Netflix’s Below explores the monstrous mystery of the unknown. Set in an intimate coastal town, the eight-part limited series builds like a Stephen King novel, such as Salem’s Lot, with rich characterization of the villagers and a dark, twisty yarn so unbelievably fantastical.
There are very clear reasons why Below has become such a streaming giant, and it’s not just because of the star-studded cast that includes Josh Hartnett, MacKenzie Davis, Charlie Heaton (of Stranger Things fame), and rising horror staple Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends, Silent Night, Deadly Night). There’s a deep hunger for this sort of creature feature that perfectly captures the beauty of the genre.
Aquatic-based or adjacent sci-fi/horror taps into a part of culture still fearing the same things from the 1930s through the 1950s. Diabolical scientists, breaking technological advancements, and creatures from both the lagoon and outer space flavor much of old school horror. From the very beginning, as evidenced in Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking novel Frankenstein (loosely adapted in films such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Lisa Frankenstein), society has been fearful of what it doesn’t know or can’t concretely define.
Even amidst the rise of once-futuristic tech such as AI, humans remain on guard for what beings lurk in the cosmos and underwater, and filmmakers know exactly how to make your skin squirm. Much like Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass streaming on Netflix, Below feels authentically horrifying, boldly resurrecting ancient fears and the terrible sense that they will never die.
Lake Placid
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After an attack by a crocodile in Black Lake, a wildlife crew investigates the incident and schemes to destroy the creature. Lake Placid proves to be quite a character showcase, as the cast, which includes Bill Pullman and Mariska Hargitay, seem to be having a hoot on set.
It’s still strange to watch Betty White play a foul-mouthed lakeside resident with a penchant for feeding her pet crocodiles. Her performance is a far cry from the well-meaning, goody-two-shoes Rose Nylund in Golden Girls, that’s for sure.
The film expertly walks the tightrope between classic ’90s camp and straight-laced terror. You could be laughing one minute and digging into the armrests of your chair the next. Director Steve Miner knows exactly how to draw out every reaction, guaranteeing that the audience is sure to have a good time, too.
Piranha might not be a masterpiece (far from it!), but it does deliver entertaining kills, silly practical effects, and over-the-top acting for this late ’70s story about genetically-altered piranhas invading a river. Director Joe Dante leans into the exaggerated scenario and balances the necessary components like a veteran juggler in his prime.
It’s a niche property but has become a cult classic in the decades since and resulted in numerous sequels, including the stunningly ridiculous Piranha 3D, starring the great Christopher Lloyd (yes, really) and Jerry O’Connell. The original features both real terror and hilarity in equal measure.
When it comes to comedic aquatic horror, it doesn’t get much better than this rustic gem. Piranha is certainly far more bonkers than Below, but it’s worth a watch on a Friday night with a popcorn bucket.
The Beach House
Jeffrey A. Brown’s feature directorial debut remains criminally under-appreciated. The story focuses on a viral infection that spreads along a coastal beach, but it quickly morphs into something different altogether.
The Beach House doesn’t only emerge as a rich character study about what humans will do when they face an uncontrollable plague, but it also examines the behaviors of beach-side creatures and their insatiable hunger.
The Shudder film goes for murder and mayhem, akin to found footage film, The Bay, with some gross gags and slimy moments. As the situation spirals out of control, there eventually comes a turning point when the characters stop running and face their front.
Touch Me
Touch Me, directed by Addison Heimann, reaches its seductive tentacles into Pandora’s Box of psychosexual fear. The film balances pain and pleasure, tightening around the neck of an unbridled abandon and freedom found in pure expression.
Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and her best friend Craig (Jordan Gavaris) head out to Joey’s ex-boyfriend’s lavish mansion. They expect a weekend of debauchery but encounter nights of passion and an insidious evil so great that sex becomes the only true weapon. With attention given to human connection, physical activities, and the uncomfortable feeling of being in one’s body, Touch Me holds nothing back.
Creature features don’t often get sexual subtext (or rather, explicit text) when the ideas are just right here! Touch Me delights in its sinful, but oh-so delicious, ways, and Heimann sure does know how to treat it with raw, untethered intensity.
The Untamed
Writer/director Amat Escalante mines the depths of human desire. The Untamed feels undeniably earnest when a meteorite crashes into earth and unleashes a pleasure so sweet it is literally to die for. When it comes to flesh-melting sequences, the film nosedives into the euphoric high that comes with carnality but also the dangerous aftereffects that linger on the body.
The countryside overflows with the sexually suppressed, unwilling to face their own basic needs. But the creature from within a rickety cabin invites all who dare to cross the threshold for a moment of escape and bliss.
The Untamed features one of the most delightfully disturbing sequences in horror, making it a modern classic. It’s so strawberry sweet it just might seduce the audience, too.
Underwater
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Kristen Stewart has built an incredible legacy post-Twilight. From her Lizzie Borden tale (Lizzie) alongside Chloë Sevigny to the hypnotic Love Lies Bleeding, the famed actor selects interesting material to demonstrate the full scope of her talents. And you can add William Eubank’s Underwater to the roster of gems from her catalog.
Stewart plays Norah Price, an engineer aboard a research vessel miles below the water’s surface. Disaster strikes, and off we go! It’s a claustrophobic nightmare akin to Aliens, just in an opposite zone of the universe. Kristen Stewart is Sigourney Weaver in the story. Both take charge, and both fight for survival.
Underwater still feels a bit slept on, but it’s worth it for Stewart’s commanding performance alone. But you’ll find yourself completely enthralled by the thrilling, skin-peeling story.
47 Meters Down
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A seemingly innocent dive trip to Mexico turns deadly and heart-pounding in Johannes Roberts’ 47 Meters Down. Two sisters believe they’ll have the time of their life, but their life-and-death situation gives them a new lease on, well, life. Similiar to The Deep House, the film explores the suffocating (perhaps literally) nature of diving to the darkest, most uncharted depths of the ocean.
You never know what’s down there—I’ve read about the creatures lurking on the bottom of the ocean, and you don’t want to know. 47 Meters Down captures the beautiful danger when a winch holding the young women’s diving cage snaps, and they plummet to the below.
If there are just two things to be afraid of in this life, they are these: the ocean and space. There’s no room for human error, and once all hope is lost, you’re done. 47 Meters Down brilliantly taps into that primal fear.
Dangerous Animals
One of the biggest surprises in modern sci-fi/horror is Sean Byrne’s Dangerous Animals. There’s far more than meets the eye when two unlikely strangers meet Tucker (Jai Courtney), the proprietor of a shark cage attraction, and become chum for Tucker’s sadism and also for the deadly creatures circling down below. Tucker is like if Quint (Robert Shaw) from Jaws were actually a psychopath and not just a loony tune.
Courtney’s performance is downright diabolical, giving the film a hefty quality that’s far more than its wild premise. Tucker is right up there with Annie Wilkes in Misery or even Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. It’s that unhinged.
Dangerous Animals examines themes about humanity’s tendency to trespass on animal territory, the lengths one will go to survive, and how society just might go extinct because of a few bad eggs.
Under Paris
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Netflix’s Under Paris, directed by Xavier Gens, so obviously follows in the footsteps of Jaws. When a marine biologist heads to Paris after detecting a giant shark in the waters of the Seine, it’s a chaotic mess as she attempts to warn the population and make them take the situation seriously.
Gens splashes the screen with bright, moody colors that mirror the brooding, emotional underpinnings of the biologist, who remains in the throes of grieving a co-worker, who passed away following a tragic incident chasing a shark.
Under Paris is what happens when you remake Jaws on a bigger budget. While the shark design may not be as gloriously practical as the iconic one in its predecessor, the film still contains all the perfect-storm elements: an engaging cast, a high-stakes scenario, and an explosive, woah kind of finale.
Sweetheart
Kiersey Clemons leads an incredibly small cast in J.D. Dillard’s Sweetheart. Clemons plays Jennifer Remming who washes up on the shore of a secluded island, much like Linda Liddle in Sam Raimi’s Send Help. Clemons carries the entire film on her back (literally), and Jennifer immediately launches into survival mode.
Once she makes a shelter, hunts for food, and builds a fire, she soon learns that she’s not alone on the island. A monster emerges from the waters, seeking nothing but blood. But the creature doesn’t know who it’s up against. Jennifer is a survivor, in every sense of the word.
Sweetheart relishes the action, giving Clemons plenty of meat to consume. It’s both an intimate and expansive story about what it means to survive at all odds, trusting one’s instincts, and figuring a way to manipulate another species for one’s clear benefit. Clemons delivers an astounding performance, one of those deserving of an Oscar.
A hard-bitten fisherman in a remote Newfoundland town faces off against a mysterious sea creature threatening his family and community.
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