Below

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TheMovieSearch R Below is yet another chum-bucket shark flick that completely misses the mark, and honestly, it never even gets close to swimming in the right waters. From the opening sequence, it’s obvious the production is working with a shoestring budget. Instead of giving us a convincing ocean setting, the filmmakers shot everything on what looks like a lake with a green filter slapped on. That instantly kills any sense of atmosphere or immersion. If your shark thriller doesn’t even feel like it takes place in the ocean, you’ve already lost a huge chunk of credibility. The sharks themselves don’t help. They look like flimsy rubber props you’d expect to find in a discount Halloween aisle. Every time one pops up, the tension evaporates because you can literally see the seams of the CGI or practical effects. When your “monster” feels like something pulled from a bargain bin, there’s no chance the audience is going to be scared—or even mildly concerned. Shark movies already live under an incredibly high bar. Jaws will always be the untouchable gold standard, balancing terror with unforgettable characters. More recently, The Meg and The Meg 2 leaned into bombastic fun and embraced the sheer ridiculousness of giant prehistoric sharks. On the opposite end, The Shallows stripped everything down and delivered razor-sharp tension, a claustrophobic battle of survival that proved shark thrillers can still work. Below doesn’t land in either camp. It’s not scary. It’s not fun. It’s not tense. It’s just… flat. The acting doesn’t do it any favors. The cast feels like they were handed the script five minutes before shooting, with no real direction or energy behind their performances. The characters never develop beyond generic shark-movie archetypes, so there’s nobody to root for or even care about. The pacing drags too—somehow managing to feel rushed in moments where they cram in unnecessary exposition, then unbearably slow when you’re waiting for something, anything, to happen. And then there’s the ending. In what might be the boldest—and strangest—choice, the climax revolves around these laughably fake sharks attacking a group of kids. On paper, it’s a gutsy move, because horror that isn’t afraid to break taboos can sometimes leave an impact. In practice here, it just doesn’t work. The execution is so sloppy and unbelievable that it comes across as ridiculous instead of shocking. Instead of gasping in horror, you’re left shaking your head at how absurd it looks. At the end of the day, Below is a missed opportunity from start to finish. It doesn’t know whether it wants to be a serious survival thriller or an outrageous B-movie, and it fails to deliver on either front. For shark movie fans like me, it’s frustrating, because we keep waiting for the next hidden gem to surface in the genre. Unfortunately, this one sinks right to the bottom without leaving so much as a ripple. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 09/28/25 Full Review Read all reviews

Below

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