Beneath (2013)

Six high school seniors celebrating in the middle of a lake find themselves trapped on a rowboat due to a man-eating fish.

Director:

Larry Fessenden

Writers:

Tony Daniel, Brian D. Smith

Stars:

Daniel Zovatto, Bonnie Dennison, Chris Conroy

Cast

Credited cast:
Daniel Zovatto	...	Johnny
Bonnie Dennison	...	Kitty
Chris Conroy	...	Matt
Jon Orsini	...	Simon (as Jonny Orsini)
Griffin Newman	...	Zeke
Mackenzie Rosman	...	Deb
Mark Margolis	...	Mr. Parks
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Fessenden	...	Boy in Photo
Graham Reznick	...	Local Newscaster

Storyline

After six teens graduate from high school, they decide to spend one final outing with each other on a rowboat in a lake before they go their separate ways. However, after a man-eating fish kills one of them and destroys their oars, they find themselves trapped in the middle of the lake. Soon afterwards, they realize they have to determine who is to be thrown into the water as a distraction, so the rest of the group can paddle to shore.

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Plot Keywords:

monster | monster fish | creature feature | woman wears a bikini | psychotronic film | 

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Taglines:

They're only friends on the surface.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 May 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

A tó szörnye

Filming Locations:

Connecticut, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chiller Films, Glass Eye Pix

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This whole film was shot using natural light.

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Connections

References Shark Night 3D (2011)

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Soundtracks

Things That Catch Up to You Catching Up to You
Written by Graham Reznick
(p) 2013 Beneath LLC, under exclusive license to Milan Entertainment Inc.

User Reviews

Low budget rubber fish teen angst TV movie

Went into this with sort of high expectations. Love a good water monster film and don't mind them low budget. I saw this trailer a while back on You Tube and thought it looked good. Basic premise - characters all with annoying character traits and not that enjoyable to watch end up on a lake with a medium sized fish puppet. Maybe my expectations were too high but the movie doesn't deliver on the trailer.

The creature looked awful and probably the most fake I have seen besides most the creatures on SYFY. They show too many close up, medium and long shots of real bad fish model which clearly looks fake. I appreciate, what looked to be, practical effects over CGI but in this case it didn't help the film. Some of the better scenes with the fish is when it is submerged in the water or a shadow in the water. Its huge eyes look fake as and should have been darker to hide that fake-ness.

The story is unremarkable and the characters, as written, are awful. I feel the actors did their job and no criticisms there - though none shine through. The director, I feel is sloppy as there is no build up for tension in his scenes, he rushes moments that should have levity (most death scenes besides the first girls) and the cinematography is amateurish. The director should have been in control of these aspects. The aspects of having friends making decisions about who to use as fish bait is as stupid as it sounds and comes across like voting for Big Brother. The teen love triangle and angst did leave some room for the actors to emote but again the director I feel didn't push or get the best out of them. The editing and the music was god awful and ruined some aspects of the suspense in scenes being too loud/bombastic when a softer more ambient soundtrack would have been better.

With all that said I WOULD advocate for the director to be financed and to continue developing and the film was not a complete waste. It does sit well with SYFY type of films and as stated my expectations may have been too high has it was a awesome trailer.