Beneath (2007)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Dagen Merrill

Writers:

Kevin Burke (writer)
Dagen Merrill (writer)

Release Date:

7 August 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Terror lives below

Plot:

Christy (Zehetner) returns to her hometown years after a car accident that disfigured her older sister. Haunted by the accident in which she was the driver, she learns that her worst nightmares have either come true ... or are about to.

Plot Keywords:

Vision | Car Accident | Buried Alive | Borderline Personality Disorder | Murder

Cast

Nora Zehetner	...	Christy Wescot
Brenna O'Brien	...	Christy at 14 years
Carly Pope	...	Vanessa Locke
Don S. Davis	...	Joseph
Beatrice Zeilanger	...	Nun's at Vanessa's funeral
Matthew Settle	...	John
Gabrielle Rose	...	Mrs. Locke
Timothy Paul Perez	...	Dr. Perry (as Tim Perez)
Jessica Amlee	...	Amy Locke
Nicola Anderson	...	Debbie
Eliza Norbury	...	Stark Woman / Claire
Patrick Gilmore	...	Randy
Warren Christie	...	Jeff
Julian Christopher	...	Dr. Cestia (as Julian D. Christopher)
Lynsey Brothers	...	Young Nurse

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and disturbing images.

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:M | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

MTV Films

Goofs:

Continuity: When Christy Wescot (Nora Zehetner) goes to Amy Locke (Jessica Amlee)'s room for the first night, a camera takes her picture, it's clearly a compact digital camera on a tripod, but it sounds like an SLR camera. Then Amy tells Christy that she has set the camera to take picture every half an hour to picture the dark thing. Later Amy is showing Christy photos taken with the camera from two nights ago, and although earlier we saw the camera was on a tripod, but the frame in the photos change in each picture.

Not bad, but not good either. Certainly not scary...

I expected a bit much, since I made the mistake to read the "Diamond among pearls" comment. Back to reality: the acting is mediocre towards bad, the story is boring and the scary stuff is just a girl having weird visions. The fact that overall it makes sense is a plus, especially for the "psychically sensitive girl that no one believes" subtype of the horror genre.

Bottom line: this is more of a psychic thriller and not a horror movie. The last part, while it conveniently ties all the loose ends, is way too convenient, more of a moral compromise that breaks the slightly better feel of the story coming to a quasi-logical finale. I can easily imagine all the actors playing in a third rate soap opera, so don't expect a lot better acting that that.