Leofwine_draca MINE GAMES has something going for it, I'll admit that: it's a film that at least tries to do something different from the usual low budget American B-movie horror flick. Instead this has much in common with the likes of TRIANGLE and the (excellent) Spanish film TIMECRIMES in that it deals with characters who find themselves trapped in a time loop, forced to repeat the same actions over and over again.Unfortunately it's much worse than either of those films mentioned, thanks in part to a muddled story which doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you think about it closely. A group of unappealing characters head off into the wilderness for a break, only to visit a creepy abandoned mine which messes with their heads. One bizarre event after another makes them realise that something REALLY odd is going on.The execution of this film is very poor, particularly in terms of the cinematography. Much of it is too dark so you end up squinting at the screen trying to figure out what's going on. The cast is poor, with below averages performances from Briana Evigan (SORORITY ROW) and Gregory Peck's grandson, if you can believe that. The director is too obsessed with shooting this like a slasher film - bumping off his cast members one at a time - when instead he should be focusing on the novel stuff, not the predictable.

Thebe Bashaleebee It's not the best in the mind bender category. I rated it an eight to offset the low IMDb rating. I'd give it more like a 7, if I were to be honest.The acting was okay. Nothing really cringe worthy. I happen to love this type of premise, which is somewhat mind bending and converges alternate realities.If you liked Triangle or Coherence, you would like this. I think it's right on par with Triangle, but not as good as Coherence, but that is my opinion. If you are a time traveling or alternate reality mind bender junkie, you will absolutely enjoy this ride. Understand, it's not the best in that category, but it's well worth the watch.

ASouthernHorrorFan "Mine Games" creates a strong story that manages to be chilling and intense. There is no lag in the time span from when the film starts to when the action begins. The film isn't an all out high production thrill ride but it maintains a steady, entertaining pace filled with creepiness, and excitement. The style is pretty standard as far as horror direction and character definition but the unique blended nature, adding time/space situation on top of mythology, keeps the "cabin in the woods" set-up from being cliché or boring. "Mine Games" offers a more cerebral nightmare that never looses total cohesion. The cast deliver pretty believable characters, they are stereotypes scene in horror, however Gray and the writers give enough material to allow the characters feel authentic, convincing, and relatable. The acting never becomes stale or over-drawn. A lot of horror films either play up the clichés until they look clownish or create characters that not even fiction could make believable as friends. "Mine Games" keeps the relationships and social dynamics even keeled enough to make, both the group, as college friends, and the individual interactions seem plausible. The special effects utilized in "Mine Games" are tight. There isn't an exploitative nature to the gore or deaths, but what is scene on film comes across realistic looking. The shadowy nature and fact that almost all of the scenes are in nearly dark areas, or at night, gives the film most of it's spooky quality. The cinematography hearkens back to more traditional methods of straight cam shots, light inflections and natural third person views. With all the gimmicky, modern methods of handhelds, shaky cam shots, or first person view points, it is nice to see some aspects of classic horror story telling style still used. Not that I have a problem with fresh, innovative filming techniques like first person POV or found-footage. Overall "Mine Games" gives us a great nightmare scenario that is well executed. The story is creepy, creative and cerebral. It will not appeal to all horror fans, and there is plenty to get the intellectuals stirred up, with the whole time/space-Ouroboros aspects of the story. Personally I spent a lot of the film wondering what exactly was the real deal happening- was it a "Soul Survivors" situation or was it a take similar to "Triangle". Once I caught up with the true nature of the hell these guys were dealing with I was still compelled to the story. It does weaken a bit toward the end after the big reveal. Not much though, and the time until the ending-when it all becomes clear- isn't all that long, so "Mine Games" works pretty much from start to finish.

GodsPrototype Just watched this on Sky Movies - nothing else to do on a Saturday morning ;) I went in to it expecting another flashy slasher pic set in a dark place so was pleasantly surprised to see a different take on a normally standard horror film scenario.Yes it is another cabin in the woods with another bunch of young beautiful holiday makers on a drug and drink fueled break in the middle of nowhere. Cripes, where's the originality nowadays! Yet, it does work a little bit better than others, it just needed to have a more solid storyline in terms of the cycle.As the second half kicked in, most people would begin to realize that the things you've seen are things that are about to happen. It reminded me of the absolutely superb 'TRIANGLE' with Melissa George. Sadly, 'Mine Games' is an inferior wannabe.Inferior only in terms of the storyline and the capability to provide everything 'in the past' to make sense in the present. It's tight but not tight enough to make me say wow; It is however well worked out and everything has its place.And then I saw the budget - $1.5m - you can hardly make a TV episode on that nowadays so the overall finished product is very good. The directing is pretty good, the acting is as you would expect. The standouts for me were the lighting within the mines themselves and the music is above average for this type of movie.One thing that really annoyed me though was the character of Rose, I couldn't really put a finger on it save to say that she made no sense whatsoever! I don't understand why she needed to be in the film and the reason for her visions apart from being on drugs is never explained.I revert back to 'Triangle' again where the ending of the film is a perfect nod to the start of the next sequence but the ending of 'Mine Games' is pretty terrible and in terms of the cycle make no sense. Unless the cycle has been broken but then it wouldn't be a cycle in the first place and how could two people from two different timelines co-exist in the same place? I like films to ask questions and I like to see something different from the usual clobber we get. 'Mine Games' doesn't really stand out and there are far superior films of this niche out there.However for the budget and the production quality, the filmmakers have done a good job and for a Saturday morning when it's a choice between this and 'Muppets from Space', I'd go for this.And it isn't the first time I said that... Oh!