Back in 1965, somewhere in Spain, a dam has been built that will flood the town of Marienbad. Some believe that the mayor of the nearby town of Desbaria is doing this for a land grab, but he actually has another reason behind it. Two boys get pass the boundary and into Marienbad. The town is starting to flood, but it isn't very deep yet. They discover that all the buildings have been abandoned, all except one that is. In the basement of this building, a group of people have been chained up so they can't get away. One of the boys frees Mordecai Salas (Patrick Gordon), who kills the boy for his trouble. The other boy runs off yelling for help. Now, 40 years later, the town of Marienbad is completely under water, while the town of Desbaria is celebrating the anniversary of the dam being built. Teresa (Raque Meroño), the daughter of the mayor who had the dam built, is a TV reporter doing coverage of the celebration. She meets Dan (Michael McKell), who is also doing a story but about the town of Marienbad. Meanwhile, Clara (Charlotte Salt) is by the man made lake with friends when one of them disappears in the water. She calls her mom Teresa who rushes over, with film crew in tow. They will all soon learn that Mordecai has returned and is ready to have his revenge.
Beneath Still Waters is one of those films that was entertaining to me, but usually for all the wrong reasons. For ever good scene, there was an equally bad scene. The story, based off a novel by Matthew Costello was interesting to me. It had a Cthulhu vibe to it, but using a human character with dark magic instead of some forgotten God. Director Brian Yuzna's films can be hit or miss. I guess what helped split me on how I feel about this movie was both the acting and the special effects. Even though Beneath Still Waters was shot mostly in Spain, and used some actors from Spain, the film is in English. I'm pretty sure the actors aren't being dubbed just because everything seemed to match up to well. The acting suffered at times because it was in English I think. You get an actor who maybe doesn't speak English all the time >and they are thinking about that instead of their acting. I did really enjoy Michael McKell and Charlotte Salt though. The plot was a little confusing for me because Clara was supposed to be the one that could stop everything, at least that was the impression I was given, yet the main characters fall to Dan and Teresa. While they are out trying to figure out how to stop things from happening, Clara is off babysitting. Not that Charlotte Salt doesn't get plenty of screen time, it seems strange to hype a character that isn't even the main one.
The effects could look good, but there was times I felt really disappointed by them as well. The town shown under water was a model. It looks good as long as there is nothing else in the shot with it. Throw in a person and you can tell the town isn't real. Some of the digital effects didn't turn out so well either. I didn't care for any fire effects, as there seemed to lines through the fire, like they decided to make the fire taller but didn't hide where it ended previously. That is just a guess though. I have no idea how things like that work. Anyway, not all the effects were disappointing at least. There is some good gory effects to be found. One zombie, or whatever it was was supposed to be, looked kind of cool. You can see it partly in the movie poster.
One of the reasons Beneath Still Waters entertained me was because of how crazy it was getting as it went on. As the time draws near, the people at the party just get crazy. On the down side of things we get a villain who has undefined powers, which can get annoying. It also leads to some dumb moments for the characters. If you just watched a guy kill another guy without touching him, would you really get out of the car to confront him? I know I wouldn't. There is also a book, while sealed under stone, that managed not to rot at all while the town is under water. I didn't hate Beneath Still Waters, but I can't say that I loved it either. I don't really want to say it was an average film, but I think that is where I will put it. I have to give it a little credit since I can't say that I saw the last scene coming. It was a nice surprise. Not one I would really tell all of you to seek out, but if you are curious about it, give it a shot.
3 out of 5 It would be cool to explore a town completely under water
0 Yorumlar