WisdomsHammer If you're into low budget, independent, amateur productions and want to see something that sort of tries to be the Blair Witch in dark tunnels instead of the forest, you *might* like this.The acting is okay, the score is okay, the sound is terrible, the lighting is almost non-existent and the cam is often shaky and blurry.I kept watching hoping the pace would pick up and that the payoff would be worth it. I was disappointed. I kept asking myself, "Why am I watching this?" with no good reason. I walked away from it a couple times and came back to the same scene still playing. This might actually be a decent short film with some competent editing.The "twist" ending left me disappointed as well. My reaction was, "That's it? That's the big twist ending?" Groan.If you like B-movies, as I do, I wouldn't call this one. There is nothing in here that makes even bad B-movies enjoyable.I think the talent in this production shows and they could potentially do something really good. This just wasn't it.

gothic_a666 "Mole": dull, jittery, overall numbing and clearly inept. I was somewhat surprised to see that this movie has met with such overwhelmingly positive reviews at IMDb. First of all, I would like to state that I have absolutely nothing against independent movies or low budget realizations of such a cinematographic genre that relies on originality and engaging shooting methods to better convey a certain atmosphere of either realism or artistic bizarreness, and, at its best, a convincing hybrid mixture of both. Alas, that is exactly where "Mole" fails. The technical shortcomings would be more than enough to undercut whatever impact it might otherwise have had, had the camera not been handled with all the competence of a five-year old. By choosing to shoot the great majority of the movie in a purposeful darkened environment the terrible camera handling comes across as an intrusion to the viewing experience, since all one sees are blurred images, followed by tantrum and randomly annoying scenes of unfocused walls, that are a prelude to scenes crammed with solid darkness and nothing else. It could be argued that this was the whole point of this production, to create and ambiance of claustrophobic intensity by refusing to deliver much, leaving it to the viewer to decide for himself what the message is. If so, that did not work. Instead, what is presented is only a terribly amateur movie, trying to reenact the Blair Witch Porject in another setting. If one bothers to compare the two, it becomes painfully obvious that "Mole" was only trying to explore a certain formula that had proved to be effective, in the desperate hope that its unpretentious gritty atmosphere would be taken as "genuine" instead of purely disheveled, which is what it is.Plot-wise I have no complains, it may be far-fetched that a reporter would get all hyped over the remote prospect of finding homeless people living in some abandoned tunnel complex, but in this kind of movie one should never be too strict about such conventions as "plausability". Regardless of that, characters wander aimlessly along badly shot tunnels, scream, are chased, and all along there is no feeling of tension and, surely, no brooding impression of lingering threat. As for the amazing twist...I'd say it was somewhat predictable, does not actually add up to what came prior to its disclosure and might even add more. I am quite sure I detected some goofs on this gem as well, but I am not inclined to share them, as I don't even think it is worth it.On a final note, the editing is bellow standard in a way that is remarkably incompetent and the acting is only mediocre. Just because a movie happens to hail from an independent effort does not immediately confer it the title of greatness or brilliancy. "Mole" is a clear example of that.

maninwhite I had the privilege of seeing this movie at the NODANCE FIlm Festival a couple of years ago, and I really didn't have any high expectations for the film at the time. However, after seeing the film, I felt as though my eyes had been reopened to the possibilities of a genre that has fallen through the cracks in the last decade. Many people have already summarized the content of the film, but a brief synopsis is in order. "Mole" is the tale of a secretive and, nearly forgotten, underground society of homeless people. An advantageous reporter takes to the tunnels under New York to try and find a story on the myth, and winds up finding a sub-culture that is as intolerant of outsiders as the the society it has left behind. The film itself has an apparent lack of budget, but this only adds to it's naturalistic charm. Much like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "The Blair Witch Project" before it, the film only benefits from the guerrilla style production. The grain on the film makes you feel like you are actually watching a documentary instead of a fictional account. The tunnels are seemingly endless and constricting, due to the adept camera work which lends a claustrophobic feeling to the film. A very real sense of doom spreads upon you as you watch this film, which is both equally disturbing and refreshing given today's standard of horror and suspense films. If you're in the mood to squirm, I highly recommend this movie.

ohmynerves Considering this film was shot underneath New York City in real abandoned subway tunnels, it's an eye opener from the get go. It kept my interest throughout the story and I really liked the opening sequence which sucks you right in. It's here you get a great sense of the NYC underground as never seen before. The story is about Susan Pei a news reporter trying to impress her boss by exploring the underground for a news story about the homeless. She convinces a cameraman at the station, Nick, and Tom a guy who claims to know the tunnels to go down there and get the story. However, as they enter the vast underground things start to go wrong, leaving the characters in the dark with dying flashlights. As they struggle to find a way out before their flashlights die out the greater problem emerges that they are being followed by someone or worse something that lives in the tunnels.This movie creeps up on you if you watch it at night. The scenes get darker and darker until the characters are practically on top of each other trying to find a way out and avoid the hidden entity. It becomes so claustrophobic at times I found myself having the same anxieties the characters were experiencing. The filmmakers of `Mole' should really be commended for their ability to create such a compelling story on such a low budget. It defines the filmmaker's commitment to independent movie making. I was really surprised how this little film managed to keep sucking me in deeper and deeper as the story progressed. I would have loved to see what they could have done with a real big budget but I guess I might not have been the same type of film. Maybe it was its independent, rugged, style that charmed me but I really enjoyed it for what it was. And I recommend watching this film to the end because the moralistic twist is something we haven't seen in a long time in market saturated with monster movies that amount to nothing redeeming.