Beneath Still Waters (2005)

In 1965, in Northern Spain, a dam will be built to bring progress to the location of Desbaria and the town of Marienbad is near to be completely flooded. Two boys, Teo and Luis, cross the ... See full summary »

Director:

Brian Yuzna

Writers:

Matthew Costello (novel), Mike Hostench (screenplay)

Stars:

Omar Muñoz, Santiago Pasaglia, Eva Pont

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Omar Muñoz	...	Luis (10 Years Old)
Santiago Pasaglia	...	Teo (as Santiago Passaglia)
Eva Pont	...	Cult Member
Norberto Morán	...	Cult Member
Hugo Mesa	...	Cult Member
Esperanza De la Vega	...	Cult Member
Patrick Gordon	...	Mordecai Salas
Charlotte Salt	...	Clara Borgia
Antonio Portillo	...	Roberto Borgia
Pilar Soto	...	Susana
Damià Plensa	...	Antonio
Michael McKell	...	Dan Quarry
Raquel Meroño	...	Teresa Borgia
María Borrego	...	Camera Operator - Bea
Ricardo Birnbaum	...	Sound Recordist - Nacho

Storyline

In 1965, in Northern Spain, a dam will be built to bring progress to the location of Desbaria and the town of Marienbad is near to be completely flooded. Two boys, Teo and Luis, cross the security boundary to play in the evacuated town and Teo listen to voices in the abandoned church. They find a group of strange people chained in the watered basement, Teo releases their leader Mordecai Salas and is killed by him. Forty years later, in the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of Debaria Dam, the teenager Antonio vanishes in the lake while swimming with his girlfriend Susana and their friend Clara Borgia. The police divers, with the support of the outsider cameraman journalist Dan Quarry that is filming the submerged Marienbad to write a matter about the town, try unsuccessfully to find the body. When eerie things happen in the spot, Dan and the local journalist and daughter of the builder of the dam Teresa Borgia disclose dark secrets about Marienbad, Salas and his evil cult of the...

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Plot Keywords:

no survivors | topless female nudity | public nudity | sex with a zombie | dam | 

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Taglines:

Fear is rising.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong horror violence and gore, sexual content, nudity and some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fantastic Factory's ninth and last production after Faust (2000), Dagon (2001), Arachnid (2001), Darkness (2002), Beyond Re-Animator (2003), Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt (2004), Rottweiler (2004) and The Nun (2005). Fantastic Factory closed in 2005 after to fail in its attempt to create the first Spanish cinema company specialized in genre movies.

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Goofs

One of the creatures trapped in the sunken city has its hand melted onto its face. In some shots it's the right hand, in others it's the left.

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Quotes

[last lines]
David: I hate them!

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Connections

References Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

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Soundtracks

El Payaso
Written by Alfonso García, Valerio Veneras (as Valerio Beneras) and Daniel Pelayo
Performed by El Retrato and Dirty Princess

User Reviews

Mediocre terror picture from Fantastic Factory about weird events happen when a location is flooded

The picture packs thrills, chills , terror and lots of blood and gore . Horror and fantasy based on a novel "Beneath Still Waters" by Matthew Costello with screenplay by Angel Sala , though partially inspired by the master H.P. Lovecraft . A forgotten legend lives again , half a century ago they thought they had buried this horror forever. But you can't kill what was never really alive . And the massive stone walls of the Dam must soon burst and what was an incredible myth, will become a deadly reality . Everyone's been evacuated - just the church, the homes, the abandoned shops remain . Only the eerie buildings...still hiding secrets that no one suspects . The two boys walk through the doomed ghost town . But the boys discover that the town isn't quite deserted . Time passes, and the whispered secrets of the town have been long forgotten. But now, fifty years after vanishing, the sunken town comes alive again. A boy vanishes swimming on a moonlit night while his girlfriend Susana (Pilar Soto) and their friend Clara (Charlotte Salt) looks on . Meanwhile , a cameraman diver Dan Quarry (Michael McKell) is shooting the submerged Marienbad and a TV reporter (Raquel Meroño) discovers ancient secrets .

"Beneath Still Waters¨ tells an incredible story of terror , monster killers and including fantastic touches . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story about an old fanatic cult , an evil being and his followers . As it packs horror , suspense , plot-twists , tension , chills , guts , thrills with sensationalistic scenes . This tale about a journalist mother and daughter of the builder of the dam played by Raquel Meroño , her daughter performed by Charlotte Salt and a diver acted by Michael McKell , all of them are involved into a twisted as well as terrifying intrigue begins well and grows more and more until a downbeat finale . Spanish secondary cast is pretty good but frankly wasted playing ridiculous roles , there appears notorious actors , such as Manuel Manquiña , Jose Maria Pou and Diana Peñalver who starred the Peter Jackson classic titled ¨Braindead¨. The film contains tension , thriller , drama , mystery , twists and shocks , including decent scares with tense sequences especially in its final part , in a unexpected denouement . There is a homage to Jacinto Molina when in the city of Marienbad before it floods , the boys throw rocks at posters for ¨Creature from the Black Lagoon¨ or ¨La Mujer y Monstruo¨ and "El Rostro de la Bestia," which has credits for Paul Naschy and Brian Yuzna ; there is no such movie, but Yuzna did direct Naschy in 'Rottweiler (2004)'. The flick was finely produced by the chairman of Filmax and Castelao Productions , Julio Fernandez who along with his brother Carlos Fernandez are two successful producers and experts on Horror genre , producers of hits as ¨The machinist¨ ,¨ Fragiles¨, ¨Darkness¨, ¨Rec 1¨, ¨Rec 2¨ , ¨Rec 3¨ and many others . Good makeup on the freakish half-human creatures . Passable images about the sunk village and dam explosion , both of them are made by means of computer generator . Colorful cinematography by Johnny Yebra filmed on location in Boadilla del Monte, Navas del Rey and Pelayos De la Presa, Madrid, Spain .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Brian Yuzna ,a gore and guts expert director (Faust, Dentist 1,2 , Society, Bride Reanimator). Often uses harsh, bright lighting and soft blue hues in his movies . Brian Yuzna along with Stuart Gordon are important American filmmakers expert on terror cinema , both of whom working for Castelao , Fantastic Factory or Filmax . Rating : Average but some moment entertaining.

Details

Country:

Spain UK

Language:

Spanish English

Release Date:

October 2005 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Bajo aguas tranquilas

Filming Locations:

Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$18,001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fantastic Factory (Filmax), Canal+ España, Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min (Spain)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1 / (high definition)