Below (2002)

My quick rating - 6.4/10. A quick read of the synopsis, and I don't think I have ever heard of this one. And judging by a 40 million dollar budget, not even scraping back 3 million, I would say their PR department dropped the ball. Time to check it out. And what a huge miss they had, since this is a good and scary flick. For starters, they were able to cast a group of people who not only act well but also interact in a way where you actually give a crap about what happens to them. So the story is a bit similar, and I'll come back to that. In 1943, a submarine picks up 3 survivors at sea from an incident that sank their boat. Immediately, strange occurrences begin happening on the sub. When one of the survivors turns out to be a German, the anxiety escalates along with the crew. But what starts as just distrust begins to turn possibly supernatural and does so in a subtle yet very effective way. The effects and use of miniatures look really good and completely believable. The buildup is done at a really nice pace to keep the tension mounting without overdoing the jumps or dulling you with boredom. Very much a missed flick that I had no idea happened to be made by David Twohy, who isn't exactly a household name but was the writer/director of Pitch Black, which I am a huge fan of. Again, this flick shows he has a great eye for detail, this time underwater instead of on a barren desert planet. A great part about this story is how they allude to the supernatural without ever allowing you to know if that is the case or not. And when you do get an idea of a possible scenario that is going on, and it happens to be an episode of The Twilight Zone you saw years ago, the crew members tell that exact storyline to throw you off. I have no idea how I let this one go for 20 years without seeing it but I am very glad it did pop up. A very well-made movie that was pretty close to being great if the story had just gelled a bit better overall. I am still hoping that Furya ends up happening.

Below (2002)

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