The characters we meet in 'Dead Mine' are invariably hard-bitten types, employed by inherited rich boy Warren Price to explore deserted Japanese bunkers from the war. The bravado exhibited by this collection of mercenaries is soon put to the test as the group is attacked by pirates as they near their intended location. Shortly, the group are forced to take refuge in the nearby caves, which is presumably exactly what the pirates want … for inside the caves, things take on a much more macabre turn.
This Indonesian film makes excellent use of its subject matter and presents the crumbling underground labyrinth as a truly claustrophobic, doom-laden myriad of secret corridors, death camps and impressive rooms, very moodily lit in a sickly green/yellow that compounds the unnatural atmosphere. When the Samurai types emerge - and there are loads of them - they appear unstoppable. Technically augmented, undying killers who know ‘no surrender.’ A terrifying presence!