The Creature Below (2016)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

First, the bad, and it is pretty bad. The CGI and green-screen work is simply atrocious. A lot of it does seriously remind one of a decade old video game, and not a good video game. The first ten minutes of the movie is dominated by it but if you hang in there, what you will find is something very surprising.Now the good, and there is a substantial amount of good to be found here.I'll start with a nod to the score which kept reminding me of something John Carpenter would have done and, to me, that is a very good thing. As the movie moves from its start as an action adventure/monster flick to a somber melodrama following our leads decent into madness, the score continues to keep the energy up through what I would term as very patient pacing.As a bit of balance to the poor CGI much of the practical effects were good. With some unabashed blood and various levels of body horror as well as a satisfactory rendering, it has plenty of payoff if blood and guts are your sort of thing. The monster was left largely unseen, another nod to Lovecraft as were it actually shown correctly, we the viewers would be driven mad by the sight of it. Nudge nudge wink wink. I found the acting and its direction to be solid, and at times quite good. While the somewhat dingy sister and the milquetoast boyfriend were a bit on the cliché eventual monster food variety the roles were played well and I found them to be believable enough.The story, ahhhh the story. For me this is where the movie is really a bit special. It has proved to be very very difficult to correctly put together a movie that captures the essence of the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. This one, I think, rather nailed it. It is not a tale of us verses it where, in the end, the monster is slain and the heroine gets away. It is a tale of a person who, unwittingly, pokes at something vast and terrible and pays the price with first their sanity and then their life. It is the story of a decent into madness brought about by contact with something that is beyond reason. When watching it one knows that this is not going to end well for anyone pretty early on and this is all part of the way Lovecraft wove his tales. Again, to reuse a phrase from earlier, all of this is told, as Lovecraft told his tales, with a horrific patience that draws one in to the mounting madness.I think for all fans of Lovecraft there was a complete geek out when the lead finally sinks deep into madness and starts describing the experience using entire passages of Lovecraft's work to do so. Placing Lovecraft's prose directly on to film is not an easy thing to pull off but here it was done quite well.All in all what we end up with is a movie that works very well if one is a fan of Lovecraft as the "mythos" part of the movie is, in my opinion, some of the best ever done which makes it much easier to forgive the terrible special effects. For those that are not already a fan of Lovecraft, however, there may be more of a disconnect as it is a patiently paced horror/drama book ended by some bad special effects.I would love to see those who were involved creatively on this project to be given the chance to bring what they seem to be able to do in a larger way. I would actually love to see this movie having been made with a substantial budget. Actually "getting" Lovecraft in a movie is a terrific thing, and not an easy thing to do. I would love to see it done in a more spectacular way.

If your a horror or Lovecraft film fan, you'll probably give this a pretty decent rating. It had the same production values of "The Resurrected" AKA Shatterbrain with Chris Sarandon of course without Chris Sarandon.I'm a huge fan of H. P. Lovecraft literature, one of the major fathers of modern horror. If you don't know the name and your a horror movie fan, it's time to pick up a book. Anyhow, there are a great number of specific film adaptations of Lovecraft but many decent movies based on the theme. I had been waiting for some time to get my hands on this one. Due to a trailer I had seen the movie seemed to be heavily influenced by and related to Cthulhu, one of Lovecraft's major antagonists.This doesn't have any big-named actors and is a lower budget affair but I was pleased to say I enjoyed it and found it an entertaining addition to other "Lovecraft Themed Films". Basically it's about a deep sea research diver who brings up a semi parasitic creature she discovers on a deep sea dive. The creature grows and begins to influence her to... This film story is very similar to another Lovecraft themed movie a foreign 1981 film "Possession" with beloved Horror Icon Sam Neill but isn't a twisted and difficult to follow and it's in English.If your a Lovecraft film fan, these is definitely worth the watch. They never directly mention the mythos but the crude cave drawing, images, monologue and the ending leave no doubt.If I have one grip about this, it may be the further development of a human antagonist. They were doing a fairly good job with the story and the main character and I think they might have gone further if they hadn't deviated from it but I'm satisfied with the viewing experience nevertheless.

"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.

I saw this film at Fright Fest 2016 and thought I would share my thoughts.From the opening deep sea dive sequence it is clear that this film has ambition. While other low budget horror films will be set in the woods and have very little in the way of a story, this film takes on some big set pieces that are delivered well. It would be easy to point out the low fi CGI effects but if you over look this then you are in for a ride.The film takes us on a journey into madness and beyond as Anna Dawson's Olive finds a mysterious egg that hatches into The Creature Below and warps her mind.There are some disturbing scenes and the practical effects in the film punch well above the low budget of the film.If you are a fan of creature horror and HP Lovecraft then this film will be for you. I tried to buy it on Amazon but it is not available yet. I will keep my eyes peeled.