The Creature Below

What kept running through my mind as I watched this movie was "what motivates someone, anyone, to make a movie like this?" I'm not speaking about the genre or subject of the movie, but rather a very legitimate question of what is the driving force to make a movie with the primary actress having no acting ability, the writing being almost non-existent, no real direction, and the lowest production value imaginable. Essentially it seemed like not a single person involved had any desire to make this movie.

My review isn't even regarding whether this movie is good or bad, as it's clearly meant to be a campy movie, as that's perfectly fine and often quite enjoyable. But rather there's something so completely off about this movie that it strikes me as extremely out of place. Like when you see a business in your town that seems to never have any customers, nor even seems to want any, but has been around forever supposedly making plenty of money and you get the idea that there might be something more to their business model. That is this movie. It wasn't made to be watched.

Really I'd give it a 1 but I did make it completely through the film, and there was 1 redeeming line near the end which I won't spoil but I presume was the only tag line planned for this entire film.

Don't think Lovecraft:

Think re-do of original Little Shop of Horrors.

You won't get it out of your mind.

A good concept, not an original one but with a real potential to be both fun and scary, and a creepy-looking DVD cover were what drew me into seeing 'The Creature Below' in the first place. Also have gotten some entertainment out of low-budget creature films, though there are too many weak or less ones.

'The Creature Below' is not good, let alone great. It is also not terrible, let alone a complete shambles, and has good points that make it semi-watchable. There are certainly far worse films in the genre, of similar creature films and overall and it didn't leave me angry or cringing, just that it is very underwhelming that doesn't do a good job with its objectives of being fun or scary.

Starting with the positives, the monster does have some creepiness. There are moments where 'The Creature Below' is moderately scary and fun, and it doesn't take things too seriously or go overboard on the camp factor.

It's effectively lit and shot too sometimes. The soundtrack has eeriness when it isn't being intrusive or obvious. Michaela Longden tries.

Conversely, a lot of things bring 'The Creature Below' down. The acting is generally not good, Anna Dawson being especially terrible in the lead and it does kill the film. The characters are dull and sometimes annoying, meaning there is never much of a reason to make one care for them. Some of the decision making as such bordered on silly.

Although the creature was not bad in personality, the creature effects are very cheap-looking. Even for low-budget, 'The Creature Below' is pretty slapdash, especially in the editing. Excitement, thrills, creepiness and suspense are too far and between. The scares are generally not enough and suffer from predictability and lack of tension. The story is far too minimal, another thing that affects the pacing with the padding and over-stretching, bland and often ridiculous.

Overall, semi-watchable at best and mostly mediocre. 4/10 Bethany Cox

"The Creature Below" is a movie that I had not heard about prior to finding it by sheer random luck. And with the prospect of not having anything else at hand to watch in the horror genre, I gave "The Creature Below" a go, without knowing what it was about. I was lured in by the title of the movie alone.

The movie starts out quite nicely and does throw the audience straight into the storyline, and you are up to speed with the intention of director Stewart Sparke right away, which was quite nice.

Almost from the very beginning there is a Lovecraftian influence permeating "The Creature Below". However that influence is cemented as something solid when you see Olive Crown (played by Anna Dawson) put her Miskatonic University diploma on the wall, so the movie apparently take place in the world as dictated by master writer H. P. Lovecraft.

The story, briefly summarized is about a marine biologist who is fired from her job, but in her haste she decides to take away an egg of some unknown original from her workplace. As the egg hatch in her basement at home, Olive forms a symbiont bond with the creature.

The music in the movie is quite fitting the genre, as it is subtle, yet noticeable in its own way, given the uniqueness and slightly odd placement it has. At times the music actually takes on an ethereal quality, not unlike that you find on the Nox Arcana CD "Necronomicon", which really bolsters the atmosphere of the movie.

And the setting of the movie, being a very rural setting with a sort of reclusive feel to it, also emanates the alienation that H. P. Lovecraft had incorporated into his stories. So it is clear that the director or writer of this movie must have been heavily influenced by Lovecraft's work in some way.

Olive's descent down the path that leads to madness and insanity is one well-fleshed out on the screen. And for that I must applaud the director on his accomplishment.

As for the actors and actresses in the movie, then I can't claim to be familiar with their prior work, but they did quite good jobs with their given roles and characters.

As for the mysterious tentacled creature, well it was believable and had functional effects to make it look fairly realistic. However, the movie could have fared much better with a bigger budget for special effects, no doubt about it. But still, taking the budget and the aspiration of the movie makers into account, they actually did quite well.

Granted that "The Creature Below" is a low budget movie, then it is still a nice foray into the eldritch and cosmic horrors dreamed up by H. P. Lovecraft and this movie is actually sort of a hidden gem, that I fear many people will never even give a chance. Which is a shame, because it is entertaining. And if you enjoy the writing of H. P. Lovecraft, then you should definitely check out "The Creature Below".

The movie is entertaining, but it just lacked that spice to make it remarkably unique and outstanding. But all in all a good movie. The ending of the movie, however, well I wasn't a fan of that particular way to round up the movie...

If your a horror or Lovecraft film fan, you'll probably give this a pretty decent rating. It had the same production values of "The Resurrected" AKA Shatterbrain with Chris Sarandon of course without Chris Sarandon.

I'm a huge fan of H. P. Lovecraft literature, one of the major fathers of modern horror. If you don't know the name and your a horror movie fan, it's time to pick up a book. Anyhow, there are a great number of specific film adaptations of Lovecraft but many decent movies based on the theme. I had been waiting for some time to get my hands on this one. Due to a trailer I had seen the movie seemed to be heavily influenced by and related to Cthulhu, one of Lovecraft's major antagonists.

This doesn't have any big-named actors and is a lower budget affair but I was pleased to say I enjoyed it and found it an entertaining addition to other "Lovecraft Themed Films". Basically it's about a deep sea research diver who brings up a semi parasitic creature she discovers on a deep sea dive. The creature grows and begins to influence her to... This film story is very similar to another Lovecraft themed movie a foreign 1981 film "Possession" with beloved Horror Icon Sam Neill but isn't a twisted and difficult to follow and it's in English.

If your a Lovecraft film fan, these is definitely worth the watch. They never directly mention the mythos but the crude cave drawing, images, monologue and the ending leave no doubt.

If I have one grip about this, it may be the further development of a human antagonist. They were doing a fairly good job with the story and the main character and I think they might have gone further if they hadn't deviated from it but I'm satisfied with the viewing experience nevertheless.