Fear Below

Vampire Owl: Things that we should fear would not come from below.

Vampire Bat: So, you are looking for the flying fears from above.

Vampire Owl: I feel that the dead below are less scary.

Vampire Bat: There can always be the shadow demons from the underworld.

Vampire Owl: The underworld does not qualify as from below.

Vampire Bat: They are surely located deep underneath us, and you can even see them as a warning.

Vampire Owl: Shadow World of underworld is technically another realm.

Vampire Bat: Well, they are here now, in a series of underworld tunnels, beyond the red door of chaos.

Vampire Owl: The tunnels only serve as portal to another world.

Vampire Bat: Well, vampires do not shadow walk, but we are able to go through their world – connects them to ours as one, doesn’t it?

[Gets a packet of pineapple cream biscuits and three cups of Peerumade tea].

What is the movie about? :: In the late 1940s Australia, a team consisting of Ernie Morgan (Arthur Angel), Clara Bennett (Hermione Corfield) and Jimmy Barriakada (Jacob Junior Nayinggul) are part of the Sea Dog Diving Company, which is going through a terrible financial crisis. They have had training in the military during the Second World War or had won medals for their diving performances, but are not able to run the business due to tough competition in the field, and with a lot of people ready to invest money, they struggle, and hope that they can buy a boat to further support their cause, while competing better. It is then that they are approached by a mafia leader named Dylan Maddock (Jake Ryan) to retrieve a sunken car from the bottom of the river which has some very valuable items which he recently lost due to some careless driving. He provides them with a deal which would involve a lot of money and gives them an advance, but warns them that this much of cash is given for no questions being asked.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: It is revealed that he cannot go to the authorities and get a crane service to lift the car due to smuggled gold biscuits being present inside – he would be just happy with the crates holding the gold biscuits being taken to the land, and nothing more. They had not reported the accident too, as any forced help from people would lead to the gold biscuits being discovered. The plan is to make the divers go in and get the crates, and after that, to just murder them. Ernie is overjoyed with the proposal of so much money without knowing the danger behind the same, and so are his crew members. They make detailed preparations for the big job which has come to them after such a long time. They reach the place, only to find Clara being attacked by a bull shark underwater, but manages to come out without that much of a problem. But now, the shark remains a major problem, and the mafia is also getting restless. Can they find a way to get out of this crisis? And who will get to keep all the gold under the river?

The defence of Fear Below :: The film nicely adds a gangster story with what seems to be a shark horror from the posters, as the attempt to recover stolen gold from a river where a bull shark is ready to attack anyone who sets foot in there. The combination would itself feel innovative enough, as the blending works well here. The 1940s feeling with post-war effect remains a fine addition to the overall movie which uses the style to the best effect. The movie never really moves out of that feeling, even when we look closer. The whole thing does have a realistic rather than exaggerated feeling, with nothing impossible being given a push. The effects also seem to have not much computer-generated imagery, which means more of a feeling close to life. The shark does not have too much extra around here, as the situation looks like a usual crisis, never going too much beyond. The urgency is never really found in the movie either, as the simple world and simpler people will also stay around.

The claws of flaw :: Even with a shorter run-time, the movie does seem to have too much of wasted time, where there is nothing much of interest. The pace of the movie is not much as we keep looking closely, and all these things could have happened within a few minutes without using one and half hours. The predictability factor is always present, pulling the whole movie downwards. The action is also low in quantity, with the shark being present only for a few minutes of time. This had felt more like a shark movie from all its posters, but we see it just for some time, and the shark attack is also not that strong enough to leave an impact. The scenes underwater seem to be more or less without clarity with the water itself being not clear – comparing this to movies like Deep Blue Sea and Underwater or even Under Paris which have clear water visibility of waterbodies will feel like a crime. The budget might have been a problem here, not just with water, but also with showing more of the shark which needed to go beyond what seemed to be a guest role of a different kind. There are some supporting characters who feel rather weak too.

The performers of the soul :: Hermione Corfield here is coming up more with the cuteness factor than anything else, and she surely nails that side, but does not get that much of an action as one would expect from the lady lead who plays an expert diver. Despite being only one of the main characters, she maintains a certain amount of charm throughout the movie, making sure that she is the one character whom we all wish to see having survived in the end, no matter what shark or even whale or dinosaur comes through for the prey. She plays a determined and confident young lady, who is also looking at an uncertain future, but never losses hope in the way. Arthur Angel adds further emotional weight as the older man who is determined to make things happen and help his younger colleagues survive too – this is also a character we love to see around. Jake Ryan plays the gangster who remains a threatening presence through the crime drama setup of the movie. The support that includes Maximillian Johnson, does just enough here.

How it finishes :: Fear Below, despite blending different sides, manages both, but is often confused in the process, as if someone who is trying to find oneself in a world which has chaos on one side and opportunities on the other. From the posters, it is a shark movie, but as one reads about it, the focus is more on a few gangsters seeking their gold – the balance is not exactly there, but both sides do the job well enough. For a low budget crime thriller having a shark around, the whole thing might feel enough, but we have seen bigger movies made out of smaller budgets in our part of the world; guess not with where the movie comes from. It would feel fine if you are not really looking for that grand shark with computer-generated imagery to support the same. Well, some of us are never really satisfied by this much, especially with Amazon Prime Video being the platform, and the other films recommended with this one are quite bigger and having a higher budget. In the end, it all depends on the viewer to go for it.

Release date: 15th May 2025
Running time: 85 minutes
Directed by: Matthew Holmes
Starring: Hermione Corfield, Jake Ryan, Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Arthur Angel, Josh McConville, Clayton Watson, Maximillian Johnson, Will Fletcher, Kevin Dee