BELOW -- Another film I am looking forward to (MERGED THREAD) (1 Viewer)

[Mark Cappelletty]

Yeah, it's great. I had a terrific time with this-- very scary and atmospheric and a solid character-actor-based-cast. Great production values, too (looks better than what I've seen in the trailers for the similarly-themed "Ghost Ship"), so I'm flummoxed as to why this is getting dumped.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

I've been keeping a close eye on the B.O. returns on this movie, as it's one I really liked - plus I'm very curious to know why Dimension treated it so shabbily. (It's ten times the film that Ghost Ship is, and that flick got its 20 million dollar ad campaign!)
Here are the numbers, courtesy of www.boxofficemojo.com :
Date - Weekend Gross - Theater Count - Average - Total Gross
October 11–13 - $201,431 - 168 - $1,198 - $201,431
October 18–20 - $185,164 - 353 - $524 - $469,939
October 25–27 - $31,977 - 108 - $296 - $589,424
Yes, you read that right: the movie hasn't broken the $600,000 mark! Unreal!

 

[Jordan_E]

So it opened at my local theater on the 18th, but I had other plans with the wife, so I waited until this last weekend to catch it, and discovered that now it's only playing once a day at 9:30 at night!

 

[Justin_S]

Thanks for the box office numbers, Scott. As I expected I would, I loved this film as well (see comments in Scary Film Challenge thread), and am pissed at how Dimension treated this wonderful gem. To put it simply, I hate Dimension!!!

 

[Andy Sheets]

That's too bad. As David Twohy's movies go, I thought Below was better than Pitch Black, which made some good money, IIRC. There must have been some kind of soap opera going on behind the scenes because I can't imagine any other reason why the movie would get buried like this.

 

[Mark Palermo]

Man, I'd love to be able to see this. It hasn't opened anywhere near me.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Right now I would consider a road trip to see Below, but there doesn't seem to be a single damn resource to find where it may be playing. Are they intentionally hiding this movie for some unbelievable reason?

I mean, it isn't as if Twohy is some unknown. He's had a number of relatively successful genre movies under his belt and has a bit of a following (I'm surely a fan).

What gives?

 

[JohnE]

It's showing on one screen in my area. For one showing a night. Amazing! I'm dying to see this, but since I work swing shift I'm finding damn hard to manage it. Frustrating to say the least.

 

[Jason Seaver]

It didn't even open in the Boston area; the closest was Framingham, and it only played there for a week.

 

[Vickie_M]

I saw this yesterday, right after seeing The Ring, and while I liked that one, Below was the one that stayed with me and haunted my dreams last night. For a fairly standard ghost?-on-a-sub storyline, everyone involved made it into something special. The acting was good, the sound effects were amazing, the tension was unrelenting. I jumped several times and finished the movie almost exhausted.
It's a CRIME how this film is being treated. Shame on Dimension!! Shame shame shame!
I haven't seen Ghost Ship but I can't imagine that it's better than Below.
I liked Pitch Black too.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Aha! Glad to see that you liked the movie, Vickie! It's one I like more and more as I think about it, and I look forward to owning it on DVD.

Personally, I think it's the best work Twohy's done yet!

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Has anyone seen the Submarine ghost story, "Below"?

I watched this last night and was very impressed with the movie. It had great atmosphere and an interesting story.
Much better than some of the horror stuff we get in theatres these days.
I am curious to hear what other people thought.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I agree. A nice solid B movie. Good cast, great atmosphere.

 

[John Doran]

count me in - not a bad little movie at all. i prefered pitch black (also by twohy), but still.....

 

[Quentin]

I liked it a lot. I think I'll track down the DVD and give it a spin...like to see if it holds up.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I liked it. Twohy is a good director, especially with genre material. Horror and WWII sub movies...two great tastes that taste great together.
I prefer Pitch Black as well. Awesome disk as well. I blind bought Below (as most did, thanks Dimension for burying this film next to Equilibrium -- good call).
Speaking of, looking forward to Chronicles of Riddick, Twohy's next
Take care,
Chuck

 

[Scott Burke]

I think this movie is fantastic. I rented first and then bought. I hated pitch black!

 

[Justin_S]

Saw this film at a theater up in Ft. Worth on the weekend of its release, and loved every minute of it. Excellent wartime and submarine accuracy, some of the best I've seen actually. The film is also very creepy, and its full of great characters, all of who are portrayed perfectly. The action scenes and cinematography are wonderful as well, and the film's score is extremely moody. One of the top 5 best films of 2002 if you ask me.

 

[Malcolm R]

For existing discussion thread click here.

 

[Eric.]

Although it never quite lived up to my high expectations of it after Pitch Black i still thought it was good enough to be a keeper.I think Bruce Greenwood is one of the finest actors out there and he is very good in this as usual.His effort in The Sweet hereafter is still my fav of his movies.