chaingun-18185
leaving all the scientific biological flaws aside, this little underground flick was surprisingly pleasant to watch.the plot start off pretty fast, no extended foreplay, like most movies that manage to catch the spirit of HPL. it also lacks unnerving soundtracks and insane screaming like, for example, the well-known 'Possession' delivers. without ever breaking the bonds of tolerability, it still provides a good amount of blood. although the characters and their relations could've used a little more development, the acting is solid.from the first few minutes on, the atmosphere is dense and calm at the same time. not many dialogues, not much sound at all - just that subtle, uncanny music and the sounds of the creature. lighting and camera sometimes are a bit rigid and once in a while one wishes to see more of what's happening and of the creature itself. then, on the other hand, a loyal Lovecraft adaptation doesn't live off the things the viewer actually can see.the ending really got me and earned my rating another star. just when one would think all is over, not satisfying, but understandable, the horror, seemingly defeated, rises again and reveals itself to the sole survivor after her escape from the asylum. the brood mother emerges from the sea and shows itself just long enough to release those typical HPL shivers going down the spine before the credits begin.
ImAlwaysRight
What kept running through my mind as I watched this movie was "what motivates someone, anyone, to make a movie like this?" I'm not speaking about the genre or subject of the movie, but rather a very legitimate question of what is the driving force to make a movie with the primary actress having no acting ability, the writing being almost non-existent, no real direction, and the lowest production value imaginable. Essentially it seemed like not a single person involved had any desire to make this movie.My review isn't even regarding whether this movie is good or bad, as it's clearly meant to be a campy movie, as that's perfectly fine and often quite enjoyable. But rather there's something so completely off about this movie that it strikes me as extremely out of place. Like when you see a business in your town that seems to never have any customers, nor even seems to want any, but has been around forever supposedly making plenty of money and you get the idea that there might be something more to their business model. That is this movie. It wasn't made to be watched.Really I'd give it a 1 but I did make it completely through the film, and there was 1 redeeming line near the end which I won't spoil but I presume was the only tag line planned for this entire film.
Mr_Vinyl
True, there are other somewhat similar movies. What makes this one stand out is the excellent acting. Other more mainstream movies of this kind inevitably always have linear acting - meaning that what you see from the first scene is what you'll get in the last frame. Not so with this one. Anna Dawson starts off by portraying an ambitious go-getter who becomes increasingly taciturn. The supporting actress, Michaela Longden, starts off by being something akin to a party girl, but ends up emotionally distraught. The silent ''screams'' at the end are surreal, and as such, are even more terrifying - reminding me of some nightmarish scenes seen in Europeen movies of the 70's. Very often, a film with a smaller budget has to maximize its limited resources in imaginative and creative ways that seem to elude bigger budget films. The Girl With All the Gifts, Morgan, Dog Soldiers - although all unrelated - are movies with limited budgets that excel in imagination and mood management. The Creature Below belongs in this company. I hope they make a sequel!
dcarsonhagy
"The Creature Below" is a mish-mash of all sorts of "creature" movies poorly rolled into one. It is a story of a young marine biologist, Olive, who experiences a horrible diving accident while trying to test out a scientists latest diving suit. She sees "something," but when she comes to she cannot remember what she saw. While examining her diving gear, she discovers some sort of egg lodged in what was her oxygen tank, steals it, and returns home.Face it, guys, we've already seen this about 20 times: Alien, Species, Species II, Grabbers, and Little Shop of Horrors, et al. The only difference is most of Creature's predecessor movies were much better. There was nothing original in here. What makes this movie even more unbearable is the stilted dialogue, characters complete obliviousness that something is wrong, characters which should wear signs that say "kill me next," and an ending which just helped the entire movie fall flat on its face. "The Creature Below" is rated "R" for some violence, brief nudity, and language. Sorry guys, but I've already seen this movie.
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