World War II Supernatural Horror Leaves You Breathless

Aside from its wartime setting, what is Below all about? We follow the misadventures of a United States submarine as they deal with relatively familiar threats like a German destroyer. However, the movie soon reveals that recent events are shrouded in mystery, and the answer to that mystery may involve a supernatural terror that not even the most heartened soldier is ready for.

Even if you’re not keen on supernatural tales or weird mystery stories, Below is worth tuning into for its surprisingly versatile cast. It features Matthew Davies (best known for his time on The Vampire Diaries), Bruce Greenwood (a Hollywood legend genre fans will recognize as Captain Pike from the Star Trek reboot films), and Olivia Williams (perhaps best known to horror fans for her role in The Sixth Sense).

In terms of casting, Below also throws some fun curve-balls at the audience. For example, the movie includes Scott Foley, someone who seems right at home in a horror film after starring in the Scream franchise. But this film also features legendary funnyman Zach Galifianakis, and rather than seeming out of place in this grim adventure, he fits right in with a performance that puts to rest any lingering doubts about the versatility of his acting chops.

If the talent in front of the camera for Below doesn’t impress you, then the talent behind the camera just might. The film is directed and co-written by Hollywood veteran David Twohy, best known for Pitch Black and the subsequent Riddick spinoffs. And one of the writers is Darren Aronofsky, the prodigy who wrote what would become Below shortly after the success of his awesome indie hit Pi.

Based on the box office, nobody would call Below a hit: the film had a $40 million budget and only earned a paltry $2.6 million. Believe it or not, this was a good thing: you see, Dimension Films tried to get Twohy to re-edit the movie down to a PG-13 rating, and the director held his ground, ensuring the movie had the hard R rating it needed. In seeming retaliation, the production company skimped on the advertising and gave the movie a very limited theatrical run, resulting in its abysmal box office.

Fortunately, critics were kinder to this supernatural horror movie: on Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has a critical score of 66 percent, making this ambitious period piece officially fresh. In general, critics praised this movie for being both “creepy” and “claustrophobic,” making the most of its submarine setting. Critics also praised Twohy for making the film so stylish, ensuring that each spooky scene looked genuinely artful even as they made your skin crawl.

I mostly have to agree with the critics: Below isn’t a perfect horror movie by any means, but it is leaps and bounds above what I was expecting from a World War II supernatural horror flick (no zombie Nazis, for one thing). There were plenty of genre cliches and tropes the movie could have embraced, but it pleasantly surprised me by consistently taking creative risks and zigging where I expected it to zag. The greatest fear is always the fear of the unknown, and simply not knowing where the movie was going to go from scene to scene successfully kept me on the edge of my seat.

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Will you agree that Below is a stylish horror hit, or will you want to throw this movie into the depths of the ocean? You won’t know until you stream it on Pluto. Just do yourself a favor and don’t watch this one too close to bedtime or you might have some claustrophobic nightmares that will have you tossing and turning all night long.