets are convincing and the John Carpenter like score is a lot of fun.On the other hand, the acting is terrible (it's pretty much amateur hour here) and this was done with a PG rating, so those expecting plenty of gore will be let down considerably, as the majority of the deaths occur off screen. Plus, the Stop-Motion creature certainly has it's charms, though the animation itself is a bit jerky.So, is it worth it? Well, it's certainly no "The Descent" that's for sure. On the other hand, if you have fond memories for not yet on DVD cave creature flicks like "What Waits Below" and "The Boogens", then this might be worth it. It's no classic, but there's worse ways to spend your time.

A geological expedition of an abandoned mine becomes a living nightmare when its members find themselves trapped underground with a hulking, tentacled vagina monster. The interesting looking beast is brought to life via stop-motion animation(with marginal success). This creature, of origins which are never conclusively deduced, appears to digest its victims externally by covering them with a thick, enzymatic slime.This unjustly overlooked monster movie was clearly produced on breadcrumb rations, but well-maintained suspense and a dark, foreboding atmosphere make up heartily for its bush-league deficiencies. Not a classic, perhaps, but certainly deserving of a more prominent placement within the annals of horror cinema.6/10... Recommended.