Bloodtype Online

    The year is 1943 and an American submarine is patrolling the waters of the North Atlantic when they come upon a group of survivors from a British Hospital ship that was sunk by a German U-Boat.  Almost immediately after picking up the survivors strange occurrences begin happening such as a record player blaring music as the sub tries to hide from a German destroyer.  This leads to the discovery that one of the survivors is actually a German POW who was aboard the hospital ship when it sank.  He is blamed for almost getting the sub destroyed and dealt with severely.  But this doesn’t solve their mysterious problems, which only seem to grow until thru mechanical malfunctions the sub is forced back to where they picked the survivors up.  Is there a saboteur onboard or is it something more supernatural?  Will anyone make it off of the sub alive?  Check out Below to find out. 

    I’ve always very interested in WW II and the weapons that fought the war and I pride myself on keeping up on genre movies as they are released.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered Below, a ghost story set on a WW II submarine, had slipped right by me into the market.  Not only that but I found the movie in my local library’s film collection!  I figured that since I hadn’t heard of the movie and have only seen it at my local library it must be a real dog. But what the hell it cost me nothing to rent it from the library and I do enjoy a bad movie once in a while.  Imagine my surprise when I ended up watching a great movie!  Guys finding movies like Below are why I love being a movie geek.  What we have is an amazingly creepy ghost story told in a small claustrophobic environment of a submarine.  Imagine a haunted house where you can’t leave because you are trapped hundreds of feet below the surface (though one character does try!).  The director, David Twohy (Pitch Black, Warlock the Armageddon), does an excellent job keeping the action moving while at the same time allowing the characters to develop.  At the same time he doesn’t shy away from the required and typical cheap scares.  In addition to the great direction we get a script that does an excellent job of unfolding a series of simple but very effective plot twists.  Below also has a really good cast of actors including Bruce Greenwood and Scott Foley who do a great job with what is again a wonderful script.  I’ve got to say that this is one of the most effective ghost stories that I’ve seen in quite a while.  Add to that a really unique setting and you have all of the makings for a very memorable movie experience. 

    Shame on whomever decided to allow Below to go straight to DVD without any marketing or support.  Clearly from the sets and quality of the special effects you spent some money on this movie, which is why I can’t begin to understand the shabby treatment it received.  I highly recommend Below as a great alternative to the pasty faced Asian kid remakes that Hollywood is determined to make us sit thru. 

Rating - ****

-John "El Juan" Shatzer