Bruce Greenwood, Olivia Williams and Scott Foley give wicked performances as the final lot left to deal with the mysterious mess, doing their part to keep this sucker at 'see' level.
Below (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:67
Fresh:43
Rotten:24
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: Below is a creepy, claustrophobic exercise in style.
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Synopsis: In 1943, the crew of the U.S.S. Tiger Shark, an American submarine in the Atlantic, rescues three survivors of a British hospital ship that came under German attack. One of the survivors, a nurse... In 1943, the crew of the U.S.S. Tiger Shark, an American submarine in the Atlantic, rescues three survivors of a British hospital ship that came under German attack. One of the survivors, a nurse (Olivia Williams), raises tensions among the all-male crew from the moment she steps aboard. Commanding Officer Lieutenant Brice (Bruce Greenwood) does his best to keep the unruly crew in line, but after suffering damage from a barrage of Nazi depth charges (in a spectacular sequence) a series of increasingly spooky occurrences begin to rattle everybody aboard. A mysterious face that appears in the windows, a ghostly phonograph that plays a Benny Goodman record, and a corpse that seems to talk are just the beginning. Soon it is discovered that Captain Brice has not been entirely truthful regarding an accident that previously happened on the boat. David Twohy's (PITCH BLACK) unique submarine thriller skillfully combines the conventions of the War and Haunted House genres, using a keen eye for detail to create a very believable and claustrophobic world. Based on a script by Darren Aronofsky and Lucas Sussman (rewritten by Twohy), BELOW doesn't rely on cheap scares. Its supernatural element is secondary to a forceful tale of danger at sea. [More]
Starring: Matt Davis, Bruce Greenwood, Olivia Williams, Scott Foley
Starring: Matt Davis, Bruce Greenwood, Olivia Williams, Scott Foley, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Flemyng, Holt McCallany
Director: David Twohy
Director: David Twohy
Screenwriter: Lucas Sussman, Darren Aronofsky, David Twohy
Producer: Susan Baden-Powell, Michael Zoumas
Composer: Graeme Revell
Studio: Dimension Films
Reviews for Below
...begins with promise, but runs aground after being snared in its own tangled plot.
A gripping little B-movie of more mood than substance, Below nonetheless delivers on its modest promises.
Half Submarine flick, Half Ghost Story, All in one criminally neglected film
an exceedingly clever piece of cinema.another great ‘what you don’t see’ is much more terrifying than what you do see thriller, coupled with some arresting effects, incandescent tones and stupendous performances
A surprisingly unnerving production that shouldn’t be allowed to slip beneath the radar.
Below may not mark Mr. Twohy's emergence into the mainstream, but his promise remains undiminished.
The film has enough spooky momentum and good actors to keep it going.
As underwater ghost stories go, Below casts its spooky net out into the Atlantic Ocean and spits it back, grizzled and charred, somewhere northwest of the Bermuda Triangle.
The reason Below gets beneath your skin is that the scriptwriters know what most current horror filmmakers never learned: Fear is an emotion, not a visceral response.
Every moment crackles with tension, and by the end of the flick, you're on the edge of your seat.
Exciting and direct, with ghost imagery that shows just enough to keep us on our toes.
Thanks to strong acting and low-key direction, Below stays above water in atmosphere and suspense.
While director David Twohy arguably doesn't mine the premise for all it's worth, he gets enough out of it to make it an effective Halloween treat.
An underappreciated little film that would go down well as part of a triple bill on video for some undemanding entertainment.
Twohy knows how to inflate the mundane into the scarifying, and gets full mileage out of the rolling of a stray barrel or the unexpected blast of a phonograph record.
There is nothing outstanding about this film, but it is good enough and will likely be appreciated most by sailors and folks who know their way around a submarine.
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