Beneath Us All

A great movie from the beginning to the end. This movie will draw you in and keeps you in suspense. Had my mom sitting on the edge of her seat. A must watch when you get the chance. The Director - Harley Wallen did a very good job with this film showing the down side of the broken foster system and the twist that makes everyone wonder what's coming next, a great story. The cast and crew were awesome in their particular roles. Sean Whalen and Yan Birch reunite from People Under the Stairs back in 1991. If you are looking for some drama, fantasy, horror, mystery, thriller then this is the movie that you are looking for.

Of course I hadn¨t heard about this 2023 horror movie titled "Beneath Us All", prior to sitting down and watching it. However, with it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to watch it, as I do enjoy horror movies quite a lot.

Bret Miller wrote a somewhat dull and mundane storyline and script for the movie. I have to admit that I found the narrative in the movie to be a bit slow and pointless, and thus it was difficult to enjoy this movie from writer Bret Miller and director Harley Wallen. And the storyline itself was just somewhat poorly written and constructed, with elements and things happening throughout the 91 minutes that the movie ran for somewhat odd and strange.

It should be noted that the acting performances in "Beneath Us All" were actually adequate. Sure, it wasn't impressive acting performances, but for a movie of this caliber, then the acting performances were fair enough. There were only two familiar faces on the cast list for me, and that was Sean Whalen and Maria Olsen.

Visually, then there weren't anything to write home about here, as "Beneath Us All" wasn't a movie that made use of a lot of special effects or CGI.

If you are a horror fan, then "Beneath Us All" is not a movie that I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on. Some of us suffered through this ordeal, so you don't have to.

My rating of director Harley Wallen's 2023 horror movie "Beneath Us All" lands on a two out of ten stars.

Beneath Us All" (2023) is a riveting cinematic piece that artfully peels back the layers of human nature, exposing the hidden depths and shadows lurking within. The film masterfully intertwines compelling narratives, evocative visuals, and powerful performances, immersing the audience in a gripping exploration of the complexities and mysteries that lie beneath the surface of our everyday lives. The storytelling is nuanced, and the atmosphere is charged with tension, making every revelation a moment of awe, as the audience delves deeper into the intricate web of the human psyche.

In conclusion, "Beneath Us All" stands as a remarkable testament to the power of cinema to explore and reflect the multifaceted nature of humanity. The film, with its blend of suspense, drama, and emotion, offers a thought-provoking and captivating experience that leaves the audience pondering long after the credits roll. It is a compelling journey into the unknown territories of the human soul, making it a must-watch for those who seek depth and introspection in film.

After finding a special object in the woods, a teen living with several other kids at a foster family house in the countryside slowly starts acting out of character the more she's around this creature, and when the child-service agent in charge comes across the horrific truth tries to help them stop the creature targeting them.

Overall, this was a rather fun and generally enjoyable genre effort. One of the better aspects of this one is the rather intriguing build-up that manages to be quite likable overall. Including a nice bout of Nordic folklore here involving the backstory of the vampire at the beginning to show his influence in the past with the hunting party trying to track him down and capture him which sets up the discovery in America later on. This leads into the later scenes at the house where his uncovering and slow-burn healing process provides a nice means of including this connection in the modern day as his decided influence grows much darker and more devious over time. The bits involving his corruption over the daughter to keep the streak going as it gains the power to leave and move on in the world are quite fun and allow this to take on some intriguing storylines along the middle section of the film. This is carried over to the impressive vampire attacks that have a lot going for them. The main part of this is the storyline about his corrupting the daughter as this all comes off rather nicely involving the darker, more reclusive, and disengaged attitude while not being bothered to care about the world around her that flies in stark contrast to who she was before. The concurrent attacks on others around the area to generate the kind of power it needs to get stronger are generally more dramatic than anything but are still intriguing enough to offer up some solid scenes throughout here as it all prepares itself for the finale when it shows the creature attacking the house and bringing about some fine confrontations with the disbelieving members of the family that are quite chilling and suspenseful involving some nice bloodshed and action along the way. Overall, these are all enough to bring this one up quite a lot even though there are some issues that hold it down. The main issue to be had with the film is the generally slow build-up to the vampire as there's quite a lot to deal with the bland storyline about how the family is abusing their foster children. While it enables everything to come together quite nicely, a lot of these scenes involving the way the parents are dismissive of everything she tells them, the needless subplot about the detective trying to recruit the social worker to join him at a new job, or their burgeoning relationship that's shown throughout here where the two of them chat and hang out several times. It all ends up making the vampire's presence come about a bit later than expected and feels quite sluggish to get started. There's also a bit to this one where the daughter's failure to not notice anything wrong with the vampire makes her look more stupid than earnest due to the obvious malevolent energy of the creature and this is somewhat unbelievable. These all end up bringing it down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and children-in-jeopardy.

The story involves girl living in a foster home, being distraught with her living situation she takes a walk in the woods, she stumbles on a pendant that appears ancient, as she makes her way home she starts to feel funny. She finds a man in the wilderness that needs help so she places him in an old storage shed. Things become more strange and murders occur, a social worker is called upon to check up on the foster family but things doesn't set right with the foster parents things take a dark turn.

The story is a slow burn with a large quantity of drama. It features less gore and more of the ascetic approach with character reactions. One of the highlights would be actress Maria Olsen and Sean Whalen as the foster parents giving off cold and selfish characters they portray as we can tell the parents are in it for the easy money having foster care for kids without real notice from authorities. The foster father also being a gambler hoping to make the big money playing every night.

The film has nice overview shots and the creature looks well done. I would only like to have seen the foster parents become more dark by intentionally misleading the social worker and more verbal to the kids to heightened tension while the entity living in the shed builds its strength to kill.

It is a film to take a look into and can lead to curiosity on the lore of the main monster in the story.