If this film was a parody it would’ve been really good but unfortunately it wasn’t.

Beneath follows a group of friends who want to go for a party across a lake and the only way to go across this lake is by boat. They set out onto the water and then realise that there is a creature that lives in this water that is hunting them down.

This movie had a lot of elements going for it that were really intriguing. You had the creature in the lake which is obviously a big fear and definitely a fair of mine that I’ve experienced living in a small countryside town, and then you also have the fact that the creature makes their boat leak and so you have more urgency to get out of the water because: 1. your boat isn’t going to keep you safe for long and 2. if you end up in the water this creature is going to eat you.

This movie definitely needed to take a leaf out of the Jaws handbook. The look of the creature was very papier-mâché, it was very film student, and unfortunately just made me laugh. If they had kept the creature away from our eyes or just hinted at it by showing certain parts of it and not the whole thing I think this could’ve held a lot more weight or been a lot more scary.

I also believe the actors and the characters weren’t as great as they could’ve been. I didn’t feel like the actors sold the roles very well, they seemed quite wooden and in the situation they were in their performances just didn’t seem that urgent or that scared, it was almost an inconvenience to them more than anything.

I also felt that way about some of the deaths that happened too. One of the deaths, Zeke, could’ve been so much better because he was the filmmaker of the group. He was the one that always had a go pro attached to him and so if they spent more time with him in the water with the go pro’s point of view then we could have moments of a go pro bobbing in and out of the water and suddenly the monster emerging in front of it and it could’ve been a really good jump scare, but unfortunately that wasn’t used to the best of its abilities.

Johnny as well was a bit underwhelming. He somehow strangled himself with a rope while his hand was holding the rope away from his throat. The way that he died should not have been able to happen because his hand should’ve prevented the rope from being able to choke him, so while this could’ve been another very grizzly death, that one element with his hand being in the way of the rope completely ruined the façade for me and made me question how he even died.

I feel this movie had so much potential with the urgency of the boat going down and the fear of this creature in the water. If they kept the monster more hidden from view it could’ve been so much scarier. If it had the elements of the group turning against one another and finding reasons to be allowed to live with more story points that could’ve been great too if they were more explored. However it just seemed to fall short for me. I feel if this movie had a bigger budget and better actors it could’ve been so much more and could’ve been really good and I’m kind of sad that it wasn’t the movie that it really could’ve been.

If these actors put more into their performance of being terrified with what this creature was, if the creature wasn’t shown to us, if the jump scares had a bit more heart and a bit more grit and weren’t so cheaply done then I think it could’ve been a fantastic movie. I think the idea and the premise of a creature in a lake is absolutely terrifying but I thought this movie just didn’t do it justice. While I did enjoy this film it’s not one that I would recommend unless you like these sort of creature feature cheaply made horror movies…then I think it’d be right up your street.

What do you think of Beneath?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding