Going to the mine takes on a terrifying meaning after seeing Blackfaces by Mathieu Turi. The director of Meander And Hostile sends Samuel Le Bihan, Amir El Kacem, Thomas Solivérès and Jean-Hugues Anglade at the bottom of corridors haunted by an unsavory creature for this excellent horror film.
“I wanted a very identified cast mixing generations and origins,” explains the director to 20 minutes. This corresponds to the reality of the 1950s where people from different backgrounds had to collaborate to accomplish the same work. » Guided by a scientist who lies to them about his motivations, the miners soon find themselves stuck with him to face the monster they have awakened. Germinal meets the nightmarish world of HP Lovecraft in this fascinating thriller.
A creature as voracious as it is original
“I wanted the creature not to be in computer-generated images,” explains Mathieu Turi, so that it would appear substantial and therefore more threatening. » The Japanese sculptor Yoneyama Keisuke designed its design while Jean-Christophe Spadaccini (to whom we owe, among other things, the makeup of the Animal Kingdom) was responsible for animating it. The presence of this voracious creature makes the cramped passageways and poorly lit tunnels even more threatening, while the men disappear one by one in a terrible game of massacre.
The film is all the more impressive because it also delves into the brutal reality of the mine where everything seems hostile to humans. “It was very important for me to convey the real experience of the miners of the time,” emphasizes Mathieu Turi. I researched a lot to achieve this. » This gives Miners an additional character by immersing the viewer in their world even before confronting them with the horror.
In a real mining site
The exteriors were filmed in the North of France and the interiors in a real mining site, Arenberg Creative Mine. This greatly contributed to the immersion of the actors. “It was damp, cold, cell phones and walkie-talkies weren’t working,” the director recalls. We could have believed it except that, unlike the characters in the film, we were not in danger of dying. » This does not prevent the public from letting themselves be carried away alongside them by discovering little by little the original mythology from which the monster who puts them in danger comes. Miners gives white fears.