Sub-Eye

There's something about submarine movies that do it for me: U-571, Das Boot, Crimson Tide, The Hunt for Red October are all genre films that have managed to enter the realm of the "good movie." Despite or perhaps because of the Freudian implications of the submarine, the boat has always been a place of high drama. The sweat, the silence - these damn movies have thrills built into them, there's no way around it. Now imagine taking this situation and throwing in a ghostly presence. That's pretty scary

The film stars Bruce Greenwood as the captain guiding his boat into confusion. Greenwood, stalwart, journeyman actor, does a fine job here as a conflicted leader. But then again, Below really isn't about any one actor. It's about the mood - the jumps, the scares, the moments that will make your flesh crawl.

Below is a small film, but it's a real shame that it was lumped in with trash like Ghost Ship - only related because of it's obvious, nautical ghost theme. That's like saying American Beauty and Porky's are similar because they both show high school nudity. Ummm. Hmmm. What was I saying? Below is a soft R, but plenty scary. It never devolves to the moaning ghost level, instead scaring you by it's atmosphere and horrific implications of human nature. I'll avoid divulging more. It's best discovered on your own.

Movie Grade: B+

Video: 4 out of 5
A beautiful, clean, dark transfer that handles all the scary dark stuff quite well. It's a small, confined movie, so there isn't a whole lot of variation and thus, not a lot to go wrong.
Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1

It's dark and I can't tell what's happening. Looks scary though.

Audio: 5 out of 5
It's all action-y and gooey. That's sick. It's actually quite enjoyable as an action movie should. The subwoofer will get a BIG workout from this film. Add in all that wonderful, atmospheric water and ghost stuff, and you've got one hell of a soundtrack.
English (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Extras: 3 out of 5
I would have given it a lower score, but I really liked the featurette. It's only 15 minutes, but it compresses a lot of good stuff in: behind the scenes, some brief CG - all in slick and well thought out package. I wish other discs would take the lead and do more things like this. If you don't have a lot of material, at least make it look cool. There's a commentary with director David Twohy and the cast. It's fun to listen to, but not very technical. Being a film nerd, I would have loved to hear Twohy's comments on making the film alone. There's some theatrical trailers, and other small junk.

Overall: 3 out of 5
Maybe this grade isn't fair for the movie, because I sure did love it. It's definitely worth a rental, but the disc is a bit light. Buy it if you like it.

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