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Disney/Fox posted:Seven miles below the ocean's surface something has awakened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCFWEzIVILc A "new" sci-fi horror-thriller from William Eubank (The Signal, Love) starring Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick, John Gallagher Jr. and... T.J. Miller  That last name is possibly why I can put "new" in quotes: Underwater was shot in early 2017, right before Miller's poo poo finally blew up, and for a while it looked like it might not ever actually surface into theaters. 20th Century Fox seemed content to sit on it, and when they were bought up by Disney, the film's fate seemed sealed (much like The New Mutants, whose new trailer is apparently showing in front of Underwater). Fortunately, Underwater wasn't drowned in the cradle, and arrives in theaters (in the U.S.) this week! ----- While the thread is mainly for discussing Underwater, feel free to talk about other undersea horror/thriller movies, as I'm sure comparisons to The Abyss, Leviathan, DeepStar Six, and the like will abound. It's definitely a setting I'd love to see more of in cinema. Also, if you just want to talk about the deep, dark ocean in general - feel free to dive into the Ocean Science & Exploration thread over in SAL. 
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Jan 8, 2020 08:08
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I just saw this movie at an advanced screening and I'm already hoping it gets a sequel. I'm kind of hesitant to talk about it more beyond that (even in spoiler form) until it officially comes out on the 10th because I think it's one of those film you should go in blind for.
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Jan 8, 2020 09:09
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The premise looks heavily lifted from Leviathan, Deep Star Six, The Abyss, Lords of the Deep and probably 30 other films I'm not remembering. I doubt anyone's interested in this movie unless they have prior knowledge of some interesting twist to the formula.
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Jan 8, 2020 16:41
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Movie looks neat but they couldn't have picked a lamer title. "Pressure" is right there.
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Jan 8, 2020 19:07
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Al Cu Ad Solte posted:Movie looks neat but they couldn't have picked a lamer title. "Pressure" is right there. Your title is way lamer.
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Jan 8, 2020 19:49
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I am trying to drag my wife to see this with me and was hoping someone could spoiler something for me. My wife has a fear of drowning and can't watch it happen on screen. Crushing, monster gore, explosions and whatever is fine. Could someone who has seen it spoil if there is any drowning? I had her watch the 2006 Poseidon early in our relationship and she was very upset over a scene in it and would hate to repeat.
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Jan 9, 2020 17:54
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Looks like Deep Rising[technically an underwater movie?] mixed with Deep Blue Sea. I guess this maybe bodes well for other horror stuff snatched up by Disney? Unless it sinks (heh) then prob not.
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Jan 10, 2020 05:10
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Blankspot posted:Could someone who has seen it spoil if there is any drowning? No drownings, so if it's a really super specific issue she should be ok. There is pressure-based implosion, your call whether that's gonna be closer to crushing or drowning for her. Maybe-spoilers to follow? Nothing specific, but, you know. This is a weird movie. Every single character is a ruthlessly self-sacrificing utilitarian and all the human conflict is about who will receive the honor of being eaten first. Our ability to take emotionally meaningful if ultimately futile action against disaster is dependent upon our ability to stop feeling things, and inversely related to the number/quality of safeguards built into our nuclear reactor systems. Which I guess is to say that they made a good call sitting on it for a couple of years, because it feels just right to kick off 2020. edit: eh, tags added just to be safe
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Jan 10, 2020 05:18
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Thanks! I will pass this information to her. Can't wait for some water monster action.
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Jan 10, 2020 05:26
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banned from Starbucks posted:Looks like Deep Rising[technically an underwater movie?] mixed with Deep Blue Sea. Trailer reminded me a lot of Sphere with the isolated super deep sea habitat being attacked by sea monsters. Edit: Since OP didn't have it, I like the poster for the movie. 
Cythereal fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Jan 11, 2020 |
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Jan 10, 2020 18:31
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God drat, this movie owns!
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Jan 11, 2020 02:08
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Underwater is film of the year already. If you’re on the fence, just watch it.
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Jan 11, 2020 02:21
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I've heard a lot of people saying "If you liked that movie 'Leviathan' with Robo-Cop in it, you'll like this." Claustrophobic underwater movies kick rear end. Last one I think I watched was "Black Sea" which was ok, but the sea floor walk to the sunken U-Boat was fantastic. I really want to see this.
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Jan 11, 2020 03:35
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Simplex posted:The premise looks heavily lifted from Leviathan, Deep Star Six, The Abyss, Lords of the Deep and probably 30 other films I'm not remembering. I doubt anyone's interested in this movie unless they have prior knowledge of some interesting twist to the formula. Although it’s obviously part of the same genre as the Abyss or whatever, the style is entirely different. Where those films tend to be fairly “locked down”, Underwater has the dynamic handheld camerawork of a later Michael Mann film (e.g. Public Enemies). It’s also drum-tight and relentlessly paced, moreso than ‘atmospheric’. It’s a full-on disaster movie that just happens to have sea creatures.
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Jan 11, 2020 04:56
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Well I'm sold. Seeing it tomorrow
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Jan 11, 2020 04:58
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So this IS a creature feature? I was worried that it was going to pull a bullshit move of having the things that appear in the trailer just be some dream poo poo and this just be a thriller about a underwater facility getting crunched. Sure, that could work as a film, but I dig creature features way more than thrillers. How is their design? Comparable to any of the previous undersea monster movies, or is it just fishmen. Obviously I'm fine with spoilers. Free Drinks fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Jan 11, 2020 |
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Jan 11, 2020 05:28
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Free Drinks posted:So this IS a creature feature? I was worried that it was going to pull a bullshit move of having the things that appear in the trailer just be some dream poo poo and this just be a thriller about a underwater facility getting crunched. It's not shy about featuring creatures. I don't think the design of the monsters is going to blow your socks off on its own, like if you just saw a picture of one, but they're used in interesting ways. If you like this sort of movie you should see this movie.
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Jan 11, 2020 05:50
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Just got back from watching Underwater, I liked it quite a bit. I liked how (largely) grounded it felt, things felt like practical sets and not CGI constructs when the characters were on-screen, the props and costumes had a tactile, "used" feel to them, it made things more believable. If I had to fault the movie for anything, it's the pacing - it moves a little too quick and doesn't quite give its scenes enough room to breathe. It's not as manic as, say, Rise of Skywalker, and I suspect it was trying to keep things moving to keep the tension and the sense of urgency going, but it's still just a *little* too quick. The movie does know how to slow down, and it's got some cool tense parts, but even those could have been made better by slowing things down a tad. I agree with a point that Jeremy Jahns made in his review that the movie leans on its "lack of a budget" CGI, and mostly uses it to its advantage - the exterior undersea stuff is murky and inscrutable, and most of the time that works. However there are other times where it feels like you're meant to spot something in the murk and a more skilled filmmaker/editor/CGI wizard might have framed it better or made it clearer so more than once I found myself frustrated at what I couldn't see instead of creeped-out by what I thought I saw. I'm a big fan of the "underwater thriller/horror" niche subgenre for whatever reason, maybe it's the inherent claustrophobia and ever-present dangers before you even introduce whatever the particular movie's monsters/hazards/conflicts end up being. The deep ocean is just fuckin' scary, man. For some non-movie fun in the genre, I recommend checking out the videogames Soma and Narcosis. They're both great rides and for very different reasons. Going back to an earlier post, I was reminded pretty heavily of the comic book The Wake (BIG spoilers for both The Wake and Underwater) when you learn that there's a shitload of the mer-creatures, and once the big one shows up and they start following the escape pods to the surface I was starting to think Underwater was going to follow 'The Wake's bonkers "twist" and have a full-on surface-world collapse as the end of the movie. I'm hesitant to recommend The Wake to fans of the genre looking for more non-movie fun, because it's got two distinct halves; without going into crazy spoilers, the first half is real good and is extremely reminiscent of 'Underwater' (or vice versa, 'The Wake' came first), and the second half starts out great and then devolves into nonsense and kind of sours the entire experience. Like, read it for the first half I guess, but expect things to nosedive in the last act. Cool movie, looking forward to buying it when it comes out on video.
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Jan 11, 2020 06:07
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Totally fine. Nothing mind blowing but a serviceable creature feature. Good cast that held it together for sure. Competently directed and just enough emotional background for the mains to make it not completely hollow. Everything in this movie was predictable but I did not expect it ending with Kristen Stewart blowing up Cthulu AccountSupervisor fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Jan 11, 2020 |
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Jan 11, 2020 06:48
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Sir Kodiak posted:If you like this sort of movie you should see this movie. Nice! Right up my alley. Bummer it's not at my local theater though, which is weird since it's not like it's a small theater. Xenomrph posted:Going back to an earlier post, I was reminded pretty heavily of the comic book The Wake (BIG spoilers for both The Wake and Underwater) when you learn that there's a shitload of the mer-creatures, and once the big one shows up and they start following the escape pods to the surface I was starting to think Underwater was going to follow 'The Wake's bonkers "twist" and have a full-on surface-world collapse as the end of the movie. I'm hesitant to recommend The Wake to fans of the genre looking for more non-movie fun, because it's got two distinct halves; without going into crazy spoilers, the first half is real good and is extremely reminiscent of 'Underwater' (or vice versa, 'The Wake' came first), and the second half starts out great and then devolves into nonsense and kind of sours the entire experience. Like, read it for the first half I guess, but expect things to nosedive in the last act. I tracked The Wake down and, woof. I see what you mean about being hesitant to recommend it. It's a big ball of half-used ideas. It did remind me that there is a freaking Johnny Quest (the 90's one) episode in this genre. It's actually not half bad, and kinda rough for a kid's show, a whole lot of death. A different piece of media in the "undersea horror" genre I'd recommend is 6000 if you can stomach / enjoy manga. It angles more towards supernatural, but it's still got some good visceral imagery and a good spooky underwater feel. Gets a little wonky at the end, but doesn't disintegrate nearly as badly as The Wake. Seriously though, gently caress the deep ocean.
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Jan 11, 2020 08:02
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Free Drinks posted:How is their design? Comparable to any of the previous undersea monster movies, or is it just fishmen. Minor spoiler: They look like wormy little squid things. Main Spoiler: Those are just babies; the actual creatures are beluga-sized Cloverfield monsters. (The movie functions as an unofficial Cloverfield 2 - Cloverfields - to such a degree that I thought it official.) Don’t read yet: At the very-very end, K-Stew goes to the source of the things and finds that it’s the best onscreen depiction of Cthulhu, which drives her mad.
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Jan 11, 2020 16:21
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Free Drinks posted:So this IS a creature feature? I was worried that it was going to pull a bullshit move of having the things that appear in the trailer just be some dream poo poo and this just be a thriller about a underwater facility getting crunched. At the beginning of movie the designs are pretty basic (not bad, just your standard scary underwater monsters), however near the end it's revealed that all the monsters they've been seeing are either just baby versions of this other GIANT monster who has a real lovecratian elder god vibe. The giant monster looks cool enough that I'd say it defiantly elevates the creature design for the rest of the film.
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Jan 11, 2020 16:53
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Just got back from this, and to me it leaned so heavily on referencing Alien, it never found its own feet. For instance: The opening shots of empty industrial sci-fi corridors are very familiar. You literally hear MU/TH/ER’s computer chatter in the scene set on the very Nostromo-esque bridge. The diving suits look just like the Nostromo space suits. TJ Miller gets to do the Kane thing as he peers into something he probably shouldn’t... Later on, he’s Newt in the sewer in an almost perfect shot recreation. There’s a bunch more besides those.
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Jan 12, 2020 07:03
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^^^ There are references to the setting of Alien, but the narrative is entirely different. You may as well say it’s ripping off Outland. Incidentally: Free Drinks posted:I was worried that it was going to pull a bullshit move of having the things that appear in the trailer just be some dream poo poo and this just be a thriller about a underwater facility getting crunched. Underwater is the extremely rare type of genuinely Lovecraftian creature feature, where the monsters cause insanity rather than the reverse (and without recourse to magic powers). That’s to say there’s never any question that the creatures are real, so why all the talk of hallucinations? It’s a film where the mental health of the characters is directly tied to their material conditions in a very direct and straightforward way: the characters’ sanity depends on the facility working ‘as it should’ - the suits, the doors, etc. Access to air. Everything around them is an extension of the body, and therefore if the mind. But they’re also clearly miserable long before the disaster. Although Norah has dialogue about her dead fiancé or whatever, we never actually see this. Her feelings of powerlessness of course actually stem from the ominous warnings about the corporation in the opening credits - from the fact that she and the other workers have no control over the means of production. The death of the finance is just a rationalization. We’re not just talking unionization here; it’s almost impossible to not read this as a climate change story. Sudden massive changes in water temperature affecting habitats, etc. There’s no point in the film where the machine isn’t breaking down. And yet: when Norah detonates herself (and the whole facility) to nuke Cthulhu, there’s no avoiding the fact that she apparently, inexplicably, survives. Is this a dream? SuperMechagodzilla fucked around with this message at 08:57 on Jan 12, 2020 |
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Jan 12, 2020 08:54
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:And yet: when Norah detonates herself (and the whole facility) to nuke Cthulhu, there’s no avoiding the fact that she apparently, inexplicably, survives. Is this a dream? Wait, what? I didn't see that, was that an after the credits thing?
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Jan 12, 2020 11:43
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there's a shot from within the bridge that lingers on her face as she looks down that chronologically occurs after she blows the station, yes.
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Jan 12, 2020 12:51
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:^^^ For me, the question about if the creatures are real or not stems from my personal frustration over "It Comes at Night" and its marketing. Obviously there is very little in the trailer for "It Comes at Night" to imply creatures, but it didn't give a clear sign that it was a human horror. Since I hold creature and monster movies closer in my heart I imagined and hoped for a different movie than what was shown, and ended up being personally disappointed. I just didn't want to do the same thing about getting excited for a potential creature feature and it end up being completely human drama about fear and paranoia. Sure, that could make for a good story, but not when I just hope to see neat monsters. Also Outland I don't think gets enough credit for being a pretty neat space western, so people should say stuff rips it off more so its talked about more.
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Jan 12, 2020 18:48
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Space Cadet Omoly posted:Wait, what? I didn't see that, was that an after the credits thing? Think about who you're quoting. God Hole posted:there's a shot from within the bridge that lingers on her face as she looks down that chronologically occurs after she blows the station, yes.
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Jan 12, 2020 19:16
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Xenomrph posted:I took that to be more like the end of 'Sunshine', where time essentially becomes meaningless at the moment of detonation. That's not how, like, 'time' or 'explosions' work. An explosion is not altering the fabric of spacetime and/or reversing causality or something. Sunshine ends as it does because the ship is effectively flying into a black hole. What we have in this film is simply a cut. It's a break in the narrative logic of the film - which had, up until that point, been very linear. Things had transpired in chronological order, albeit with some distortions (e.g. when Norah refers to events from 'two hours ago', it certainly doesn't feel like two hours have passed). Then, suddenly, we shift into achronological storytelling that aligns with the Sin City-style posthumous monologue. The character persists in the narrative after her death. But what does this mean?
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Jan 12, 2020 21:31
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Just got back and gotta say it was pretty enjoyable. Not really a "fun" movie, but reminded me a lot of Deep Rising, and that's a good thing. Usually I'm not a big TJ Miller fan, but he worked well as a comic-relief valve. He also gets the worst death in my opinion, it's the only one that wouldn't be just about instant. SuperMechagodzilla posted:That's not how, like, 'time' or 'explosions' work. An explosion is not altering the fabric of spacetime and/or reversing causality or something. Sunshine ends as it does because the ship is effectively flying into a black hole. Her opening her eyes is her actually closing them, it's played in reverse. I took it simply as a different way of having the "flip you off while I blow us both up" moment to the bad guy. Just a depiction of the catharsis she achieved by taking the fish men and Cthulhu out .
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Jan 13, 2020 00:01
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Irony.or.Death posted:This is a weird movie. Every single character is a ruthlessly self-sacrificing utilitarian and all the human conflict is about who will receive the honor of being eaten first. Our ability to take emotionally meaningful if ultimately futile action against disaster is dependent upon our ability to stop feeling things, and inversely related to the number/quality of safeguards built into our nuclear reactor systems. This aspect of the film definitely works because no one in the movie has a home worth going back to. No one has anything resembling a family back on the surface and half of them lost the family they used to have. These are the kind of people who saw a job opening for "Live in a box at the very bottom of the very bottom of the ocean for 15.75 an hour" and said Hell Yeah. Life is suffering and death by eldritch sea creature is a gift to be shared with your friends 
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Jan 13, 2020 02:37
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Free Drinks posted:Her opening her eyes is her actually closing them, it's played in reverse. I took it simply as a different way of having the "flip you off while I blow us both up" moment to the bad guy. Just a depiction of the catharsis she achieved by taking the fish men and Cthulhu out . That’s kind of half-right, because it is obviously metaphorical. But what are the fishmans going to do? Take over the Earth? They have difficulty killing unarmed people, and they’re highly vulnerable to guns & bombs. This is where the parallels to Alien do become important, because Underwater is in a conversation with Alien. Like, for example, Norah’s posthumous monologue mirrors Ripley’s final transmission before going to sleep - where she is uncertain if she will ever wake up again, but still hopeful: “Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of The Nostromo, signing off.” The conventional (mis)reading of Alien is that Ripley heroically stopped at nothing to crush the alien rat-monster that threatened innocent humanity. This bad interpretation was ‘canonized’ in the James Cameron sequel: “If one of those things gets down here [to Earth], then that will be all! And all this - this bullshit that you think is so important, you can just kiss all that goodbye!” What the hell is Ripley talking about? The alien is basically just a big panther. But, nonetheless, people are enamoured by how Cameron’s Ripley cuts through the “bullshit” to ruthlessly exterminate the entire species. Nothing else matters to her. But the truth of Alien is that the creature is not the enemy. In its particular way - in its ‘blind’ destructiveness - the alien helps Ripley to destroy her true enemy: the arch-capitalist Mother computer. It pushes Ripley to accomplish what she couldn’t on her own (recall the enormous reluctance and difficulty Ripley has in arming the self-destruct). Ripley begins her arc by enforcing quarantine, determined to protect the ship against an injured coworker - a coworker that Mother had automatically, unthinkingly endangered. Cameron’s version is ultimately in defence of that bullshit. The inciting incident of Alien is when Mother detects the alien distress signal and gradually boots up the systems, preparing to send the ‘expendable’ crew into danger for profit. The inciting incident of Underwater is a mining accident that destroys half the facility and kills over 300 people. The stakes are higher than ever; the system not just coldly hostile; it itself is breaking down and taking us with it. So, long story short, Norah’s ultimate decision is not to nuke Cthulhu; it’s to nuke the company whose pursuit of profit endangers everyone. And while the plot is literally about a woman who dies to accomplish this, the point of the metaphorical narrative is that her readiness to die is what really matters - the change in her subjective stance, from going along with it to actively opposing it.
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Jan 13, 2020 05:19
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This take is reinforced by the ending titles of the film too. While we're accustomed to horror movies ending with a sign that the monster hasn't quite been defeated, here what we get is a newspaper headline that the company is going to start drilling again.
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Jan 13, 2020 06:06
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BiggestBatman posted:This take is reinforced by the ending titles of the film too. While we're accustomed to horror movies ending with a sign that the monster hasn't quite been defeated, here what we get is a newspaper headline that the company is going to start drilling again.
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Jan 13, 2020 06:37
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Xenomrph posted:I believe the implication is that the creatures may still be down there, and the company knew about them and was covering them up essentially the whole time (the movie both opens and ends with newspaper headlines about strange unconfirmed sightings), and when Norah finds the Captain's old stuff at the abandoned Sheppard station, the map inside his locker implies that he knew about the creatures in some capacity, and that the drill site was specifically chosen because that's where they were. Come to think of it does anyone outright say what they're drilling for? I mean yeah it's obviously built and structured like a deepwater oil rig but it feels conspicuous that all named characters are part of the maintenance team and not the actual drillers
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Jan 13, 2020 07:42
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Xenomrph posted:I believe the implication is that the creatures may still be down there, and the company knew about them and was covering them up essentially the whole time (the movie both opens and ends with newspaper headlines about strange unconfirmed sightings), and when Norah finds the Captain's old stuff at the abandoned Sheppard station, the map inside his locker implies that he knew about the creatures in some capacity, and that the drill site was specifically chosen because that's where they were. Towards the end of the opening montage where it speeds up, they actually outright show a sentence about "new species discovered". I believe the opening montage is newspaper clippings about Shepard Base shutting down, so I think it's essentially pointing out that this is already a cycle. All of this already happened at Shepard Station, the company went and did it again anyway (the events of this movie), and as per the ending montage they plan to build yet another rig after covering everything up. They know there are dangerous fish-aliens down there and they just don't care. They don't even seem to have a plan to deal with them. It's simply profitable to just build another station and let it run until it's inevitably destroyed. They are clearly the bad guys.
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Jan 13, 2020 08:24
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BiggestBatman posted:This take is reinforced by the ending titles of the film too. While we're accustomed to horror movies ending with a sign that the monster hasn't quite been defeated, here what we get is a newspaper headline that the company is going to start drilling again. That’s where we get the ambiguity of the ending, because Norah dying to protect the couple stands for a sort of restoration of ‘normalcy’ and ‘balance’. (The woman, Emily, objected to the company on the grounds human greed is harming Mother Earth or whatever. Norah correctly points out that Emily is i]not wrong,[/i] but not right either; the problem is systemic, and so a ‘green’ capitalism is not a solution). Obviously Norah has so much invested in that couple because of how her fiancé died. But then, it’s pointed out that his decision to dive alone was an act of rebellion: diving without a buddy is against corporate policy. There’s a bit of a fantasy that, if she had her husband, things would be ok. But, clearly, the state of the world at the end is not ok. Killing all the Cloverfields to save the couple is almost helpful to the company, because it’s aiding in the coverup - and they obviously don’t really care too much about the loss of the already-compromised facility. This again shows the film’s improvement over Aliens: Cameron’s Ripley is a ‘badass’ who doesn’t care how much it costs to exterminate the aliens - and neither does the company. Though they gloss over it, the loss of the one facility is a write-off for an interplanetary mining company, and they can easily rebuild in pretty much the same place. Despite acting like a rebel, Ripley and the company are in total agreement.
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Jan 13, 2020 14:46
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I love dangerous underwater environments (Sphere is a great novel, fight me) and Lovecraftian nightmare beasts and given those two things this movie was way more boring than it had any right to be. I sincerely laughed out loud when the captain imploded which I don't think was meant to be funny. Just the size of it and the sound effect killed me. smoobles fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Jan 14, 2020 |
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Jan 14, 2020 18:47
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Sphere is a great novel, but I actually prefer the movie. It’s paced better and it moves the whole “causally, we can’t survive otherwise the ship doesn’t go back in time” thing from the last 3 pages of the book to the middle of the movie where it can actually work as a point of tension and conflict.
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Jan 14, 2020 19:42
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Thinking about seeing the movie. Is it too much to hope that the monsters are lovecraftian in shape/scope or are we talking like guys in rubber suits level of creature? I remember there was some old sci fi deep water film (I think) that had the monster costume reused in Suburban Commando. That was a bit of a shocker to see.
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Jan 15, 2020 06:20
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