Fear Below

I connected with this movie surprisingly fast, even though I'm usually not into diving or underwater-themed films. It kept me engaged the whole time, and I genuinely had a great experience watching it. Clara stood out for me-she's a real fighter and quickly sensed something was off, which added a lot to the tension. The atmosphere, combined with the lurking danger, created some intense and memorable moments without overdoing it. Overall, it's a film worth watching, and I'm glad I gave it a chance. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys suspense with a sharp edge!

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.

Needless to say that of course I had to watch the 2025 movie "Fear Below", as there is just something very alluring to me about shark movies. Sure, a great number of the shark movies out there are questionable affairs to be sure, but every now and again there is gold to be found. And without even knowing what I was in for here, as I hadn't heard about "Fear Below" prior to watching it, then maybe director Matthew Holmes was holding a cache of gold here.

Writers Matthew Holmes and Gregory Moss put together a pretty straightforward script and storyline, though it was a bit generic. But ultimately it was an adequate enough storyline. However, the movie didn't really have a lot of actual scenes with the shark, which was sort of disappointing. So you're more in for a crime thriller here, than you are a shark movie.

I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list. But then again, I am not overly familiar with the Australian cinema. The acting performances in "Fear Below" were certainly good. I do enjoy watching unfamiliar and new talents on the screen whenever I sit down to watch a movie, so that was something that spoke well in favor of the movie.

If you enjoy shark movies, then perhaps give "Fear Below" a chance. Just keep in mind that there isn't a whole lot of actual shark action throughout the course of the 85 minutes that the movie ran for.

"Fear Below" is hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing.

My rating of director Matthew Holmes's 2025 movie "Fear Below" lands on a five out of ten stars.

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.

"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!