Cast wise Greenwood is classy as usual, and Williams refuses to let her character be the token it could have been.
Be part of this crew and the rewards are there to be had for the ghostly movie seeker. This really is a film that asks us to turn off the lights, switch the phone off and invest your very being into the story. With its metallic blue tints (Ian Wilson on cinematography) aiding the feel of submarine life, we the audience are thrust into the confines of sub life as well.
At the hour mark the characters even bring this into play with a wonderful discussion that richly subverts our expectations of where we are going with this movie. Also of note is that Twohy and his co-writers are aware enough to know that their story has to be a bit more than just another Rod Serlingesque tale. True it's a little derivative of similar themed film's like The Keep, The Bunker et all, but what it lacks in freshness it more than makes up for in slick story telling. It also has some great underwater sequences to sample as the cast do justice to the smart script. It's intensively tight in claustrophobic atmosphere, creepy in narrative, adroit with the kill dispatches and crucially pays off with the big reveal. OK, so admittedly a haunted submarine premise on the surface doesn't sound too demanding on the cerebral front, but this is much more than an underwater spooker.īelow gets all the key ingredients right for such a genre production. A cast featuring fine character actors from Britain & America, directed by the man who was hot from the popular Pitch Black and a certain Darren Aronofsky involved in the writing. More so when one looks at the credentials on offer. Which considering that $40 million was given to produce it comes off as mighty strange. Coming a few months after Harrison Ford submarine thriller K-19: The Widowmaker sank without grace, Below was barely given a release or publicity junket to give it a chance. It wouldn't be the first or last time that they did it, but Dimension Films failed to support a rather good horror film in their care. After taking on board three survivors of a wreckage and a battle with a German warship, mysterious things start to happen on board the sub. It stars Bruce Greenwood, Olivia Williams, Matthew Davis, Holt McCallany, Scott Foley, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Flemyng, Nick Chinlund & Dexter Fletcher.ġ943 and The USS Tiger Shark submarine is patrolling the Atlantic Ocean. strange.īelow is directed by David Twohy and C0-written by Lucas Sussman, Twohy and Darren Aronofsky. Reviewed by hitchcockthelegend 8 / 10 Try not to fraternise with the men.