Below Year: 2002 Director: David Twohy Written by: Darren Aronofsky, Lucas Sussman, David Twohy Threat: Ghost Weapon of Choice: Fire Based upon: none IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
None

Rish's Reviews
Pitch Black, by the same director, wasn't bad. Be damned if I'll see the sequel, though.
Coming out within weeks of the bigger, more hyped Ghost Ship, I wasn't even aware that Below got a theatrical release.
Set during World War II, the film stays on a U.S. submarine after a battle and the rescue of a sunken British ship. But after a series of increasingly-bizarre and unexplained phenomena (not to mention the typical tension of being underwater during wartime), the crew begins to fear that the sub may be under supernatural influence.
This is one of a handful of films on this site I saw with my mother. She's one of those old-fashioned women who likes horror movies but wishes they didn't have to have so much swearing, nudity, and killing in them. So, except for the occasional Disney genre release, we don't tend to see a lot of Horror together.
Still, I was surprised when, in preparation for my visit home, she rented this and Cabin Fever for us to watch together. As much as I enjoyed Cerina Vincent's breasts, I wasn't about to sit through Cabin Fever again with my mother.
But we did watch Below together. And it wasn't a bad pick, in that respect. It was a quality film and it was scary. But it wasn't a great film. Afterward, I tried to figure out exactly where it went wrong, and I came up rather short.
Bruce Greenwood is a convincing Captain, and I liked him in this. I like Olivia Williams, too, and find her attractive. She still deserved a belt in the mouth at least once in this movie, however.
The film is more a Mystery, I suppose, than a horror film. Or is it? I mean, there were some good jump-type scares, some nice creepy atmosphere, and a lot of tension throughout, but when it was over, it felt less like Horror than . . . well, something else.
The film was ambitious, intelligent, and felt quite researched (plus, it was co-written by that Aronofsky guy that everybody likes), so I wanted to like it more than I did. Ultimately, though, it was just too disjointed. A lot of stuff happens offscreen, and then we wonder why we missed it. A couple of the plot twists made little sense to me, perhaps because of the way the film was edited.
I'd Recommend It To: Submarine movie fans, mostly.
Posted: July 8, 2004

Total Skulls: 14

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?