Below

Rating:
Summary: A watery ghost story
Review: While Bruce Greenwood, always reliable, is in fine form here, he does not save this film from its many faults. Set in WWII, the action occurs on board an American submarine where Lt. Brice (Greenwood) is the acting CO (commanding officer) after an accident has killed Captain Winters.

The sub finds the wreckage of another ship and picks up three British survivors--two men and one woman. One of the men is seriously injured and cannot speak. Soon after the three are on board, strange things begin occurring--a record suddenly starts playing on the only phonograph on board, a man sees himself in a mirror doing slightly different things than what he himself is doing, the crew hears weird noises immediately outside the ship when submerged.

Yes, this is essentially a ghost story and a tale of murder, but unfortunately uses many of the same tired Hollywood cliches to signal the presence of the supernatural--meaning that the ghostly events are all random, without cohering into a structured whole. This is the standard mix and match approach found in far too many "scary movies" coming out of Tinseltown for way too long.

The director, David Twohy, also directed Pitch Black which is a far superior film because the converging of horrific events is much stronger there--the plot points all cohere much more forcefully and there are some real scares because the atmosphere is also far more compelling. In Below, Twohy (who also wrote the film) relies not only on too many ghost cliches, but also on far too many disparate elements to try to make the story gain momentum as it progresses, and on too many underwater cliches as well.

The film, unfortunately, is drowning in cliches. Olivia Williams turns in a good performance as the British woman whose presence on board the all-male American sub elicits some semi-salacious behavior from the men, but one wonders why a woman was necessary at all in this film. To make it different from other submarine films? That seems to be the only reason.

In my humble opinion, one of the best modern films with ghostly occurrences is the little-known British film The Woman in Black. See that for an excellent cliche-free cinematic ghost story. In the meantime, do NOT stay Below.

Rating:
Summary: SUNK
Review: The story, briefly, is of a US submarine, patrolling the Atlantic during the Second World War, which picks up three survivors of a U-boat attack . Thereafter, strange occurrences and mechanical failures dog the crew, apparently linked to the recent death of the sub's commander, Captain Winters. The plot is an interesting twist on the standard ghost story, but contains a lot of stuff that will only be appreciated on repeated viewings, and since this movie sets itself up from the start as a popcorn flick, most of its target audience are unlikely to make the effort.

The fact is that this movie is a disappointment to people familiar with the previous work of its writer and director. Pitch Black (dir. Twohy) was an underrated minor sci-fi classic that improved with repeated viewing; Pi (dir. Aronofsky) was an amazing first film effort, moody, quirky and confident, and obviously the product of a unique artistic vision. The film, unfortunately, seems to have combined the least talents of the writer and director, rather than the greatest. (I am not addressing the contribution of the third screenwriter Sussman, simply because I am not familiar with his work, and it seems fair to guess that as he was one of three writers, his contribution amounts to only a third of the final book.)

Who Are All These People?
How many characters are there in this film? Seems like at least thirty, and they each get at least a couple of lines, and most of them seem to be incorrigible scenery-chewers. As a result the movie is confusing, as the viewer doesn't know which characters and storylines are important, and which are just there as background. This is largely resolved at the beginning of the third act, when most of the crew is handily eliminated, but of the remainder there are still two or three actors who have not been differentiated enough for us to easily tell them apart. In a way this script seems to be merely a formal exercise in handling large numbers of characters on screen.

Stand Still, Damn It!
One thing I found initially off-putting about Pitch Black was its rapid intercutting of visually rich shots (what used to be called MTV-style, before it became the norm for movies). In that film the style eased off after a while, but in Below it seems the director is genuinely afraid of using any shot that lasts for more than one second. As a result, the viewer can _see_ what's on screen (if they don't blink), but they never get to _look_. The problem with this approach, particularly in this kind of film, is that the viewer is never allowed to be afraid of what _might_ happen on the screen, because there is _always_ something happening. There is always a jump cut, or hand-held camera work, or something jumping out at you. Instead of feeling as though you're stuck in a smelly tin can with thousands of tons of water pressing all around you, you're more likely to feel you're stuck in an editing suite with a hyperactive teenager.

Oh, "Boo" Yourself
Another reason modern thrillers and horror movies aren't scary (he said, sounding older and grumpier by the minute) is the mechanical use of "jolts" and "scares". It's like a carnival ghost ride: sure, it gets the heart pumping and produces an instinctive panic reaction, but it's purely mechanical, an automatic reaction. Your body is scared, but your mind and your emotions (unless you're pre-adolescent) remain untouched. Below is identical to other films in this genre in this respect. Things jump out or crash loudly at regular five minute intervals. Twohy actually reshot one of the earlier scenes because he felt it needed an extra scare. So now the cupboard looks spooky, and then some clothes fall out if it, but at this point in the film we don't even know that there's anything to be afraid of, so why should we care? More to the point, why should something jumping out at me in the final climactic sequence have any impact on me at all, when things have been going bang for no reason all the way through?

I could write a long essay comparing Below with the recently released Starship Troopers 2, which explores similar situations and themes. The latter film, with a fraction of the budget, is the more successful, because it largely avoids the problems examined above. I suppose the criticisms I've made could be applied to hundreds of movies made in the last decade, and perhaps I'm a fool to expect anything exceptional, but, in terms of directing and writing talent, this movie had the potential to be much more than the usual collection of trailer moments. Can Twohy escape from the "Hollywood slick" style in his next project? Would this film have been better if Twohy and Aronofsky had swapped roles? One thing I'll give them credit for, they didn't resort to the "last gasp" shock at the end - anyone else would've had Cpt. Winters suddenly launch himself out of the sea at the end of the last reel, just so the hero could put a couple of bullets in him or set him on fire or something... Small mercies.

3 stars for technical achievement.

(End note: When Claire Paige snoops around the captain's cabin, was I the only one who said "Hey, she must be the Nazi spy they're looking for"? And what _was_ all that stuff about the hydrogen? I didn't follow that at all.)

Rating:
Summary: Mind your rudder!
Review: Here is an original and fresh venue on which to tell a ghost story: a WWII submarine. Submarines are already a bit spooky in the first place, by their very nature. The present DVD takes all the "regular" bizarre traits of a sub and takes them all to a whole new level.

The story centers around an American sub that picks up 3 British persons, all of them survivors of the sinking of their ship. From there on, things seem to continually go from bad to worse for the sub & her crew. A strange sequence of events come to pass. Some of them are explainable & some of them not so explainable.

The set design & direction does a good job of depicting the submarine as an underwater tomb. Everything about the film is nice and eerie. Although I've seen plenty of submarine movies, none of them have the chilling edge that this one has.

One of the most annoying motifs of horror / supernatural films is at the end of the movie, when things seem to be "normal," there is always the hint of the return of the evil / supernatural entity. Thankfully, this present DVD omits that everpresent and aggravating trend. At the end of this film we have 100% closure, which is in fact a breath-of-fresh-air in the horror genre.

If you're a fan of submarine movies and / or ghost stories, this is a unique film that's just for you. After watching it, one thing becomes remarkably clear: fighting the Germans in World War II was tough enough without having to deal with underwater apparitions on top of everything else!

Rating:
Summary: Great film and sharp DVD
Review: Finally saw the David Twohy ("Pitch Black") thriller Below last night and was slightly disappointed, but ONLY because my expectations were so high. I thought it was great - not as good as Pitch Black, but a different kind of movie so a comparison isn't really fair.

At first you get the feeling that the movie can't decide what it wants to be - war? mystery? ghost story? horror? submarine hunt? Then you realize that it WANTS to be all those in one. And it does a very good job of being ALL of them.

There are some excellent, VERY brief visuals in the movie that contribute to the sense of unease and otherworldly. It's the best representation ever of the feeling that you can only catch a glimpse of a ghost out of the corner of your eye.

The sound design (as with just about any submarine movie) is excellent and story-critical. The acting is top-calibre from a relatively obscure cast (Bruce Greenwood, Olivia Williams, Matthew Davis, Holt McCallany, Scott Foley, Jason Flemyng, Nick Chinlund). The film is co-scripted by Darren Aronofsky ("Pi", "Requiem for a Dream"). Director Twohy puts in a cameo appearance.

The DVD exhibits one of the cleanest, clearest pictures I've ever seen (in my collection of 1000 DVDs). It rivals the transfer of a more obvious reference disc like "Monsters, Inc.". The sound, although not DTS, is terrific, and you'll want to turn up the volume so you can hear everything from the hull noises to whispering voices. The disc is presented in anamorphic widescreen at about 1.79:1

I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: Creepiness fore and aft
Review: When I heard about a horror movie called "Below" set on a submarine during World War II, I knew I had to sit up and take note. I also noticed that Darren Aronofsky wrote the screenplay. If you don't know this chap, he's the guy who translated Hubert Selby's shattering novel about drug addiction, "Requiem for a Dream," to the silver screen. Moreover, "Pitch Black" director David Twohy stepped in to lens the picture. Sounds great, doesn't it? There is as much talent in front of the camera as there is behind it, too. But putting all of that aside, isn't it great when someone makes a submarine picture? We just don't see enough of these movies today, or not enough GOOD submarine pictures. I suspect "Das Boot" sort of ruined the genre for everyone else--that, and the excellent "The Hunt for Red October." Once someone makes an excellent film in any particular genre, all other efforts must inevitably measure up or be considered a failure. "Below" contains many scenes found in other submarine films--the claustrophobia of life in a tin box beneath the waves and the horror of dodging depth charges are two examples that come to mind immediately--but the movie differs by adding a horror twist to the mix.

The troubles start when the captain of the USS Tiger Shark (the submarine in question) goes overboard after sinking an enemy vessel. Now commanded by Brice (Bruce Greenwood), the ship picks up three survivors from a sinking British medical ship on the way back to port. The crew of submariners, always a superstitious lot in the grand tradition of sailors everywhere, strenuously objects to picking up these survivors. Why? Not because they are hardhearted but because one of them is a female nurse and everyone knows a woman onboard translates into the worst of luck. Sometimes superstitions ring true. No sooner does Nurse Claire (Olivia Williams) arrive than weird things start happening. A German ship draws a bead on the sub and drops lots of depth charges, a couple of which seriously damage the submarine. Even worse, weird and unexplainable events start popping up with frightening regularity, for example the deceased captain's record player springing to life at the worst possible times. The crew starts to hear strange noises outside the vessel, noises that defy attempts to explain them away as whale songs or other predictable sounds. An assessment of the sub's damage confirms that hydrogen levels in the ship are rising to amounts that can cause hallucinations and paranoia. The boat is also suffering from an oil leak that threatens to destroy the engines.

At some point in the narrative, Brice begins to deteriorate mentally. So does the rest of the crew, several members of which begin to see odd reflections and shadows inside the ship. By the time a bunch of the guys have to don scuba gear and go outside to repair the leak the viewer comes to expect imminent disaster. Not yet, though. One more horrific event takes place that sends the crew of the USS Tiger Shark into paroxysms of fear: the sub begins to chart a course back to the scene of the sinking that resulted in the captain's demise. This is a problem on two fronts. One, no one set a such a course, which leads many to surmise that the ghost of the captain is definitely onboard. Two, the damage to the submarine requires immediate repair, which won't happen if the crew can no longer steer the vessel. Oh dear. Does a ghost genuinely haunt the USS Tiger Shark? Or is a much more human cause at the heart of the weird goings on? It's to the film's credit that we can never say for sure exactly what causes these creepy incidents. One thing we do learn is that Brice and a few other crewmembers share a few secrets about what really happened to the sub's captain, secrets that will inevitably come to the surface (pun intended) as disaster looms on the horizon.

I liked "Below" for several reasons. First, the performances are first rate. Greenwood gives a nuanced performance as Brice; it's a tricky role in that the actor can't suddenly turn into a raving maniac but must gradually reveal his character's mental deterioration. This Greenwood does effectively. Another welcome character is Weird Wally (Zach Galifianakis), who serves up necessary doses of comic relief whenever things get too weird on the submarine. Matthew Davis plays Ensign Odell, the obligatory hero character who eventually begins to question Brice's increasingly bizarre actions. "Below" also effectively uses CGI and sound effects to create a creepy atmosphere. And what an atmosphere! Think about it for a second--you can walk out of a haunted building, but where are you going to go when a spirit pops up on a submarine that risks attack if it surfaces? Exactly. About the only problem I had with the movie concerns the huge cast of characters. So many people step forward at various times that it is difficult in the extreme to keep track of them all. It's actually a small problem that fortunately doesn't interfere with the effectiveness of the movie.

A commentary track with Twohy and a few cast members, deleted scenes, a making of feature, and trailers for "Dracula 2002," "Halloween: Resurrection," "Tangled," and "Undisputed" round out the disc. While I don't think "Below" ranks as the best horror movie made in the last few years, I do think horror fans should pay it a visit. Fans of submarine films will probably want to give "Below" a watch too.


Rating:
Summary: Nice
Review: The only reason why I saw this was because the name Darren Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream, Pi) was attached to it. Not as a director but as a co-writer and a producer. Sources say this movie was actually suppose to have been directed by Darren but he decided to do Requiem For A Dream instead, and for that.. I really can't blame him since Requiem For A Dream was one of my favorite movies. Anyway, the movie was done by the director David Twohy who is known for Pitch Black and for the upcoming Riddick. Even though I would have loved to see what Aronofsky could have done this movie, we don't always get what we want but even so, David Twohy did a good job with this little unknown film.

An extremely claustrophobic thriller that naturally takes place inside of a submarine with bunch of crew members who are hiding a dark secret. An American submarine in a middle of a World War II picks up two Brits and one of them just so happens to be a very attractive lady, Claire Paige (Olivia Williams, Sixth Sense, Rushmore). Naturally, with nothing but men in the submarine, problems arise with the the little lady who just wants everyone to get along. (The way the crew introduced the arrival of Claire Page into the submarine was absolutely hilarious by the way) Aside of this, the crew members start hearing horror like voices and seeing things they would only see in their nightmares. Little do they know that some of them are keeping a very dirty secret that will eventually take over them whether they like it or not, an unexplainable chain of events takes over the story and glues you to the screen.

I can already tell that I will be getting quite a few e-mails from visitors of this site, flipping out over the fact that I gave this movie a 3/5 star rating. Now I am no way saying this movie will be liked by everyone, I personally believe it was really good for what it promised. If you liked a certain thriller called Session 9, you will most likely enjoy this movie as well because they both focus on the mood rather than on the straight forward scare tactics approach that most horror/thriller movies focus on. By all means, it's not a scary movie, it's not a typical horror flick either, however, it is a creepy thriller that really got the short end of the stick as far it's release goes. See it if you enjoyed Session 9.

Rating:
Summary: An under-rated film....scary, fast-paced, and fun!
Review: I really like this film, and would try watching more movies if I thought they'd be as good as this one. I have watched this at least three times, and enjoyed it every time. I think it is the characters (perhaps the actors) that I fiud so enjoyable. The film isn't terribly frightening, but who needs that? This is a ghost movie in the old style, much like the Sixth Sense or The Others. Probably the reason it gets mixed reviews is that people who expect a military action thriller are dissappointed with a ghost story, and people who want a pure ghost story are dissappointed with the military action. I found the combination much to my liking!

Rating:
Summary: Great minds think up crap
Review: Below (David Twohy, 2002)

Twohy (Pitch Black) teams up with scriptwriter Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) and a crack team of fine actors, including Bruce Greenwood (Nowhere Man), Jason Flemyng (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Bruiser), Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense), Matt Davis (Blue Crush), Sebastian Knapp (Jesus), Nick Chinlund (Con Air, The Chronicles of Riddick), Dexter Fletcher (Pandaemonium, Band of Brothers), and a host of others to show that even if you're the guy that directed Requiem for a Dream and the guy that directed Pitch Black and have a stable of top B-list actors working with you, you can still make a bad movie.

Okay, maybe "bad" is not the right word here. "Depressingly mediocre" is more like it.

I'm pretty sure anyone who's seen Das Boot and likes horror films has thought to themselves, "man, wouldn't that be an excellent setting for a horror flick?" Twohy takes a stab at it here, and to his credit he does manage some good shocks here and there. But the main storyline is incredibly predictable (as in it took me about three seconds after the setup to figure out what was going on), the pace is uneven at best, a lot of very good actors are wasted in minor roles, and, well, that's about all I can say about it. Could've been fantastic. Wasn't. **

Rating:
Summary: Under water, screams can barely be heard
Review: Sometimes cinematic success moves in mysterious ways. Take the case of "Below" for example. Dimension films basically pulled the plug on the box office run of this movie despite the fact that it's one of the most refreshing thrillers in the last few years, all the while horrible fodder like "scary movie 3" rakes in piles of dough. Even in video stores, "Below" has been a sadly overlooked film and I'll never understand why. How a film like "Ghost Ship" receives twice the attention this one did is beyond comprehension. The talent involved in the making of this movie is undeniable, the script written by Darren Aronofsky (PI, Requiem for a dream) and the film directed by David Twohy who has now helmed several entertaing genre crossovers such as "The Arrival" and the two "Pitch Black" films.

During world war II, a USS Tiger shark patrolling the Atlantic Ocean picks up the only three survivors of a torpedoed british hospital ship. When the captain of the sub discovers that one of the three is a German he kills him immediately. After this death, strange events begin to occur that lead the crew to believe that they might not be alone on the boat. Not only do the USS crew have to deal with a sea full of German destroyers, but it appears that ghostly apparitions are haunting the USS Tiger Shark.

This film is a combination of war story and horror-suspense thriller. It's not easy to combine the two genres and the genius of this film is how the film takes a wild turn when you least expect it: You think you're watching a war movie and forget what's buried under it, a horror movie. The film is deftly paced, and scares you in all the right moments. This didn't seem to be made on a huge budget but that actually helps this movie, as the filmmakers were forced to focus on story, character development and suspense instead of mindless special FX extravaganza like so many of today's blockbuster pictures. Like in "Pitch Black" the cast is filled with solid, relatively unknown actors who seem ready for a big breakthrough. I thought the actors did a great job at creating a sense of isolation and panic and I really wanted to see them pull through. It's that kind of empathy that often makes or breaks a horror film for me. If I don't care about the characters, then I won't care who gets picked off one by one therefore diminishing the experience.

This film is not without its flaws, although they do little to harm the picture. First off, the notion that a trained crew of US soldiers could mistake a british ship for a German destroyer is absurd. Second, the picture offers very little for war buffs to salivate on, as world war II is really more like a default setting. The submarine Tiger Shark never existed and I've never read of any American submarines patrolling the Atlantic Ocean after July 1943. So historically, the movie is complete fantasy but it must be beared in mind that it was never intended as a historical war movie. Reviewers who slam the film because of this are mising the point, as are those who try to place this movie on a measuring stick against "Das Boot". I believe most people who did not enjoy this film were expecting too much from it, it should be taken as a suspense movie no more than that. True, the story is a little hard to follow, but that's one of the things that makes "Below" a picture that stands so well to repeat viewings. Darren Oronofsky has penned an excellent script with twists and turns that lead to a shocking final revelation. More people need to see this movie.


Rating:
Summary: An atmospheric, very entertaining B-horror movie.
Review: This movie slipped completely under most people's radar which is a shame because it is quite the entertaining kind of B-horror movie that they just don't make anymore. Dimension Films, for some reason, buried this film and now it seems to be enjoying a new life on video and cable (where I caught it).

The first strike against it is that it's a submarine movie. With the exception of Das Boot and The Hunt for Red October, sub movies are awful (K-19 anyone?). Below, happily, bucks the trend by expertly conveying the nightmarishly claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in a long tin can under tons of water. If that weren't enough of a problem, something creepy is lurking in and around the submarine.

The film features a really interesting cast of character actors. People like Bruce Greenwood (13 Days), Matthew Davis (Blue Crush and this film is the spitting image of a young Harrison Ford!), Dexter Fletcher (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), and Zach Galifianakis (TV's Tru Calling) to name just a few, are all excellent in this movie. It is a true ensemble piece, which is one the many things that makes the movie so enjoyable to watch.

The script by Darren Aronofsky and David Twohy is smart and yet delivers all the requisite thrills and chills needed. The attention to period detail is also good. I'm sure the filmmakers were working on a limited budget but they really do a good job in conveying the feeling that this is set during WWII. It is the little details, the personal items that each crewmember has that fleshes out the film and gives it dimension.

I can't say enough good things about this movie. It was really a pleasant surprise to discover late one night on TV. Definitely worth a look.