Beneath the Surface

Poor acting, poor direction, only two production sets if you count a swimming pool with the lights turned off as one.

The lead spent most of the film crying and not very convincingly either.

Right, well I very, very rarely - as in actually almost never - read reviews of a movie before sitting down to watch a movie. But I really wish I had done so before sitting down to watch the 2022 movie "Beneath the Surface" from writer Paul W. Franklin.

I was lured into watching "Beneath the Surface" because of the movie's cover/poster with the shark, the bloodied water, a burning wreckage and a distraught woman in the water. Talk about false advertisement, because this had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the actual contents of the movie. Well, sure there was a shark in the movie and a woman in the water, but that was about it. And the movie didn't have the thrill and excitement in it at all which was displayed in the cover/poster.

Nay, this was definitely not a shark movie. Instead, I was sitting down to watch a murder mystery, and not a particularly good one at that. The pacing of the movie was rather slow, and the storyline itself was, well truth be told, bland and sort of bordering on being pointless. So no, you're not in for a great movie experience if you sit down to watch "Beneath the Surface" from directors Scott Jeffrey and Rebecca Matthews.

Now, I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress in "Beneath the Surface", and that was actually one of the better things about this ordeal of a movie. And while the actors and actresses had very little to work with in terms of script and properly written characters, then the acting performances in the movie was actually fairly okay.

I managed to suffer through all of "Beneath the Surface", but I wasn't particularly entertained, much less enjoying the storyline. So I can honestly advice you to not waste your time, money or effort on this movie, because it simply isn't worth it.

My rating of "Beneath the Surface" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

Don't usually do these, but feel the need to warn people that might make the same mistake I did. I enjoy shark attack films. This is not a shark attack film.

It's boring, poorly acted, poorly written and poorly executed. The plot is predictable and any attempts at twists and surprises can be seen a mile off. The 'big reveal' can be figured out around 15 minutes into the film. I only persevered to prove my suspicions correct. I wish I hadn't. Please don't waste your time. It's genuinely the worst film I've ever seen.

The movie starts with three people who have fallen off a boat. Its night, and they are in the water, sharks cirkling around them. Then, some screams. It lasts under five minutes, and you see no shark attacking.

Three months later, we are home (a large mansion in England) with Lexy, who lost her father and sister at the sea. We never find out if their bodies were recovered.

Lexy suffers from survivours guilt, and have little recollection of the event. She knows they partied on the boat, drank alcohol and were dancing.

Her boyfriend, Isaac, and her stepmother, Vicky also live in the house, and they were also on the boat that night.

She has a good friend, Amy, who are supportive, and also wants Lexy to get some help. Which is needed, because Lexy is whining a bit too much.

There are no more sharks to be seen, and just a few scenes from the boat. This is a drama/mystery movie, where we want to find out what happened that night.

There are some gaping plotholes, as to why the solution wasn't discovered at once, or why Lexy takes so long time to realise what's happening, but there you are.

The solution is exactly what you think, including the people involved and the motive.

The killer's plot on how to do away with Lexy in the end, is laughable, and utterly impossible to work, without no one finding out.

Acting is ok. Lexy is the worst, but that is because it takes some real acting skills to carry a movie. And she does not have what it takes.

The story is a mysterious one. It is told in present day with a flashback to 3 months earlier when an incident occurred. If you've ever been drugged and thrown into shark infested waters you'll definitely relate to this movie. If this scene existed then the bit where Jaws was on the psychiatrists couch telling the tale of the nasty fishermen trying to catch him, it would bring a tear to your eye. Best actor goes to the VW beetle car which was stunning character with big shiny wheels. The movie is watchable. It's nothing to do with a typical sharks in the water eating people other than the two people the shark did actually eat. You can tell from the cover that there was a shark though so that's not spoiling it. I think the shark as a framing device could have been any such event in which two family members were killed in a devious way. I doubt the movie will appeal to many people who looked at the cover like I did and though yay I like shark attack movies like some people like zombie movies. I mean if you've seen one zombie movie you've really seen them all. They're the stupidest genre of movie ever and oh so boring. Some people might not like shark attack movies and this is falsely representing itself as such a movie when it clearly isn't on. For what it is I think it's a pretty good low budget film that lets the story unfold in time. You are lead along a path till the final conclusion.