TRAPPED ALIVE (1988)

Trapped Alive (1988)
Directed by: Leszek Burzynski
Written by: Julian Weaver, Leszek Burzynski
Starring: Alex Kubik, Cameron Mitchell, Elizabeth Kent, Laura Kallison, Mark Witsken, Michael Nash, Paul Dean, Randy Powell, Sullivan Hester

TRAPPED ALIVE (1988)
Directed by Leszek Burzynski
Available on Arrow Video Blu-Ray

Three prisoners carjack and take two young women hostage after breaking out of jail. In an attempt to evade the police who may be following them, they take a detour by going off-road, but in the snowy weather they fail to notice the abandoned mine shaft they’ve driven over. After plummeting through the shaft and landing with a bump, the survivors make their way further into the closed-down mine in an attempt to find a way out. The longer they’re down there, the more at risk the two women are, but it’s not just the jailbirds they need to be worried about.

TRAPPED ALIVE is a fun 80’s horror movie that plays with the idea that there’s always something deadlier just around the corner. However, when we first meet Louis ‘Face’ Napoleon, and his accomplices Mongo and Randy aka ‘Hotrod’, it’s hard to see how the evening could get any worse for friends Robin and Monica. Face instantly reveals his sadistic side as he taunts his hostages after robbing the girls’ car on their way to a party. Mongo too delights in making the girls uncomfortable, with sexual violence threatened to both young ladies by the two criminals. Hotrod is the anomaly of the group after the opening scene sees him co-oerced into joining their prison break, and instructed to drive the stolen car as far away from the prison as possible. He seems to shy away from any sort of violence against the girls but is too afraid of his accomplices to stop them in their tracks.

After the car is driven off-road and goes crashing through the Forever Mine, we are introduced to a few new characters in the shape of Rachel and her husband, who live in the old miner’s house near the closed down shaft, and police officer, Deputy Billy Williams. Well, I tell a lie because we never actually get to meet Rachel’s husband, who’s simply shown fast asleep in bed. Instead, we see his unsatisfied wife Rachel sitting awake in bed in the early hours, before deciding to venture into the kitchen, seemingly restless. With Deputy Williams on the hunt for the escaped convicts, he follows the tracks to the Forever Mine, and decides to knock at Rachel’s door to see if she’s seen anything. It’s here where the story steps off to one side for a slice of seduction and sex, with the scantily-clad Rachel giving Williams the come-on before the two are ripping each other’s clothes off for a bit of rumpy-pumpy in front of the fire. It’s a funny distraction from what’s going on underground, as the wicked Face orders his hostages, along with the youngest member of his criminal outfit, Hotrod, to do his bidding, whether it’s to fix a faulty generator to power the lights, or for one of the women to strip for him and provide oral pleasures. These sinister interactions are interrupted when Hotrod discovers their injured pal Mongo is not quite how they left him, implying that they may not be the only ones down the mineshaft.

TRAPPED ALIVE is a bit of a predictable affair in many ways but it’s given flavour thanks to the performances of the various characters, namely Face, Hotrod and Deputy Williams. Hostages Robin and Monica manage to get a couple of scenes of their own, but their characters are pretty underdeveloped for the majority of the running time. It’s like they have been written simply as women who’ve just had the misfortune to have been caught up in this nightmare, with very little dialogue or purpose to their characters.

The horror element of the film is pretty tame on the surface, even if there’s a few grisly scenes to be hold. The evil lurking inside the mineshaft might well be what viewers are yearning to see, but it’s not as scary as you might hope for. In fact, I’d go as far as to say Face poses more of a threat than anything they find in the mineshaft, at least in the unnerving sense.

Being trapped underground provides plenty of scope for scares, but TRAPPED ALIVE doesn’t capitalise on this much, compared to a film like The Descent. It disappoints in a way, though segments dealing with human drama manage to maintain the pace and interest.

TRAPPED ALIVE has its faults but it also makes for an entertaining watch even if it isn’t going to scare you silly. Definitely one for those who enjoy budget horror that doesn;t necessarily take itself too seriously.

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The Arrow Video Blu-Ray of TRAPPED ALIVE is loaded with a range of special features, including:

• Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with director Leszek Burzynski
• Brand new audio commentary with special effects artist Hank Carlson and horror writer Josh Hadley
• Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues
• There’s EVIL Underground… – brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with director Leszek Burzynski, cinematographer Nancy Schreiber, production manager Alexandra Reed and actors Alex Kubik and Sullivan Hester
• Upper Michigan Tonight – 1988 television documentary on Windsor Lake Studios, featuring footage from behind the scenes of Trapped Alive and contemporary interviews with director Leszek Burzynski, producer Christopher Webster and production designer Brian Savegar
• Leszek Burzynski: The Early Years – the Trapped Alive director discusses his early forays into genre movie-making
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourn
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Zach Carlson