Beneath Still Waters

In 1965, in Northern Spain, a dam will be built to bring progress to the location of Desbaria and the town of Marienbad is near to be completely flooded. Two boys, Teo and Luis, cross the security boundary to play in the evacuated town and Teo listen to voices in the abandoned church. They find a group of strange people chained in the watered basement, Teo releases their leader Mordecai Salas (Patrick Gordon) and is killed by him. Forty years later, in the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of Debaria Dam, the teenager Antonio (Damià Plensa) vanishes in the lake while swimming with his girlfriend Susana (Pilar Soto) and their friend Clara Borgia (Charlotte Salt). The police divers, with the support of the outsider photo journalist Dan Quarry (Michael McKell) that is filming the submerged Marienbad to write a matter about the town, try unsuccessfully to find the body. When eerie things happen in the spot, Dan and the local journalist and daughter of the builder of the dam Teresa Borgia (Raquel Meroño) disclose dark secrets about Marienbad, Salas and his evil cult of the power of the flame.

I am a big fan of Brian Yuzna, but "Beneath Still Waters" is a huge deception. The screenplay is a complete and flawed mess, with terrible development of characters and situations and many shameful lines. The acting in general is not good, and the lead pair shows no chemistry. The special effects are very reasonable, and I believe many actors and actresses have been dubbed in English. The sequence of the bacchanal recalls the disturbing cult "Society" in the debut of this great director. Unfortunately his two last works ("Rottweiler" and "Beneath Still Waters") are very disappointing. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Mistério no Lago" ("Mystery in the Lake")

This movie wanted to be so much more than it turned out to be. A lot of potential in the story, but some rather poor director's work never made it come alive.

The movie itself is enjoyable to watch, if you can punch through the Spanish actors struggling with their English, and the sometimes laughable B-movie effects (although in other places the effects are once again quite good). The acting in many cases is amateuristic and very, very poor for all the people that are not main actors.

Some good make-up and special effects are a plus again however, but overall it leaves much to be desired. Your mileage may vary on this one, as it has its strong points and weak points. Some nice diving work and underwater camera-work. The atmosphere is there too, which makes for a nice setting despite the weak acting.

Brian Yuzna is a director who almost never has disappointed me. He's inventive and he knows what fans wants. The only ones that I haven't liked is "The Progeny" and "Tarzan: The Epic Adventures TV Movie". But after moving to Spain to join Filmax developed label Fantastic Factory things have begun to go downwards. I really liked "Beyond Re-Animator" but his "Rottweiler" was just terrible. I was very, very disappointed with that movie. And now we have "Beneath Still Waters".

The story is about a water filled ghost town with a dark past. Strange things are happening and people are showing up dead. A female reporter and a newly arrived photo journalist are teaming up to investigate the surroundings. Sounds pretty good to me.

First I must say I liked it a whole lot better than "Rottweiller" but it still left me very unsatisfied. Things aren't developed very good, the characters are not that interesting, the gore is there but it leaves much more to be desired, there's too little monster action, we've seen the ending hundreds of time before etc.

I'm not saying I didn't like it, I was just expecting more. Some good diving footage, one cool monster, some tension and atmosphere, a cool beginning, Diana Peñalver ("Braindead") in a small part. But overall a rather tame effort by Yuzna. You can do better.

There after it gets worse for every minute.

The actors are most likely better in an ordinary high schools drama class, than the ones they cast for this movie. The children was alright though, but the adult actors.......

The actions of the characters are so stupid that you think a 5 year old have scripted it.

Well you can say it started so well and ended very bad. I hope this instructor never makes a movie again.

In many really bad horror movies you at least ends up getting some good laughs. Even this failed here.

The picture packs thrills, chills , terror and lots of blood and gore . Horror and fantasy based on a novel "Beneath Still Waters" by Matthew Costello with screenplay by Angel Sala , though partially inspired by the master H.P. Lovecraft . A forgotten legend lives again , half a century ago they thought they had buried this horror forever. But you can't kill what was never really alive . And the massive stone walls of the Dam must soon burst and what was an incredible myth, will become a deadly reality . Everyone's been evacuated - just the church, the homes, the abandoned shops remain . Only the eerie buildings...still hiding secrets that no one suspects . The two boys walk through the doomed ghost town . But the boys discover that the town isn't quite deserted . Time passes, and the whispered secrets of the town have been long forgotten. But now, fifty years after vanishing, the sunken town comes alive again. A boy vanishes swimming on a moonlit night while his girlfriend Susana (Pilar Soto) and their friend Clara (Charlotte Salt) looks on . Meanwhile , a cameraman diver Dan Quarry (Michael McKell) is shooting the submerged Marienbad and a TV reporter (Raquel Meroño) discovers ancient secrets .

"Beneath Still Waters¨ tells an incredible story of terror , monster killers and including fantastic touches . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story about an old fanatic cult , an evil being and his followers . As it packs horror , suspense , plot-twists , tension , chills , guts , thrills with sensationalistic scenes . This tale about a journalist mother and daughter of the builder of the dam played by Raquel Meroño , her daughter performed by Charlotte Salt and a diver acted by Michael McKell , all of them are involved into a twisted as well as terrifying intrigue begins well and grows more and more until a downbeat finale . Spanish secondary cast is pretty good but frankly wasted playing ridiculous roles , there appears notorious actors , such as Manuel Manquiña , Jose Maria Pou and Diana Peñalver who starred the Peter Jackson classic titled ¨Braindead¨. The film contains tension , thriller , drama , mystery , twists and shocks , including decent scares with tense sequences especially in its final part , in a unexpected denouement . There is a homage to Jacinto Molina when in the city of Marienbad before it floods , the boys throw rocks at posters for ¨Creature from the Black Lagoon¨ or ¨La Mujer y Monstruo¨ and "El Rostro de la Bestia," which has credits for Paul Naschy and Brian Yuzna ; there is no such movie, but Yuzna did direct Naschy in 'Rottweiler (2004)'. The flick was finely produced by the chairman of Filmax and Castelao Productions , Julio Fernandez who along with his brother Carlos Fernandez are two successful producers and experts on Horror genre , producers of hits as ¨The machinist¨ ,¨ Fragiles¨, ¨Darkness¨, ¨Rec 1¨, ¨Rec 2¨ , ¨Rec 3¨ and many others . Good makeup on the freakish half-human creatures . Passable images about the sunk village and dam explosion , both of them are made by means of computer generator . Colorful cinematography by Johnny Yebra filmed on location in Boadilla del Monte, Navas del Rey and Pelayos De la Presa, Madrid, Spain .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Brian Yuzna ,a gore and guts expert director (Faust, Dentist 1,2 , Society, Bride Reanimator). Often uses harsh, bright lighting and soft blue hues in his movies . Brian Yuzna along with Stuart Gordon are important American filmmakers expert on terror cinema , both of whom working for Castelao , Fantastic Factory or Filmax . Rating : Average but some moment entertaining.