The Creature Below (2016)

The movie is basically an attempt of making dark brooding version of Little Shop of horrors. The more you watch the more the similarities are going to come to light. From the creatures first feeding attempts to its reaction to blood. The lead character even shares a suckling seen similar to Rick morranis and audry.I will give it is sufficiently changed from the source material to not call it a copy it does fit in line as far as plot development

A good concept, not an original one but with a real potential to be both fun and scary, and a creepy-looking DVD cover were what drew me into seeing 'The Creature Below' in the first place. Also have gotten some entertainment out of low-budget creature films, though there are too many weak or less ones. 'The Creature Below' is not good, let alone great. It is also not terrible, let alone a complete shambles, and has good points that make it semi-watchable. There are certainly far worse films in the genre, of similar creature films and overall and it didn't leave me angry or cringing, just that it is very underwhelming that doesn't do a good job with its objectives of being fun or scary.Starting with the positives, the monster does have some creepiness. There are moments where 'The Creature Below' is moderately scary and fun, and it doesn't take things too seriously or go overboard on the camp factor. It's effectively lit and shot too sometimes. The soundtrack has eeriness when it isn't being intrusive or obvious. Michaela Longden tries.Conversely, a lot of things bring 'The Creature Below' down. The acting is generally not good, Anna Dawson being especially terrible in the lead and it does kill the film. The characters are dull and sometimes annoying, meaning there is never much of a reason to make one care for them. Some of the decision making as such bordered on silly.Although the creature was not bad in personality, the creature effects are very cheap-looking. Even for low-budget, 'The Creature Below' is pretty slapdash, especially in the editing. Excitement, thrills, creepiness and suspense are too far and between. The scares are generally not enough and suffer from predictability and lack of tension. The story is far too minimal, another thing that affects the pacing with the padding and over-stretching, bland and often ridiculous. Overall, semi-watchable at best and mostly mediocre. 4/10 Bethany Cox

While Olive (Anna Dawson) is diving at 1500 feet a sea creature lodges an egg in her suit. She takes it home and nurtures it in a what becomes a combination of "Alien" and "Little Shop of Horrors." They attempt to invoke HP Lovecraft with a "Mishatonic" (sic) diploma, but being misspelled (It should be Miskatonic) you have to wonder how knowledgeable these guys were. There are weak connections to the ancient world and gods with a ton of plot holes like, it they can live at both 1500 feet and in surface air, why are they just returning now? The film uses CG for some sea scenes. Olive's descent into what appears to be madness and mindless ramblings was poorly done with an explanation left in pieces, something that could have made the feature better using real flashback reenactments of the past instead of something that looked like an Egyptian kid's refrigerator art.Guide: F-word and nudity (Anna Dawson)

When I saw the DVD cover for this film I was expecting a SyFy channel level production and whilst the opening 10 mins of CGI didn't convince me otherwise I was pleasantly surprised to find a very competently put together take on Lovecraftian horror. The film is certainly low budget and as the producers on the 'Making of' DVD bonus feature state, they worked with what they had, using their own houses as location. Any of these shortcomings are overcome by the great cast, all of whom I have not seen before but did a really good job with the script. Anna Dawson is very convincing as the lead character Olive, slowly loosing her mind to the creature which seems to have some kind of psychic control over her. The characters of Ellie & Matt are also well played and the chemistry between them seems very authentic. There are also some great supporting cast members in there like Doctor Fletcher and Olive's friend Dara. All of the cast play their roles with a straight face which I think was important considering the crazy script. Where the film truly shines is in the practical creature effects which are used sparingly but build up the mystery around the creature. There is plenty of blood and guts for gore fans but it isn't extreme in anyway so fans of more psychological horror films will also be satisfied. The ending of the film takes things to completely insane levels and also surprised me considering the small scope the film had shown thus far and there is potential for a sequel there. As I said before the film is slightly let down by the opening CGI which isn't very good but I don't think it lets it down too much there. For fans of H.P. Lovecraft this is a must see.