Below

Rating:
Summary: Ghost story with a submarine motif
Review: You have seen this story a million times. There is nothing new and no new twists. It is just a strait forward ghost story that just happens to be on a submarine instead of a hotel or in a bayou. It is still fun to watch this rendition.
A US Sub in WWII picks up a life-boat with three passengers. There is something suspicious about the passengers and their situation. While we are keeping our eyes on the life-boat passengers, we come to realize that maybe they are not the suspicious ones here. Is some insidious force out to get revenge or set things straight?

Rating:
Summary: Destined to cult status....
Review: Since DImension buried any chance thismovie could have of being recognized as a very good suspense piece, with solid casting, good acting, decent special effects and intriguing plot, this picture is destined to cult status,

And it's a very solid movie. Since the great opneing of a CAtalina flying over the Atlantic to the final, the movie grabs your attention, even leaving some questions unanswered.

Bruce Greenwood proves once againthat he deserves more first class opportunities in the Hollywood comunnity.

Rating:
Summary: Some Creepy Stuff Here! A Quite Enjoyable Chiller!
Review: A U.S. submarine encounters some really weird stuff in "Below", a very well-crafted film that I enjoyed watching very much.

Set during World War 2 in the year 1943, the sub starts encountering the strange occurrences after rescuing three members of a stricken vessel at sea. There are some genuinely eerie and "Gee, that WAS creepy!" moments in this film. The creepiest, for me, being a couple of different glimpses of a ghostly image, seen by the camera for just the briefest of instants. Very effective. (Be quick on the "Pause" button for these chilling moments in the movie. On Freeze-Frame, they're even creepier.)

The movie's photography is highly stylish and effective, with great use of lighting, darkness, shadows, and some bright, bold colors on occasion. One particularly-stunning moment comes early in the picture when we see the image of an approaching warship being reflected in the eye of the officer looking through the submarine's periscope. This is another good place to utilize your DVD Player's Pause function. And, due to the incredibly-clear anamorphic widescreen image we're treated to on this Digital Disc, it will pause with perfect clarity as well.

This DVD edition gives us some extra goodies, too -- definitely worthy of attention. There's a director's commentary track, three deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer, and some bonus trailers. (I enjoyed the "Sneak Peeks", which feature trailers for other films. These "Peeks" are presented in booming 5.1 Surround Sound, as is the trailer for this film. Nice!)

But my favorite "bonus" here is a short 12-minute featurette called "The Process", which shows several behind-the-camera clips from the film. Much of what we see in this bonus is rehearsal footage, which is then shown alongside the actual footage which ended up in the movie. This brief featurette, like the film itself, exhibits very high production values. It surprised me that they'd put this much "stylish" emphasis on a short twelve-minute bonus piece. But they did....and it's a very nice little bonus on the DVD.

"Below" is an intelligent, thoughtful, and realistically-spooky tale. It's not "over the top", but it's not totally void of ghostly imagery either. It's somewhere in between. Darn good set of actors here too. They are totally believable in their roles.

Heartily (and spookily) recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Submarine Horror...
Review: The submarine U.S.S. Tiger Shark is on a routine mission when they encounter some survivors from a sunken British ship. As the survivors come on board the U.S.S. Tiger Shark, the crew of the submarine begin to notice strange occurrences that begin to intensify as the crew gets closer to the truth behind the mysterious incidents. Below presents a reasonable story, but there are some elements of the complete story that have been tarnished and this then affects the overall cinematic experience.

Rating:
Summary: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Review: "...The other was a softer voice, As soft as honey-dew :
Quoth he, 'The man hath penance done, And penance more will do.' "

So wrote Coleridge of the Ancient Mariner who; for his sin of killing the Albatross, the 'pious bird of good omen', was doomed to sail a ship haunted by its dead crew until his penance was done and his sins expunged.

And for the officers of the USS Tiger Shark on war patrol in the eastern Atlantic their sins were many. On a pitch black night the officers on duty sight a target which, from their recognition manuals, is identified as a German submarine tender. They stalk her silently and using a bow shot put a torpedo into her hull that sinks her with one hit. The crew listens to the sounds of the ship breaking up and to confirm their sinking they surface for visual identification. Four officers go on deck and to their horror discover that the ship is in fact a British hospital ship (sin 1). The Captain, realising the error, tries to save survivors but the two officers who initiated the attack also realise that they will face a board of enquiry with a probable court martial and their careers will be ruined. In a moment of panic they try to stop the Captain and during the altercation the Captain goes overboard and is lost at sea (sin 2). With the Executive Officer (Bryce) now in command the boat submerges and leaves the struggling survivors to their fate (sin 3). And, as every affectionado of the haunted house film genre knows, they're not going to get away with it!

But there is an ironic twist of fate.

A patrolling British Catalina sights the survivors and sends a distress message which is relayed to the nearest rescue vessel - the thrice-cursed USS Tiger Shark. She searches and locates a single lifeboat with three people onboard but, as they manoeuvre to pick them up, an enemy destroyer is sighted bearing down on them. It goes without saying that the Germans are not in a good mood.

Thus is the stage set for a really nice piece of cross-genre film work. A WWII submarine movie of the 'Run Silent, Run Deep' kind, combined with the haunted house scenario seems an unlikely marriage, but the director manages to pull it off with finesse.

What is impressive about David Twohy's directorial style is his economy of scenes as he takes the audience on his journey: simply, elegantly and spookily. Take the scene just mentioned - a destroyer is thundering towards the sub while they have to stop and pick up survivors. Twohy doesn't even bother to show this scene played out, it starts with the Captain ordering flank speed, the next scene is the survivors coming through the hatchway - that's it, no superfluous storytelling, no extra bits, just wham! end of scene. The director knows his audience and that they will understand what has happened and because he has bigger and scarier fish to fry, why dwell on an inconsequential event.

Twohy has managed to create some elegant iconograhy. Watch for: the sub being depthcharged and the one drum which falls quietly and gracefully onto its target, tumbling slowly end over end along the length of the sub, bouncing over hatches and railings until it falls over the side. With each tumble, the camera follows it along inside the pressure hull as the submariners, waiting for the detonation, listen in silent agony to each clang of the canister as it dances along the deck. Watch for: the grappling hooks as they scour through the water to rake the subs hull. There is something very deeply sinister about the German tormentors above, all that is known about them is that they are unseen, unforgiving and unrelenting. Watch for: the incident in the battery room, a scene handled with silent shock. Watch for: the rumour that a female survivor is onboard the submarine and see how it travels down the length of the boat. Really pretty stuff.

The script manages to get an even balance of action, ghostly apparitions and hand wringing nervousness without laboring too hard. Action sequences sound authentic with the crew seeming to know how to run a submarine and the props all look genuine. Additionally there are some nice plot moments: what is the meaning of the book that falls open on the deck; why is there a blank page in the boats' log; why does the phonograph play a certain song? Special effects are great stuff with the CG work of particular note (check out the Catalina in the opening sequences). The actors work well to get the story underway and maintain the inertia in the plot, with special credit going to Mr Bryce, the default Captain, who realises his ultimate fate and what must be done to rid the boat of his Albatross.

The story concept needs a bit of explanation since at first glance it looks like a giant plot hole. Were hospital ships ever sunk during wartime? In fact they were and one of the most famous examples was the Britannic, sister ship of the Titanic. Lost in the Aegean Sea in WW I it was believed sunk by a German U-Boat, although it was probably mined rather than torpedoed. One of the Britannic's survivors, a nurse, was actually a survivor of the Titanic (if I were this lady, after the Titanic bit I would never have gone near water again - not even to clean my teeth). I must admit that misidentification of a hospital ship at night seems weird since, under the Geneva Convention, they were granted immunity from attack by being painted white overall with green stripes, red crosses and were brilliantly illuminated at night with a row of green lights around the hull. But this is a minor quibble.

In total, the movie is worth a look if the genre appeals. Nice photography, good script, excellent direction and a bizarre story - what else could you ask for.

Rating:
Summary: BELOW AVERAGE
Review: When watching director David Twohy's brilliant "Pitch Black", I knew I was watching the work of a thrilling and innovative director. That movie was supremely frightening. With "Below" however, the fright element is lost because, frankly, what in the world is truly going on? Who is really haunting the submarine, and what in the world really happened with the supposed murder of its commander? These questions are never fully answered. The cast does well in spite of this, though: Bruce Greenwood is effective as the lieutenant who assumes command after the captain's death; Matt Davis looking very much like a young Harrison Ford, is appropriately heroic in his role as Cordell; Scott Foley is admirably snooty; and Holt McCannelly as Loomis brutish. Olivia Williams was added for female interest, but her role ultimately seems unnecessary.
Although visually stunning (Twohy knows how to reshoot your expected submarine claustrophobia), it's emptiness lies in a script that leaves too much to its audience and not a whole lot otherwise. Disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Psychological Terror Below the Surface.
Review: One of the better psychological thrillers I have seen in a long time. After the captain of a US submarine dies from a tragic accident while picking up survivors from a sunken german ship, the crew of the submarine begin to suffer from hallucinations. Visions, noises outside the hull, and phonographs mysteriously starting themselves plague the crew as they attempt to avoid enemy warships and survive the constantly degrading air quality within the ship. The plot twists, turns, and intertwines itself as the crew race to escape the submarine before it becomes a steel coffin at the bottom of the ocean. The story is beautifully mastered, never giving you all the information and leaving you to ask the question after: What really happened aboard that submarine?

Rating:
Summary: boring but a good cast selection
Review: I wasnt that great watching this movie but a great cast was ensembled here but they are wasted and the movie goes deeper below. Bruce Greenwood, Dexter Flectcher, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng, Matthew Davis and the awesomely hilarious but wasted Zach Galifianakis as Weird Wally star. its not that horrible but it got boring after awhile and somewhat perdictable

Rating:
Summary: A cult following beckons.
Review: To be honest even though Below is not anywhere near a 5 star movie, I am going to give it that special treatment because it is streaks and bounds ahead of horror films that are currently been made these days.

Director David Twohy (Pitch Black) directs a script that Darren Aronofsky (Pi) has had his hand in to bring us a smart and downright frightening movie about a haunted submarine during WWII. Forget that pile of MTV Junk "Ghost Ship" and watch this vehicle instead.

The story is a simple one but there are plenty of twists, plot and scares along the way. Basically a submarine called the Tiger Shark is given orders to head back the way it came to pick up survivors that are drifting in the sea. After they do, strange mysterious things start happening on board the submarine while at the same time it is trying to evade the detection of a German destroyer. As the story moves forward you start to learn that everybody is keeping some sort of a secret and that there is a connection between some crew members and the haunting. Bad guys turn good and good guys turn bad and as a suspense piece you never know what is going to happen next. There are plenty of times in the film when you genuinely want to cover your eyes, or hide behind the sofa.

The other great thing about this movie is that it is crammed full of supporting actors in lead roles and you will have a lot of fun trying to put some of these faces to pictures that you have seen recently (Fight Club - Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - Training Day... to name but a few.) The special effects are actually well done and even though a huge percentage of the special effects are CGI you will be hard pressed to notice it. In my opinion, this is a better submarine movie than the recent U-751 and a lot more suspense driven that I actually expected.

It is odd that Dimension films did very little in way of actually promoting this film. Maybe they felt that the story was not coherent or believable enough as a horror yarn to merit much advertising.. but then again we are talking about the same company that brought us the absolutely awful Dracula 2000 (with two sequels in the pipeline!). Okay the story does bend the rules of reality here and there but the acting is solid, the story is original and it looks visually wonderful enough to cast any flaws aside.

If there is any submarine horror movie that you would like to see then make it this one (probably the only one) and if you have seen this movie at the DVD rental store but don't know what to do with it, then get it next time because you will be in for quite a pleasant surprise.

It is rather very good after all is said and done. In fact I am now going to buy myself a copy of this little gem.

Rating:
Summary: A decent and creepy ghost story
Review: When a US submarine is ordered to pick up survivors from an attack during WWII, eerie things start to happen on board the sub. Crew members start to hear whispering voices or to see things. The sub mysteriously changes its course which can't be corrected. But, something's up with the officers. What exactly are they hiding from the rest of the crew?

This is a very effective ghost story with great visual effects, a few gorey death scenes, and just an overall creepy atmosphere. You get the sense of being trapped in the submarine, with its cramped quarters and tempers on edge, the periods of complete silence, and even suffer along with the crew when a German ship drops explosives all around them. (A visually great sequence, too.) Some of the dialogue is a bit cheesy and some of the performances just manage to go overboard (no pun intended). But the visuals and the story more than make up for that.

The picture quality of the DVD is fantastic, very crisp and clear. Soudn quality is very good, too. Not a lot of extras, but the deleted scenes are worth watching. (I even prefer the "Red Flare Ending" to the original.)