Fear Below

Fear Below promises a slick, high-concept twist on the shark movie-gangsters in 1940s Australia diving for gold in a bull shark-infested river-but squanders that promise with lifeless characters and limp storytelling.

Yes, the setting is cool. The idea of bull sharks lurking inland is genuinely unnerving, and the film does its homework on the science. The riverside visuals are lush, the period costumes crisp, and the setup has all the makings of a pulpy thriller. But the second the characters open their mouths, the whole thing sinks.

Hermione Corfield, Jimmy Barriakada, and Arthur Angel try to inject humanity into their roles as plucky divers with tragic backstories, but they're shackled by a script that mistakes vague trauma for personality. Their motivations are murky, their relationships undercooked, and their dialogue painfully on-the-nose. You're left counting the minutes until the next shark attack-because that's the only time the movie comes alive.

Worse still, the film seems desperate to be more than a B-movie, reaching for emotional depth it simply hasn't earned. It's like The Meg trying to cosplay as The Hurt Locker. The result is a film caught between tones: too self-serious to be fun, too shallow to be profound.

When the shark does show up, it delivers a few decent jolts-but even the action lacks inventiveness. For a film that should be dripping with tension, Fear Below is oddly inert.

This is a bad shark movie, so I went in expecting it to be poorly acted, with a really dumb story, and for it to be cheap looking. But much to my surprise this has decent acting, an okay story, and it doesn't look too cheap. But the most important part is the sharks, and in this genre I feel it is very important that the atmosphere should either be scary or goofy. This is neither, your grandma wouldn't be scared and the effects and kills barely register. Meanwhile the characters are nothings and the story is blah.

This completely washed over me without leaving the faintest trace of an impact. I had already forgotten 95% just mere hours later. The worst kind of crappy shark movie: a non-entity.

"Fear Below" may start out like your typical man-vs-nature thriller, but somewhere between the vintage wetsuits and the unlikely friendships, it becomes something far more endearing than expected. It's not just a shark movie - it's a story about loyalty, improvisation, and the quiet bonds that form when people are thrown into deep water (literally and emotionally :]

There's a delightful odd-couple energy, and I found myself wanting to see more of their dynamic. By the time the third "act" kicks in, you're not just rooting for them to survive the shark - you want them to open a dive shop/detective agency together and argue over snack choices (or smtn era appropriate)

The film also strikes a rare balance: it's suspenseful but not mean, funny without being cynical, and it has a warmth that's sometimes missing. The 1940s setting adds, and it's the small moments that make it quietly lovable.

Turn this into a series and give each episode a new underwater mission, a fresh moral dilemma, and at least one heartwarming flashback. The world needs more cozy aquatic drama, and 'Fear Below' is the perfect pilot episode!

Fear Below" dives deep, but not in a good way. This cinematic misadventure struggles with weak direction from the get-go, betraying a clearly poor budget that haunts every frame. There are zero surprises in this predictable plot, making it a tedious watch. You barely even see the shark, which for a shark movie, is an unforgivable sin. When it does deign to appear, its size seems to fluctuate wildly - one moment it's a giant, the next it's a small, idiotic fish, completely undermining any sense of threat.

The film is riddled with stupid and flimsy solutions to its poorly constructed dilemmas, and the acting is uniformly poor. Not once do you feel any genuine emotion from the characters - no pain, no danger, no sorrow, no urgency. They're just cardboard cutouts moving through a bland, uninspired script. The villains are caricatured and unconvincing, adding another layer to the film's many failings.

Adding insult to injury, the camera work is a choppy mess, constantly employing fast cuts and hiding the action, as if ashamed of what it's trying to show. This isn't suspense; it's an attempt to mask the film's glaring inadequacies. Honestly, "Fear Below" is one of the worst films I've ever seen.

Fear Below is a well-produced film on a technical level, with strong cinematography, solid costume design, and impressive location choices. The visual effects are passable, though it's clear that editing is used strategically to mask a limited budget-particularly when it comes to the shark, which is rarely seen.

The performances are competent, though not standout. Reactions to life-threatening situations, especially during shark attacks, feel flat and unconvincing. The lead actress delivers a convincing British accent, but it still feels strangely forced and disconnected from the setting. Her emotional scenes, particularly when crying, come across as staged rather than authentic.

Unfortunately, the characters themselves aren't compelling enough to carry the story. The mob boss character fails to exude any real menace, and Josh McConville's portrayal of an ethnic character using a European accent feels miscast; an actor of that background would have added needed authenticity. The story lacks depth and tension-it's neither particularly scary nor engaging.

The music score is decent but ultimately forgettable. While Fear Below is competently made, it struggles with weak storytelling and flat character development. For a more impactful and emotionally engaging experience, check out The Cost, the director's previous and much stronger effort.