What Lies Below

My five stars were for the first half of the movie which was building consistent tension and curiosity. I was kinda enjoying it until the SECOND HALF! It was like they had really decent writers who went on strike at the halfway point. Come on, my dog could have come up with a better half than this one! And it was a terrific cast doing the best they could in a very disappointing situation. Awww what MIGHT have been! Such a pity!

"What Lies Below" is a kind of a flick that could end up being a total trash filled with so-bad-it-hurts CGI and nonsense screenplay. You know, like the most of Syfy made-for-TV creature features. But this one doesn't deserve all the rage. Yes, the dialogues are pretty basic and bland but it doesn't kill the creepy vibe going throughout the whole film length. The acting is decent - Ema Horvath is good as an estranged daughter and Mena Suvari finally stars in a horror movie that is not a garbage (although it's still hard to forgive her for "Carrie 2" and "Don't Blink").

The best part of the movie is its visuals and lore. Lovecraft-esque fear of chtonic entities, hypnotic enigmatic lights coming out of nowhere and minimalistic synth soundtrack are making "What Lies Below" a thrilling eye-candy which is pretty much enough for a one-off horror movie. It doesn't reinvent the genre or offers any real plot twist (I mean, we all know John is going to be a bad guy, and Trey Tucker's effective performance convinces us right after we see him) but definitely worth a watch for its atmosphere and its actors that probably did even better that the script could offer them.

Has some suspense but really slow and doesn't go anywhere. The only words Mena Suvari seems to say through the whole thing are 'baby girl' fifteen million times.

I can honestly say I would rather take a Razor scooter to the shin than ever watch this movie again.

Every time Mena Suvari says "baby girl," take a swig of your libation of choice. You will be wasted a third of the way into the movie, which is basically the best way to sit through it. It has some creepy/gross moments, a decent score, and the actors are on board, but you can't cover up the weak story, lame script, and gimmicky direction.