Diggery / Diggers, movie (2016)
image © Gorad
Article updated: 2022.04.07
The Diggers (2016) is a contemporary horror / thriller film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: Diggery / Diggers, movie (2016)
Original title: Диггеры (Diggery, English: Diggers), English title: ?, German title: The Night Train
Series: -
Setting: contemporary fantasy Earth
Product type: Film, Genre: contemporary horror / thriller, Style: sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, horror, action, creatures
Release: 2016.08.11
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2021.01), first time
Rating: Average (2 out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Average (2 out of 3 points)
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This is my review of Diggers, a contemporary horror / thriller movie from 2016. It's about a group of people trying to find their way in an abandoned subway tunnel. The Diggers film is watchable, but I only recommend it to fans of the genre.
If you'd like to be surprised by the Diggers film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer beyond 1:07, because it gives away too much of the plot.
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Review (spoiler-free) - Diggers, movie (2016)
I didn't know anything about this movie before running into it. The premise looked interesting, so I gave the movie a try without watching the trailer.
The Diggers movie is about a group of people trying to find their way in an abandoned subway tunnel.
This is a somewhat boring thriller. There's a lack of dramatic elements, that could have made this film actually thrilling. There were no character arcs. I didn't find major logical problems.
The structure of the film was interesting.
The cinematography is okay. The special effects are acceptable. I feel that they got the most of what was available to them. It's not much, but it was nice to see that they've put some effort into this film.
We don't really get to know the characters, but I find this okay, as this is not a character driven drama. The actors are okay for parts of the film. However, most of them didn't convey being threatened in any way, they've just looked irritated. Otherwise, the characters had some interesting choices, they looked distinct from each other, and had some nice touches (although some of these went unexplored).
The music (by Dariya Stavrovich, Sergey Bogolyubsky) is okay. Some parts of the music are average, but some parts are good.
Diggers is a watchable contemporary horror / thriller, that I think fans of the genre might enjoy.
My experience
I was mostly satisfied with Diggers (2016).
Rating: Average (2 out of 3 points). Diggers is a watchable film.
Enjoyment: Average (2 out of 3 points). Diggers is interesting, I liked the story of it.
Rewatchability: Average. I think it's mostly the surprise of the story that makes you feel interested, but if you liked it for the first time, you might like to watch it again.
Chance of watching it again: Unlikely. Now that I know the story, there's probably no need to watch it again.
Chance of watching a sequel: I'd probably watch it.
Diggery / Diggers, movie (2016)
image © Gorad
Will you enjoy this?
If you like mystery or thriller movies, you might like Diggers.
If you like supernatural or contemporary fantasy movies, you might like Diggers.
If you like horror or action thriller movies (Alien), you might like the Diggers movie.
If you enjoyed Creep (2004), you might be interested in this, as it's very similar, but probably better.
If you hate subtitles, you should avoid this movie, as there's no English dub for the movie yet.
If you prefer visuals over story, this movie won't do much for you.
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in supernatural or contemporary fantasy stories, I think it's worth watching the Diggers movie for the plot points.
Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?
The visuals might look better if you watch it in cinema, but the overall experience will be similar.
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Diggery / Diggers, movie (2016)
image © Gorad
Review with spoilers - Diggers, movie (2016)
I liked some parts of the Diggers movie.
Cover
The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it doesn't spoil the movie.
The trailer
The trailer is okay, although it spoils some parts of the movie.
If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Diggers film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it will make the movie less fun for you.
Promise of the first scene
We are going to see a slasher movie that takes place in a Russian subway.
Execution: I think I got what I was promised.
Plot summary / Synopsis - sequential version
Prelude
In the past, there were two guys, Egor and his brother, who liked to explore the underground tunnels under Moscow. One day Egor's brother went there with his kid, and something caused both of them to transform into monsters. Egor took it on himself to feed them people, and to help them hide their existence.
First act
The movie starts with people travelling on a subway. A pair (Artem and Lena) gets off, the others go further. The subway stops, and the monster kills the driver, then attacks the passengers.
A group in the last train gets off, and tries to escape.
The group consists of the friends of the pair that got off (Dasha and Roma), a cosplay girl, a Chinese man, a businessman, and a loony man. They try to find a way out. The businessman finds one, but hides this from them. Later we find it out that he has debts, and due to his insurance, he wanted to die in an accident, so he didn't want to leave.
They are attacked by a monster, and one by one, they are taken. During the escape, Dasha tells Roma that she actually doesn't love her, and that she is already with Artem.
The girl, Dasha is the only one who could escape. On her way out she meets Egor, who overpowers her, and brings her back to the monster.
She is able to escape from the monster, but she is sprayed with a strange gas by the kid of the monster. The monster follows her, and they fight. She stabs the monster (and we don't see the monster after this, but the wound doesn't look that serious). She reaches a ladder, but she is repulsed by the sunlight. She starts to transform into a she-monster, as she was infected by the gas.
Second act
Some times later, the two friends who got off the subway (Artem and Lena), ask for Egor's help to get into the tunnels. Egor guides them, while they stumble into a filming crew. They get attacked by a monster. One by one, they fall prey to the monsters.
Egor manages to trap the two kids and one of the film crew members, and he confesses that he helps the monster intentionally. When the monster arrives, it kills Egor, as it's the she-monster, Dasha, who has a dislike of him. The she-monster also kills Lena. The crewmember shows a door to Artem, telling that Dasha is still alive there. The crewmember escapes, and Artem goes through the door.
He is confronted by the she-monster, and he realises that it's Dasha. The she-monster sprays him with gas to transform him.
The setting
The story is set on a contemporary fantasy or alternate Earth, where creatures live.
Diggery / Diggers, movie (2016)
image © Gorad
The creature
The creatures are infected humans. They are carnivorous.
The creature can spray humans with a gas, that makes them transform into creatures. At the beginning of the transformation, they look human, but they are repulsed by light.
The creatures can be hurt, damaged, and even killed by regular wounds.
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one. "Don't go underground"?
The structure of the story
The scenes of the Diggers film are split in two parallel storylines that only met at the very end. There were also some flashbacks into earlier events.
There's no single viewpoint character.
Otherwise, it has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, action, resolution, it just happens twice.
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Things I liked
- They didn't show the monster, even in the end we didn't get a really clear picture. This is great, as what we were able to see what somewhat cheap, so it's best left hidden.
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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
I haven't seen any other works from the director (Tikhon Kornev).
I haven't seen any other films from any the writers (Aleksey Karaulov, Evgeny Kolyadintsev & Tikhon Kornev).
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Diggery / Diggers, movie (2016)
image © Gorad
Analysis of the story - Diggers, movie (2016)
I mostly liked the story, I didn't find problems that would have prevented me from enjoying Diggers.
Problematic elements
Starting twice: The story starts twice, and for the first time, it starts with a false promise.
First, we see the cosplay girl. We follow her long enough that the viewer starts to feel that this is a movie about her. When she doesn't do anything significant, then just dies halfway through the movie, we feel cheated.
Then, they had to start over again, this time with the protagonist, because this is where the actual story starts.
Unanswered questions
- Why did Dasha kill Lena? It was clear that Lena didn't like Dasha, but was this true the other way around?
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Possibilities of improvement
How it could have been better?
They should have focused on the two protagonists. Start the movie by showing us the friends chatting on the subway. The girl, Dasha wants to get off (to be able to stay with his real boyfriend), but the boy, Roma (who wants to propose to her) asks her to come to him instead, as he wants something to say. The girl, who doesn't want to raise suspicions, agrees to this. Then the subway stops, the other two gets off, the train leaves and disappears in the tunnel.
Then cut to the intro credits.
Add time related events to give more tension to the story. For example, the subway will be gassed to get rid of those giant rats, and they need to find the missing people before they do that, otherwise they will just die. (This could be even added to the current version, by announcing this over speakers,)
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Behind the scenes
Thoughts about the reviews of others
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Diggery / Diggers, movie (2016)
image © Gorad
Uses for the film - Diggers, movie (2016)
Plot
- There are creatures that multiply by infecting and transforming people.
Scenes
- The attack of the subway train could be used to depict an attack on a subway ride.
Designs
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
Infiltrate the lair (solo game): The characters know that the monster carried away someone they want to rescue. They have to infiltrate the lair of the monster. Set up a playing area, preferably a cave system or a dense jungle. Deploy the team at an entry zone. Randomly determine their target zone - that place will hold the person they want to rescue. Deploy the monster on a random location. At the end of the turn, the monster attacks the closest team member, or move towards the closest visible one. Otherwise, roll a d6. On 1-4, the monster stays in place. On a 5-6, the monster moves in a random direction. When the team reaches the target zone, roll a d6:
- 1-2: The target person is alive: Place a civilian model in the area. They win if they leave the playing area with the captive.
- 3-4: The target person is dead: Place a dead body in the area. They win if they leave the playing area with more than half of their models alive. They get bonus points if they recover the body.
- 5-6: The target person is transformed: The character turned into another monster. Place a monster model in the area. They win if they leave the playing area with more than half of their models alive. They get bonus points if they capture the creature alive.
Hidden monster (harder for the player): The team doesn't know the location of the monster. Every time they enter a new location, roll a d6. On a roll of 6, place the monster in the middle of that area. The monster is resting, so it doesn't react on that turn, but the noises of the team wake the monster, so it will be active from the next turn, as described above.
Hidden target (harder for the player): The team doesn't know where to look for the target person. Every time they enter a new location, roll a d6. On a roll of 1, it's the target zone, so roll a d6, and use the results described above.
Multiple monsters (harder for the player): There are more than one monsters in the playing area. You can have any number of visible monsters, and any number of hidden monsters. If you use the Hidden monster option, every time they enter a new location, roll as many dice as the number of the still hidden monsters.
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
Civilians: Human-sized (S3) modern (advanced) human female / male civilian.
The creature: Large humanoid creature.
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Similar stories - Diggers, movie (2016)
Short stories
Clive Barker: The Midnight Meat Train (1984): There's a man who feeds humans to a creature in the subway tunnels.
H. P. Lovecraft: Pickman's Model (1927): There are man-eating creatures in the subway tunnels.
Novels
Graphic novels
Movies
Creep (2004): There's a cannibal living in the subway tunnels.
Mimic (1997): There is a man-eating creature in the subway tunnels. People try to find and defeat him.
The Midnight Meat Train (2008): There's a man who feeds humans to a creature in the subway tunnels. Based on the The Midnight Meat Train short story.
TV series & episodes
Computer games
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Frequently asked questions - Diggers, movie (2016)
Will the Diggers movie be available with English audio dub?
Currently (in 2022.02.01) Diggers is not available with English audio dub, just English subtitles.
Is the Diggers film based on a book or comics?
No, Diggers is not based on either books or comics.
Is the Diggers film a remake or reboot?
No, the Diggers film is neither a remake nor a reboot.
Is there a post credit scene in ? Does Diggers have end credit scenes?
No, there's no post credit scene in Diggers.
What's is that song at the end of Diggers? Who sings the song at the end of Diggers?
At the end of Diggers, they play Release the Monster from The Y & Anton Ray.
Where can I see Diggers? What is Diggers playing on? What streaming service is Diggers on? Where can I watch Diggers online? Is Diggers available on Netflix? Is Diggers on Amazon?
As of 2022.01.28, Diggers is available on Amazon Prime Video.
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Resources - Diggers, movie (2016)
Official
Gorad: Diggers (in Russian): Official article in Russian.
Information
IMDB: Diggery / Diggers (2016): Database article.
Letterboxd: Diggers 2016: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
https://ya2016.com/movies/diggery-2016/
Reviews with no spoilers - Diggers film (2016)
: Review video about the Diggers film with no spoilers.¤
Reviews with spoilers - Diggers film (2016)
: Review article of the Diggers movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
Analysis - Diggers movie (2016)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Diggers.¤
https://www.facebook.com/111926027270908/posts/178829250580585/
https://kritikustomeg.org/film/102805/diggery-retteges-a-varos-alatt-2016/velemenyek/
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Buying the product - Diggers, movie (2016)
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Have you seen the Diggers film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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