Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films,
2016
Images from the Internet
From Beneath
Written and directed by David Doucette
Midnight Releasing / Retaliation Films /
MVD Visual
82
minutes, 2012
Eddie
Murphy was correct in Delirious (1983): some people just don’t know when to “get the fuck out,” even when it’s not because
of ghosts.
After
a nicely done and creepy opening prologue, we meet young and in love couple Sam
(Lauren Watson) and Jason (Jamie Temple), who are on their way to her sister’s
family’s house in the woods. In real life, this is fun, in a horror movie, it
only leads to trouble.
 |
| Lauren Watson |
When
they get there, the relations are missing, and the couple go for a swim on a hot
day in a cool pond. Again, normally fine, but in cinema world, watch out. He gets either bit by
something and now has a wormy thingy get inside his calf. Over the next 24
hours, it gets infected and worse. And they never do not the area around the house.
In the real world, we recently found a tick attached to my wife’s side, so we
went to Emerg at the local hospital to get it taken off cleanly. Not this
couple, no, they stay because it is dark outside and they don’t want to get
lost. With that and complications that follow, I would have been out the door
and taken the chance on the road. But, again, some people never know when to
leave. By the time they do, more than a day later, the car is disabled, natch. .
You
and I know it’s only going to get worse over time, and it progresses quickly,
but they still don’t leave as whatever it is from the water starts taking over
Jason; apparently, it only takes over males from the storyline. What, is it
because women are actually more logical and less macho, so whatever it is, is
attracted to stubbornness?
While
only taking place over a few short days that we never see them eat anything,
the film time seems a bit longer, as this is essentially is a two-person story.
After a year-long relationship, he is still stereotypically commitment-phobic,
and yet she stays with him, even during his decent into…whatever it is inside
of him making him become.
As
always, I’m not going to give too much of the story away, but its conclusion is
basically a train track leading in a single direction. And the coda doesn’t
really make much sense, as there is no intimacy between the couple in the time
we know them. You want details? See the film.
Most
of the movie is filmed well, with a some cinematic themes that recur, such as
zooming in during a series of jarring shots with each one a bit closer than the
previous: bam-bam-bam (not sure if I’m explaining this well). It’s effective
and not overdone, thankfully. Perhaps because much of it is shot at night in
low light or a florescent light is used, or perhaps for effect, the image tends
to be heavily on a yellowish hue side. Nothing wrong with that, just sayin’.
One nice aspect is how the sound is split, with the two main characters mainly
heard in either the left or right channel.
The
creature SFX is okay, though shown extremely sparingly (budgetary, I am going
to suppose), and the make-up effects are mostly good. The sores look extremely
well done, yet the vein lines that emanate from the wounds look like, well,
make-up.
The
acting is…decent (Watson fares much better than Temple), though it’s the
writing that is a bit on the weak side, honestly. It’s hard to feel empathy for
the characters, though not for anything they do or don’t do, and that’s where
the story line is lacking. It’s a conundrum of being both wordy (i.e., dialogue
heavy) without investing the viewer into it (well, this one, anyway). Part of
that is due to the characters stay past the point of reality. There are just
too many times when credulity is past, jumping
the shark past the willingness of suspension of disbelief tipping point.
The
extras are a 13-minute meh gag reel
called “A Peek Between the Takes” that mainly focuses on the errors behind the
camera more than in front, a too-long at (23 minutes) one-camera interview with
the Director, Doucette, and producer (and seems like co-director) Ashe Morrison,
two trailers, and some other company trailers as well. Rather than the
interview part, listen to the audio commentary track with both Doucette and
Morrison, which is a bit more interesting.
Did
I enjoy the experience. Yeah, it was a fun 82 minutes. It’s important to note
that it’s the director’s first feature, and often those are the “learning
moments” releases. Remember, even Francis Ford Coppola started with Dementia 13 (1963). Perhaps his next
will be that much better!
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