Beneath Still Waters starts in 'Northern Spain 1965' as two young boys Teo & Luis trespass in a town that is being flooded by the creation of a dam, they run wild throughout it's streets but hear screaming coming from the local Church, upon investigation they find several people in the basement chained up including the evil dabbler in black magic Mordecai Salas (Patrick Gordon) whom Teo unwisely sets free as Teo is killed by Salas but Luis runs off... Jump forward '40 Years Later' & photojournalist Dan Quarry (Michael McKell) wants to do a story on the now completely submerged town & the upcoming celebrations by the town that was built nearby in place of it, however the preparations for the celebrations aren't going too well as a boy named Antonio drowns in the lake created by the dam. There is something alive & evil under the water still living in the submerged town & it's come back to claim the living...
This Spanish production was produced & directed by Brian Yuzna who was once a great maker of genre films but he has definitely lost his touch with his last two Spanish films, this & the equally disappointing Rottweiler (2004). The script by Mike Hostench & Angel Sala was based on a novel by Matthew Costello & one has to say it's a bit of a mess which is a shame because the basic story of a ghostly underwater town is something different & had lots of potential but sadly this is what we ended up with. The character's are dull & clichéd, a journalist, a bratty teenage kid, a TV news reporter, the guy who knows everything & tries to warn everyone but no one will believe him, the police captain with a bad attitude, the local mayor who doesn't care about an impending disaster but only about his towns celebrations & a dull villain who gets to walk around in a black suit & look menacing yet without actually doing much. The things which happen almost seem at random, zombies start to pop up everywhere but there's no real explanation of how or why & then there's this black slimy stuff which is mentioned on a couple of occasions but no more & then there's the villains lame motives, as far as I could gather all he wanted was to take the new town as his own which hardly gets the pulse racing. The story goes nowhere, it's all a bit slow, a bit fragmented & it felt like a collection of ideas that were haphazardly thrown into one script without much regard for narrative or continuity. One more thing, what was up with the dude who had the slug crawling down his forehead & a goldfish bowl full of maggots?
Dirctor Yuzna is losing it, Beneath Still Waters feels like a dour made-for-TV film at times with dull cinematography & bland Spanish locations. Then there's the annoying accents, I'm sorry but it's difficult to understand what some of these people are saying. The CGI computer effects are poor, the miniature model shots are poor although the special make-up effects fare much better. There's some decent gore here, there's some really cool looking rotting zombies, there are decapitated heads & severed limbs, the main villain like to rip peoples heads in half, someone chest bursts open, someone saws their own legs & hand off & there are also various other minor bits of blood & gore throughout although the murder of Luis seemed cut as there are noticeable jumps in the audio & too many 'reaction' shots of Teresa & Dan even though seemingly nothing has happened.
Technically the film is alright but nothing special, it looks OK but doesn't really have any style or atmosphere & it's definitely not scary. The acting isn't great.
Beneath Still Waters is a pretty poor film, it had potential & an original & intriguing premise but it makes nothing of it. Another disappointment from Yuzna & is it any surprise or coincidence he hasn't directed a film since this & Rottweiler?
This Spanish production was produced & directed by Brian Yuzna who was once a great maker of genre films but he has definitely lost his touch with his last two Spanish films, this & the equally disappointing Rottweiler (2004). The script by Mike Hostench & Angel Sala was based on a novel by Matthew Costello & one has to say it's a bit of a mess which is a shame because the basic story of a ghostly underwater town is something different & had lots of potential but sadly this is what we ended up with. The character's are dull & clichéd, a journalist, a bratty teenage kid, a TV news reporter, the guy who knows everything & tries to warn everyone but no one will believe him, the police captain with a bad attitude, the local mayor who doesn't care about an impending disaster but only about his towns celebrations & a dull villain who gets to walk around in a black suit & look menacing yet without actually doing much. The things which happen almost seem at random, zombies start to pop up everywhere but there's no real explanation of how or why & then there's this black slimy stuff which is mentioned on a couple of occasions but no more & then there's the villains lame motives, as far as I could gather all he wanted was to take the new town as his own which hardly gets the pulse racing. The story goes nowhere, it's all a bit slow, a bit fragmented & it felt like a collection of ideas that were haphazardly thrown into one script without much regard for narrative or continuity. One more thing, what was up with the dude who had the slug crawling down his forehead & a goldfish bowl full of maggots?
Dirctor Yuzna is losing it, Beneath Still Waters feels like a dour made-for-TV film at times with dull cinematography & bland Spanish locations. Then there's the annoying accents, I'm sorry but it's difficult to understand what some of these people are saying. The CGI computer effects are poor, the miniature model shots are poor although the special make-up effects fare much better. There's some decent gore here, there's some really cool looking rotting zombies, there are decapitated heads & severed limbs, the main villain like to rip peoples heads in half, someone chest bursts open, someone saws their own legs & hand off & there are also various other minor bits of blood & gore throughout although the murder of Luis seemed cut as there are noticeable jumps in the audio & too many 'reaction' shots of Teresa & Dan even though seemingly nothing has happened.
Technically the film is alright but nothing special, it looks OK but doesn't really have any style or atmosphere & it's definitely not scary. The acting isn't great.
Beneath Still Waters is a pretty poor film, it had potential & an original & intriguing premise but it makes nothing of it. Another disappointment from Yuzna & is it any surprise or coincidence he hasn't directed a film since this & Rottweiler?