Abîmes

I enjoyed 'Below' a LOT more than I anticipated. It's a very similar movie in theme to the disappointing 'The Bunker', apart from the obvious difference of being set on a submarine of course. But unlike 'The Bunker' this movie has interesting characters that a)you can tell apart, and b) actually care about their fate. The script, direction and acting are all superior, and it's very effective in conveying the tense atmosphere of a sub in WW2, despite not being made on a mega-budget. I like David Twohy's debut 'Pitch Black', and I like 'Below' even more. It's not only a very well made suspense movie, but also a good war one. I hope Twohy fulfills his promise in projects to come.

Director David Twohy's BELOW is a gem of paranoia, claustrophobia, conspiracy, and deep sea creepiness.

The USS Tiger Shark submarine rescues 3 members of a doomed British ship, only to be hunted by Germans from above and haunted by ghostly visions, strange sounds, and otherworldly occurrences below. Unexplained malfunctions and tragedies keep happening in seemingly supernatural ways.

Has a dead crewmember returned, or is the lowering oxygen level causing everyone to go insane?

As the story unfolds, we find that not everyone is what they appear to be. As in all of the best of these underwater thrillers, the action takes place in corridors and quarters so tight that movement is severely restricted. This adds to the tense feeling of suffocation, and makes us feel trapped along with the crew.

The Director and cast are flawless in creating a thick atmosphere of terror and madness. Bruce Greenwood and Olivia Williams are especially good in their roles.

Highly recommended...

I don't recall this one being released, but it didn't do very well. However it had a very tidy story, some more or less decent acting, and was a visual treat.

The story seems pretty simple - WWII sub picks up a couple survivor, is pursed by a German ship, and then strange things start to happen and some secrets about various crew members are slowly revealed.

This is more of a thriller than a horror movie. While it does contain some jump scenes in it and some spooky goings on, one is left with a feeling of "was it just cabin fever?" As said, visually, this movie looked nice. It somewhat captured the cramped life on a sub and the tense moments they go through. However, some liberties were taken on the set design to provide more room. The class of sub they are on are not nearly as comfy as this would make one think.

Bruce Greenwood gives what I though was a very good performance. The movie can even stand up to a little bit of rewatch as well.

If you have seen your share of genre-movies, there will in this movie rarely be an idea that you have not seen, a cut that has not been there already or a character that is completely new - but it´s the mix that counts and this mix came out very right.

If you are on the edge of your seat, you know what is going to happen but nothing has been shown in the first half of the movie and the suspense just keeps on building, I for one know that I am going to enjoy it to the last second.

Oh, and another thing - although there is only 1 woman in the movie, she is neither token, nor does she fall in love or is killed in the classic shower scene, but she actually is given a role to play - bravo. The only little thorn I can think of is, that I could have done without the very few gory (or at least bloodyish) scenes - was not really necessary. A silouette and some shocked expressions do suffice. Go and watch - not a cheap thrill, a good one.

This was only playing at one cinema in my area (off my usual track) and when I saw it listed in the paper I thought "Wait, how did I miss that?" But it was rated R (always a plus for me; for one thing, an R rating means the F-word gets used at least twice, so it'll have at least that much realism) and I had read somewhere (probably on IMDB) that it was about submarines, so I thought I'd take a crack at it. My venture was well rewarded.

Set during World War II, an American submarine rescues 3 people on a liferaft, one of whom turns out to be a woman, news of which galvanizes the sub's crew, who seem to know every female slang term ("Brillo pad" was new to me). The movie pays tribute to the German "Das Boot," the best submarine flick ever, as the camera goes darting from one passageway to another as the crewmen are introduced. Then some odd things start occurring.

Helping to win me over was the sheer copiousness of period detail with all the 1940s technology used by the crew to run their boat plus their cigarettes, girlie pin-ups, phonograph records, a Yo-Yo, etc. The actors all rang true except for the young idealistic guy. Lots of great claustrophobic atmosphere; limited but effective use of a certain kind of special effect. One needs to pay attention, such as the mirror scene, where you might think "Is that image duplicating what the guy is doing, or not?" Slow but steady heightening of tension and development of otherwordly aspects. Delightful underwater renditions with plankton & manta rays cavorting. Some drawbacks: too much use of flashbacks, some of which may be "false" (Hitchcock used a false flashback once & always regretted it); too much action occurring off-screen, to where it calls attention to itself. There's a central flashback issue that seems to call for an awful lot of expository dialogue, some of which occurs when one would suppose the characters would be engaged with more pressing matters, such as running out of air.

Given how many other recent movies have cost a lot more money, been given much more ballyhoo but have had much weaker plot, characterization and atmosphere, it seems a shame "Below" must rely entirely on word of mouth, or keyboard. I won't claim I was on the "edge of my seat" throughout but I definitely "bought into" the situation. There's a really lovely closing shot, like a shorter & underwater "Koyaanisqatsi," that no one should find overly corny or contrived.

Bottom line: if you can't find this one in a cinema or reach it before it goes away, keep an eye out for video. The studio made a mistake just blowing the movie off, it deserves better.

In one scene we see a seaman with pet fish in a tank, a nice ironic touch.