Okay, wow! I am so glad I hadn't watched it until 15 years after it was released, but it also makes me sad because this is absolutely an underrated gem. First of all, I despise ghost stories through and through. In today's Hollywood the trope of hauntings have been overdone to the point where it nearly makes me boil with rage when a producer decides to make yet another haunting movie. Most of the time it's just silly, and fails to strike me with terror. This movie, however, was absolutely fantastic even to me, who is incredibly jaded by horror movies due to having literally grown up on them. This movie really encapsulated the fear and tension that would accompany being undersea with some supernatural and creepy things happening. I was actually on the edge of my seat throughout the movie, and I was legitimately creeped out. Seriously, if you are a huge and jaded fan of horror you owe it to yourself to watch this. It's currently available on Starz if anyone is curious. Watch it! Amazing. I am now too terrified to ever set foot on a submarine. 10/10 even the ending was superb. This movie should be rated so much higher than it currently is!

Thrilling film about mysterious events happen into a submarine and carried out by a supernatural force ; being compellingly directed by nice filmmaker David Twohy . This fantastic movie packs thrills , chills , violence , horror , suspense with creepy and ghastly underwater scenarios . As six hundred feet beneath the surface terror runs deep . The submarine U.S.S. Tiger Shark commanded by officer Brice (Bruce Greenwood) along with crew (Dexter Fletcher ,Nick Chinlund , Scott Foley , Jason Flemyng ,Christopher Fairbank , Sebastian Knapp..) prowls on what should be a routine rescue mission , as they save a little group from a shipwreck , among them appears a woman (Olivia Williams) . But then strange happenings occur on the WW II submarine , as crew suffer runaway fear , astonishing deeds , sensory delusions and scary happenings . As a song was supposed to be mysteriously playing on the record player (the song results to be 'Benny Goodman''s "Sing Sing Sing , With a Swing") and a vengeful ghost haunting the crew . There shows up an evil that lurks just below the surface of the ocean and deep inside the human psyche causing panic , mental deceptions and terror . This is a terror/thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat , though some moments turns out to be confusing and slow-moving . Exciting film packs intrigue , intense scenes , grisly killings and amazing suspense . This is a creepy flick in which ¨U-571¨ meets ¨Poltergeist¨. The star-studded cast is well headed by Bruce Greenwood , Olivia Williams , Matthew Davis and excellent plethora of secondaries as Holt McCallany , Dexter Fletcher , Nick Chinlund , Andrew Howard and Scott Foley . Some filming for this movie took place on an actual WW2 submarine . The USS Silversides -which is available for tours- located in Muskegon Michigan was towed out into the middle of Lake Michigan where scenes with Bruce Greenwood were filmed . The rest of the sets and models used in this movie were all based on the look and layout of the Silversides . Appropriate and suspenseful musical score by Graeme Revell . Atmospheric and colorful cinematography by Ian Wilson . The motion picture was well written and directed by David Twohy , though Darren Aronofsky, who co-wrote the screenplay, was originally going to direct the film in 1999 but instead made Requiem for a dream (2000). David is an expert writer and director of splendid Sci-Fi movies . As his first picture was the acceptable ¨Timescape¨ and subsequently made ¨The arrival¨ with Charlie Sheen . He also wrote ¨Warlock¨, ¨Waterworld ¨, a script for ¨Alien 3¨ in 1988, but it was rejected . Back in May of 2000, Fox Studios once inquired for his availability to write and direct "AVP: Alien vs. Predator" , but turned down the offer due to scheduling conflicts . David subsequently directed this ¨Below¨, the successful ¨Pich Black¨ as well as its sequels ¨ The chronicles of Riddick¨ and his last movie ¨Riddick¨(2013) .

I was handed a copy of this by a mate and told "Just watch it.", so I did. I knew nothing about this film prior to watching it aside from the title on a nondescript DVD surface.The plot is handed to us swiftly, within a few minutes you get the set up, a WWII plane spots signs of life in the water and as they are low on fuel radios a submarine, the USS Tiger Shark to investigate,Now that I know it is a Submarine flick (Duh, "Below") I immediately wonder how long it will take to hear "Dive! Dive". The Submarine picks up 3 survivors hastily with an enemy ship bearing down on them, the rescuees are apparently British from a hospital ship, 2 patients and a female nurse. Cut to a fairly clumsy scene where that fact is spread throughout the boat Chinese Whispers style, only with each new guy a different euphemism "a woman", "a female", "a skirt", "a bleeder", and more I can't remember. Yes sailors can be an informal bunch with colourful colloquialisms, no need to belabour the point.Curiously enough, the rest of the movie only has sporadic use of profanity. I know it's a movie but realism is realism. By this point it is clear that we have already met most of the cast, the woman is familiar, I recognize a couple others from "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and others appear vaguely familiar from random films. (I finally realized that the lead actress played Bruce Willis' wife in "The Sixth Sense".)Within hours it comes to light that the enemy ship is still searching for the sub, leading to a scene in which a tense "All Silence" order is broken by the inexplicable blaring of a record playing loudly despite no-one turning it on. The ship drops depth charges on the submarine, leading to a formal order to "Shake the set and fall over a lot".The crew initially blame the female Nurse Page for their uncovering, and restrict her to quarters, leading to her randomly walking through the ship for the first hour, don't they have a brig or a room that can be locked?It turns out that the real Captain of the boat is no longer aboard, having died earlier in the voyage, all the other officers all seem to want to take charge, and so inevitably that leads to jealousy and one-upmanship between them.From here on in I guess without spoilers you could say with some accuracy that we are dealing with a spooky suspenseful tale, with thankfully not too many cheap scares, although at various times you are left wondering what is real and what is imagined or a vision. As with all "ghosty" type movies there is a lot of stuff appearing from darkness, things open and shut of their own volition and people turn slowly to see things they don't wanna see or glimpse things that they shouldn't see. There are definite parallels between this and "Event Horizon", they are in a confined space with no-means of rescue, haunted by an unknown something, and should you leave the ship you can't breathe.I did get tired of the lights turning off at inopportune moments, which happened at least 3 or 4 times, (once maybe but come on), also too perhaps too many "hand reaching out to pull back a curtain" bits. There is a mirror scare that I can't decide was really good or cheesy, regardless it was the one bit that gave me chills.The finale is held on the prow (?) of the boat, obviously now afloat and in the middle of a storm. Perhaps not the ideal spot for a tiff, but the claustrophobic interiors of the boat were becoming a little stale and the change of location was beneficial.The justification for the events when it comes to light is plausible and is actually enhanced by tidbits of information brought to light earlier in the film, but I would query if a logical explanation was really needed when a simple "spooky shtuff happens" might suffice.All I can say is that initially I thought this would be a tale about beasties, a giant squid or similar, or even a fantasy creature. I don't get a major hard-on for spookfests but this one was well handled and a pleasant surprise. For everyone who says "like that could happen" I might point out it's a ghost story, not a WWII drama.When the credits rolled I recognized the director as the same guy who made "Pitch Black", another low key yet quality film, and the co-writer made "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream", both interesting films. Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. There are a million crappy ghost stories, here is a pretty good one.If you liked this (or even if you didn't) try oneguyrambling.com

Much underrated (although you don't trust me, I spent a few years on the planet, and am very picky). Truly great scary story. So I came back to edit, and it is to say that this story is, rhyme, understated. Film is your bedtime story come to life. Film is an eclectic medium, taking from all the arts except perhaps the tactile, and who knows how long before we will be able to feel the story physically by literally touching it."Below" is rather poetic, in the sense that it presents a "normal" war story in the context of what war signifies, its meaning and affect on us, yet places the characters in a situation that does not involve war as much as it does the simple unknowns of life. The demon, the ghost here, might very well be the "enemy," in this case the Germans, yet the art is in using this as a metaphor for our process of dealing with felt generalized fear. Of each other, of chaos, of death, of the devil, of God, of candy, slugs, spiders? Up to you. Still, I think, it is always what we think of as our demise, death.But "physical" isn't currently the question. This film has elements of Hitchcock, in that it provides an invitation to look into the mirror that reflects back our emotional life, and asks each of us to make our own decisions. And because of the supernatural/paranormal elements, it touches on what I perceive as something spiritual. Bottom line, it involves us in the character and experiences of the players.War, ghosts, a presence, an intimation, sensitivity, a sense. We do have a problem with death, many of us. This story is about dying in a can, that is, what they tell us about all these things, death, how to do this or that, like live one's life, failed relationships, wanting to do more than you think you are doing, or survival outside, or rather, no matter what your situation, whether you're sinking or floating or on solid earth, you will be asked, at some point, and like the characters in this story, to make a simple "yes" or "no" decision as to how much you appreciate life. It involves that leap of faith that we, some of us, hope to make, amidst a bit of doubt and sadness, and some appreciation of life.Very well filmed, quite well acted, an intriguing and expansive story. It is a bit dark, but that's what leads us to the light.Think about how much you judge.Greg Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (home, btw, of the first nickelodeon theater)