It is not often that Hollywood combines horror with war since the result is often to confuse the audience into blanching at the horrors of war or the horrors of the supernatural. Each is horrible in its own right. But in BELOW, director David Twohy creates a tale based on incremental images of fear. During the second world war, an American submarine picks up three survivors of a U-boat sinking of a hospital ship. One of the three is a woman who acts as a catalyst for the crew to re-examine the events that led to the recent death of the submarine's captain. As the woman discovers the truth behind his death, so does the audience, and it is at this point that spooky things begin to occur. However, these spooky things are not all that spooky. One of them, at least is laughably derivative. Fans of I LOVE LUCY will remember the scene in which she dresses as Harpo Marx with the real Harpo staring at her as if from a mirror. Lucy mugs and bounces with Harpo trying to keep up, but always a milli movement off. In BELOW, there is a similar scene in which a crewman peers into a smoky mirror with his reflection taking on a life of its own. For a film that is clearly meant to be bordering on the paranormal, this mirror scene is as spooky as it gets. Yet, director Twohy manages to keep suspense flowing by virtue of the calamities that often beset submarines in war films. There is an abundance of noises, explosions, burst pipes, flooded compartments, and sailors cracking under pressure. The ghost-like elements in BELOW could easily have been eliminated without sacrificing any attendant suspense. What emerges at the end is a confused ending to a military mission that on film at least is not nearly as spooky as both cast and crew had so clearly striven for.
