What Lurks Beneath

The movie ended up being frustrating because the potential was there. The acting was serviceable to decent, especially given the script they had to work with. They tried to blend a war film with horror elements, and really squandered the horror potential. They did not use the claustrophobic setting effectively at all, and didn't focus on the "woman" and her abilities nearly enough. The writers didn't seem to know of a way to keep the woman in the sub without making the characters, who otherwise seemed competent, repeatedly notice and then immediately begin to ignore all of the strange happenings that began immediately after finding her in the torpedo tube, which should have been the first clue that she had to be dealt with. A better written and directed version of this movie could have been described as a cross between Alien and Dr. Strangelove, but this ultimately just ended up being another waste of potential, which is a shame for the fairly unknown cast. 5 stars because the concept had enough potential to get me to the end of the film without really wanting to turn it off.

Acting is almost daytime soap opera quality. For this to be a naval sub, it seems very small, and the crew limited. The movie is obviously filmed on a tiny budget. I am not a sailor or in the military, but the captain gives direct orders and they are not followed through. The captain never questions his crew, nor does he follow up on the orders he gave his crew. I have to blame the writing and direction on why this was so poor. There is a serious lack of motives, from the crew and the creature.

The creature. Isn't scary, sexy, but is more of a poor subplot or a MacGuffin device to keep you watching. The special effects are also budgeted, but I have never graded a movie on eye candy. There is so little blood or violence. I would say it would be rated PG-13 or TV14 at best. Removing the creature from this story and what you have is badly written version of Crimson Tide or some other nuclear submarine psychological thriller.

In the end, this movie isn't good enough to watch for content. It isn't campy and thus not a good cheesy movie. It just exists and I hope that director Jamie Bailey and writer Marcus Raul find new career paths.

Not awesome, but not bad. I felt like the suspense built. There is lack of trust in the crew, which made you not know who is good and who might be bad.

Decent special effects.

It is a struggle that this submarine seems to only have 10 crew, but hey- actors cost money.

The sub interior is very realistic and well done. I have been in a submarine, and it was pretty well done.

Most CGI is well done.

Overall, I liked it. Again, not going to be in the academy awards, but it is worth a look on a rainy afternoon.

For Parents: Some language Nude woman for about 5 seconds from a distance.

Otherwise, it is ok. I think 15 and above can watch it and would find it interesting.

The sub in this film or whatever was used looks really old, probably last used in the 1990s. There's white paneling with wood trim. The controls look 1970s era and there are some 1990s era small televisions.

So they could have set this film in an earlier era. Some other things still aren't quite right though. The captain looks like he's only 30 and has sleeve tattoos. One of the crewmembers is severely overweight, like what the heck is he doing on the sub?

Outside of that, the film is an interesting storyline but could have been presented better. The central character, the mysterious woman, is just not that interesting to watch.

Another case of a potentially decent cast, at least some of them, in search of a script.

I usually do a quick flip thru before I watch the movie to see what is in store and was kinda impressed. One or two stages were OK for a budget film, almost good. As to rest, let's just say it is likely that the director and crew never bothered to visit any of the over 200 submarines on display, nor watched any of the many good submarine movies out there.

Don't expect much from the acting. Not sure many of them even watched a good navy film to get into character. A few exceptions maybe.

But worst of all is the script. The specific events that make, or more often break, the movie are completely unbelievable. Good Sci-fi movies can make you believe in anything because they make sure the setup and the expected basics (the hows, the cast reactions, etc) are believable. Not this movie. You barely start down the path of believing something and then it falls apart quite quickly.

The only reason to watch this is to see how to take a possible 3 to 4 star movie, and make it a 1 or 2. (I gave 2 only because I saw something in a few cast members.)