t the height of the second World War, the American submarine U.S.S. Tiger Shark rescues three survivors of a sunken British ship. One is nurse Claire Paige (Williams). Ancient naval superstition holds that having a woman on board is bad luck. And indeed, things start to go horribly wrong almost immediately.
Paige and acting commander Lt. Brice (Greenwood) get off on the wrong foot when she conceals the fact that one of the survivors is a German prisoner. Brice initially believes the German is responsible for certain unexplained events—like the sudden loud blast of a record player that alerts a German destroyer to the Tiger Shark's position.
But Brice and his fellow officers have secrets of their own. The death of the captain, for example, may not have been quite the accident that they describe. As things spiral further out of control aboard the Tiger Shark, Paige and Ensign O'Dell (Davis) begin to piece together the mystery of the captain's death, and realize that the Germans are the least of the Tiger Shark's problems. A haunted house is bad enough, but a haunted submarine can be much, much worse.
Below took a twisted route to the screen. Originally titled Proteus, it was to be directed by Darren Aronofsky before Twohy came aboard. With almost no marketing push from Dimension—Twohy reportedly had to fund the movie's Web site out of his own pocket—and only a limited release in October 2002, Below quickly sank out of sight at the box office. This DVD release is the movie's first real chance to find its audience. The disc includes a commentary track with Twohy and several members of the cast, deleted scenes with their own commentary by Twohy, a trailer and a featurette showing behind-the-scenes footage from the set.
Ghostly
offshore thrilling
Whatever problems it faced in production, the final version of Below is a taut, creepy ghost story packed into the cramped quarters of a submarine movie. As with previous outings The Arrival and Pitch Black, Twohy has taken a venerable genre and twisted it, making a film that stays true to its roots while rising above its B-movie heritage.
One advantage of Dimension's neglect is that the DVD lacks the usual marketing fluff. The selection of extras isn't particularly generous, but what's there is first-rate, and the disc does an excellent job of giving viewers a you-are-there feel for the production.
One high point is "The Process." Consisting largely of footage shot by Twohy himself with a camcorder during rehearsals, the video isn't the big draw of this featurette. Indeed, on the crowded and claustrophobic sets, Twohy's camera often ends up shooting nothing more than somebody's shirt. But it's fascinating to watch the cast experiment with different ways of playing the material. The only problem with it is that, at 12 minutes, it leaves viewers wanting more.
The commentary track is also a blast. Basically Twohy and most of his actors spend the track cutting on each other, spinning running jokes, pointing out mistakes and generally having a ball. The track really does illuminate new facets of the movie, but mostly it feels like hanging out at the set with the crew, watching the final cut.
The DVD's deleted scenes are meatier than usual. Entire completed action sequences were cut as Twohy struggled to find the right balance between action and horror. It can be debated whether cutting them was the right call but, particularly with their own commentary tracks, they're a big plus here.
Overall, it's a great disc for people who love movies. This DVD presentation could well salvage Below's reputation.
