Under the Bed

You can tell from the title alone that "Under the Bed" is attempting to pay homage to the host of other child-horror movies that proceeded it in the eighties. You can see there is real love for films like "Gremlins" "Monster Squad" and even "Poltegeist." The story starts out well enough with a teenage boy returning home years after a tragic event took his mother's life. His younger brother is happy to see him back, but old wounds from the past resurface and both boys are put in a position where they must choose to finally confront the monster that has been plaguing their family for years. The major problem with "Under the Bed" is that it really has no idea what kind of movie it wants to be. Moments in the movie have an innocence long lost throughout the years of horror, but at other times it attempts to be too grown up for its own good by using profanity and generous amounts of fake blood. If this was the movies only sin, we could probably give it a pass, but it is not. The script is shaky to say the least, while many parts throughout simply do not make sense. It also does not help that the shoestring budget is very evident up until the last 20 minutes of the movie. I certainly respect the guts of all involved in trying to accomplish this feat on what little they had to work with, but there are much more suitable, and frankly better child horror movies to sit down and watch for ninety minutes.

This is a difficult film to review, as it appears a loving and sincere tribute to old school video store rental horror from days gone by, but slides a little too off the rails to truly get excited about. First, we meet Neal, a teen with a mysterious past, now returning home. Reconnecting with his younger brother Paulie, the two slowly uncover what forced Neal away. Convinced he was crazy, and after his mother's death, Neal was sent away to live with relatives in Florida. Neal discovers Paulie has dealt with the same mysterious being that tortured him in the past. Of course his father thinks he's crazy, and his well meaning step mom tries, but does not understand. The boys will have to face what lies under the bed - alone. There's a fascinating setup, but the payoff is all over the place. The brothers are great in their roles. The parents appropriately hapless. I think vintage horror fans will enjoy, but the back half of the movie is confusing and feels less developed than the first. It's an interesting idea and throwback to simpler times, that just doesn't gel the way it should. For genre fans only.

This movie smells a lot like "Phatasm". Instead of the tall man and the flying spheres you get a smoke machine and a hunchback in a foam-covered wetsuit. There's also an evil dimension with a lot of coloured lamps and sheets. The biggest win however is the angry dad character, whose crowning achievement is the "grow the f.#k up" speech towards the middle of the film. It's hilarious to see him respond to his children in the way that he does. Basically it goes something like this: child: "A demon ate our mommy." Dad: "Get a job." I can't believe the actors went along with dialogue this bad without protesting or at least laughing.

The script could have been written by a pre-school student. Ooh there's like a monster under the bed and you have to sleep on cupboards. You can't touch the floor. And sometimes like the washing machines kind of wobble when it's mad. If you could judge this movie by normal standards I would say one out of ten, but how can you apply a normal scaling when a movie has become so bad it's good? Also to be fair the crew did a good job with the low budget they had for the monster scenes. Especially the heads getting ripped off.

UNDER THE BED is nothing more than an unwelcome attempt to update that classic child-in-danger horror sub-genre of the 1980s. Back then, a wave of good and not-so-good movies along the lines of THE GATE and MONSTER IN THE CLOSET depicted kids battling against the worst nightmares of childhood, fighting off supernatural beings and their disbelieving parents at the same time.

UNDER THE BED is such a film that tells a very similar storyline, but unfortunately the execution is lacking. This is a surprise given the director is Steven C. Miller, who also brought us the excellent home invasion horror flick THE AGGRESSION SCALE. For some reason, he decided to tint UNDER THE BED a deep shade of blue, so everything that happens is blue-tinged. It's a depressingly predictable look and one which saps vitality from the production.

Not that there's much there to begin with. This film is saddled with a dull backstory, some boring main characters (the angsty teenage character is a walking cliché) and way too much small talk to be much good. Sure, there are a handful of fun moments involving rubber-suited monstrosities, but the tension just isn't there and such moments fall flat. What a pity.

It is my admiration and fascination with the horror genre that drove me to pick up "Under the Bed" and sit down to watch it, especially since I didn't know what the movie was about or who starred in it. All that I had seen was the movie cover, and it was more than enough to get my attention.

It turned out that "Under the Bed" had a rather interesting and entertaining storyline. I had initially thought that given the title of the movie that it could be a cheesy horror movie, but I was glad to be proved wrong. The storyline here was rather good, and director Steven C. Miller and writer Eric Stolze had managed to put together a clever storyline and one that kept the audience in the dark - literally.

The movie was actually genuinely creepy, and director Steven C. Miller did a great job in building up the suspense and the dread throughout the course of the movie. And the climax when the creature was finally revealed was actually quite satisfactory.

"Under the Bed" had some good acting performances, and Jonny Weston (playing Neal) and Gattlin Griffith (playing Paulie) actually carried the movie quite nicely.

The creature in this movie was rather interesting, and it was of good design and concept idea. It was a creature that was somewhat frightening and pitiful at the same time. Sure, it was not a creature design that revolutionized the horror genre in any way.

I found "Under the Bed" to be an entertaining movie and it was a good addition to the horror genre.