Devil Beneath

If I had known Devil Beneath was from the same film maker as Red Billabong, I would have not bothered watching it. I actually did not realise that until I came to do my IMDB review, now looking back over Devil Beneath you can blatantly see Luke Sparkle's film style.

Now what can I say about Devil Beneath?

It could have been something. The story idea was there buried beneath a whole lot of stale, robotic acting and bad visual effects. I understand budgets can place a limit on what a film maker can afford, so work within your budget and tailor your script to suit that budget so you can have the best film possible.

I thought that would have been realised after Red Billabong, but obviously not.

The idea that these kind of films keep going out to an international audience is the only thing scary about them.

Get better actors! Or do more rehearsals. Somethings got to give.

If there was an award for ticking every horror movie cliche box going then 'Devil Beneath' would clean up at the ceremony. Apparently, it was made in 2023 and yet felt like if it was released in the eighties it would feel old-fashioned and outdated.

Two brothers meet up at their family farm in Australia, only to find themselves falling foul to a local beastie. Add a van-load of generic teenagers who you won't care about, let alone remember any of their names, then stamp them with the typical 'jock one' and the 'slutty one' and the 'virginal one' and you can easily figure out each one's fate. There are some bad humans too who you won't care about (guess what happens to them?!) and some locals who have a secret knowledge of what's really happening and you're left wondering who actually green lit this film to begin with.

Not much happens in the first half and by the time the monster shows up (and I use the term 'shows up' loosely) you won't see that much of it because it's shot in a way where you can't really get a good look at it because the budget clearly wasn't high enough for anything more than a so-so computer-generated creature.

In some ways there's absolutely nothing wrong with this film - in horror terms. It certainly ticks all the boxes, but it's biggest fault is just being so generic that there's equally nothing to remember about any of it or offer anything that any seasoned horror fan hasn't already witnessed a hundred times and done better. About the only way you'll really think it's amazing is if you've never watched a monster movie before and aren't aware of every plot contrivance that goes with the genre. Watch it if you like, but I'll wager you won't remember a thing about it in a day's time.

I had actually never heard about this 2023 Australian horror movie from writer and director Luke Sparke prior to sitting down and watching it. I liked the movie's cover/poster, and with it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to watch "Devil Beneath".

Well, writer and director Luke Sparke only managed to put together a somewhat watchable movie here. I mean, the movie was suffering from being somewhat too formulaic and generic, so when you sit down to watch "Devil Beneath", it is like watching essentially any other creature feature that came before it. There was nothing overly innovative or new here, aside from the movie having a bunyip as the creature.

The acting performances in "Devil Beneath" were fair enough. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, which is usually something I enjoy when I watch a movie. However, the cast didn't really have much to work with in terms of an overly impressive script.

Visually then "Devil Beneath" wasn't all that great. The CGI animated bunyip looked like something straight out of a 1990s computer game. So yeah, you're not going to experience any particular spectacular or impressive CGI, should you opt to sit down and watch "Devil Beneath".

It felt like writer and director Luke Sparke was aiming for a 1980s horror movie feel and atmosphere here. However, it just didn't really muster up to any effectiveness.

This is not a horror movie that I will recommend for horror fans to rush out and get to watch. The movie came and went without leaving a lasting impression, and it is a movie that will just slowly fade away and be swallowed up by the mists of oblivion.

My rating of "Devil Beneath" lands on a three out of ten stars.

The first thing "Nick" (Dan Ewing) discovers when he arrives at the home of his late grandfather is an half-eaten kangaroo on the lawn! Then his brother "Tristan" (Tim Pocock) appears with a shovel and assuming it was the victim of a crocodile, they bury the animal. "Tristan" has a decision to make about their inherited property. Will he agree to leave it to the local Aboriginal population or will he sell it to developers? Well that decision might be taken out of his hands by the source of some fearful noises that are emanating from the woods, especially as their friends turn up for a party and then start to go missing! There really isn't anything original about this 'creature from the black lagoon" style mystery, peppered as it is with familial discord and horny friendships, but once we get to the last half hour the thing comes alive a little better with some decent visual effects and a wee bit of roar and gore mixed in with plenty of gunfire, overturned trucks and some traditional mythology. The narrative is a bit of mess and neither the acting nor the writing are going to win any prizes, but the two lads are easy enough on the eye and it's eventually got just enough action and mysticism to make it watchable - once!

What a waste of time this was the actors in this believe we're completely stupid, completely dumb acting and overall the worst of all BJ was the worst. Actor of them are some punk spoiled kid, but what a waste of time although the movie did have some good action in it, but it was still a stupid I will not watch this ever again whoever does watch to stay away from it. Watch something else don't spend your money watching this I would rather watch Power Rangers than this stupid movie. At least I know Power Rangers would be a little bit more action than this. On another note don't even waste your time watching the trailer it's not worth it.