Gueules noires, The Deep Dark international title, is the third film for director Mathieu Turi who directs a Lovecraftian horror that focuses on mystery, on the closed spaces so loved by the director and on the charm that the creature with effects gives craftsmanship that work very well.
The film has a clear message of social criticism and criticism of capitalism as the miners, who clearly represent the working class, are sent into the depths of the mines as a sacrifice to the ancient creature, therefore the sacrifice of the working class which enriches the owner, the bourgeois.

Turi therefore sets up a mechanism between high and low, the miners go into the depths, down, while the owner who gets rich through the work of the miners remains in high, on the surface.
In the depths of the mine, however, an ancient divinity lurks, wanting to overturn the typical concept of divinities that dwell above the heavens and in fact this ancient divinity wants to rise from the depths to reach the surface, even the miners will want to go up to save themselves and the ending is once again emblematic given that their sacrifice actually saves the world from the creature that would otherwise have reached the surface but this sacrifice cannot be told, therefore known beyond the mechanics of the genre 'there is also a sort of pessimism in the heroic gesture because, once again, it is the working class that sacrifices itself for those above, for the world but no one will be able to know this gesture.
Being a French film, the theme is also present social integration, each of the group of miners has a different origin, Amir, the protagonist has Arab origins and Roland the "expedition leader" clearly says that they are all the same, the faces of the miners get dirty in the same way.
The staging of the film is good, there are some really beautiful and well-constructed exterior shots such as the medium shots of the factory, the bulk of the narrative is concentrated in the depths of the mine where the chiaroscuro are the master.
The atmospheres work well when the skeletons, the remains of the corpses, are framed, Turi knows how to build the mystery as he does not immediately frame the creature, the spectator knows that there is something monstrous through details such as the skeletal hand therefore the mechanism of suspense is created where the spectator has more information than the characters on stage.

The same Lovecraftian symbols, the crypt, the signs on the walls increase the caliber and atmosphere of the film.<2 >

In terms of tension, the film could have been even more intense, in several moments the group of miners advances a little too unobstructed, perhaps inserting shots that suggested the presence of the creature would have helped in this respect, the previous Meander for example in this aspect it is superior.
Undoubtedly managing more characters is more difficult, specifically in the film it follows the canons of purely genre horror films, therefore the group of miners is not explored so much, some have the functionality of being cannon fodder but in any case they all have a bit of a surface characterization.

The third act is totally in crescendo, as written the visual rendering of the creature, the artisanal effects are really good, there are no missing parts dismembered bodies, severed heads that will make fans of the genre happy.

When the creature captures Amir and takes him deeper, even the photography and staging have great flashes, cuts of red lights that increase the intensity and atmosphere with very well constructed and impactful shots where the creature is confronted with Amir, the throne appears and everything has a mystical moonlight.
If it is true that perhaps something more could have been done on the characters, also the incipit has a pompous moment where in the past the group of miners sings without the spectator having created empathy with them, and if desired in some circumstances more emphasis could be given to the timing of tension, extending the times and increasing the intensity, the film is still quite pleasant, the creature's murders work, the artisanal effects are well rendered, there is no shortage of blood and violence shown and in the third act the atmospheres are also suggestive as they are also in other moments of the film such as the scene of the camera that illuminates, shot after shot, the skeletal shape of the approaching creature.

Turi knows how to direct the genre well and the film is pleasant to watch with some really good flashes.