Fear Below

It's an unfortunate truth that my expectations are automatically set very low when it comes to new shark movies, despite being a huge fan of the genre.

It gives me great pleasure to say that Fear Below is one of the better movies we've got in the last few years. Fear Below understands that a Bull Shark is scary enough just being a Bull Shark. This is where most shark movies go off the rails and the filmmakers decide to add in Kaiju-esque elements, Roaring sharks, or rubbish CGI. A rubber fin gliding through the water is sometimes enough to send a shiver down the spine.

The story is a little out there, but the actors do their jobs well for the most part and I did root for the divers, as opposed to the last 4 or 5 releases I saw where I just prayed the Shark would tear everyone on screen apart to put me out of my misery.

If it wasn't for the imminent release for Dangerous Animals which I have high hopes for, I would say 2025 has it's best shark movie already.

Fear Below promises a slick, high-concept twist on the shark movie-gangsters in 1940s Australia diving for gold in a bull shark-infested river-but squanders that promise with lifeless characters and limp storytelling.

Yes, the setting is cool. The idea of bull sharks lurking inland is genuinely unnerving, and the film does its homework on the science. The riverside visuals are lush, the period costumes crisp, and the setup has all the makings of a pulpy thriller. But the second the characters open their mouths, the whole thing sinks.

Hermione Corfield, Jimmy Barriakada, and Arthur Angel try to inject humanity into their roles as plucky divers with tragic backstories, but they're shackled by a script that mistakes vague trauma for personality. Their motivations are murky, their relationships undercooked, and their dialogue painfully on-the-nose. You're left counting the minutes until the next shark attack-because that's the only time the movie comes alive.

Worse still, the film seems desperate to be more than a B-movie, reaching for emotional depth it simply hasn't earned. It's like The Meg trying to cosplay as The Hurt Locker. The result is a film caught between tones: too self-serious to be fun, too shallow to be profound.

When the shark does show up, it delivers a few decent jolts-but even the action lacks inventiveness. For a film that should be dripping with tension, Fear Below is oddly inert.

This is a bad shark movie, so I went in expecting it to be poorly acted, with a really dumb story, and for it to be cheap looking. But much to my surprise this has decent acting, an okay story, and it doesn't look too cheap. But the most important part is the sharks, and in this genre I feel it is very important that the atmosphere should either be scary or goofy. This is neither, your grandma wouldn't be scared and the effects and kills barely register. Meanwhile the characters are nothings and the story is blah.

This completely washed over me without leaving the faintest trace of an impact. I had already forgotten 95% just mere hours later. The worst kind of crappy shark movie: a non-entity.

First things first, it's a quite enjoyable experience. Shot without long and boring scenes, not much hesitations and conflicting feelings. Well-packed pace and three-acted story. Expected, but still worthy end of the story.

Well, it somehow reminds me of 2000-s era action/adventure flicks: not much dramatic insights, but still delivered joy. That can be an advantage and disadvantage at the same time. You won't get deep characters, there's no sophisticated story: just a beginning-climax- resolution. I wanted to like characters, but they were... mildly blank? I don't really think, there will be a reason to re-watch it in the future. But still it's worth watching, when you just want some adventure fun for your Friday evening.

"Fear Below" may start out like your typical man-vs-nature thriller, but somewhere between the vintage wetsuits and the unlikely friendships, it becomes something far more endearing than expected. It's not just a shark movie - it's a story about loyalty, improvisation, and the quiet bonds that form when people are thrown into deep water (literally and emotionally :]

There's a delightful odd-couple energy, and I found myself wanting to see more of their dynamic. By the time the third "act" kicks in, you're not just rooting for them to survive the shark - you want them to open a dive shop/detective agency together and argue over snack choices (or smtn era appropriate)

The film also strikes a rare balance: it's suspenseful but not mean, funny without being cynical, and it has a warmth that's sometimes missing. The 1940s setting adds, and it's the small moments that make it quietly lovable.

Turn this into a series and give each episode a new underwater mission, a fresh moral dilemma, and at least one heartwarming flashback. The world needs more cozy aquatic drama, and 'Fear Below' is the perfect pilot episode!