They Crawl Beneath
“They Crawl Beneath” is a fairly familiar shape for a horror film. Like “Tremors,” it deals with threats from underneath the surface, but it’s also a survival thriller in the vein of something like “Gravity,” or this summer’s “Fall.” Because of the latter, the film has to build in tension with phones that are dying, or tensions between characters, and those attempts will be familiar to you, as well. It’s effective enough to be entertaining, but I don’t know if you’ll remember it for long afterwards.
Danny (Joseph Almani) is a cop who’s estranged from his wife, Gwen (Karlee Eldridge), after an accident on duty. He’s living with his Uncle Bill (Michael Paré), who’s estranged from the family for reasons that will become clear. While Danny and Bill are working on a vintage car, an earthquake happens, pinning Danny underneath, and killing Bill. Trapped not just by the car, but the closed garage door, Danny must stay alive, but something lurks in the shadows that might get to him first.
The screenplay by Tricia Aurand is as basic a narrative as you can give a film, and that’s fine- it hits those beats well, and does a good job of actually keeping the tension going, even if it goes into some weird areas like having Danny be haunted by Bill, in a way. Everything in the film is not only designed to keep us engaged with Danny’s plight, but also to not just focus on the monster. Director Dale Fabrigar makes the set pieces work fine, and the practical effects on the creatures are good. The performances are a bit uneven. Almani and Paré have good chemistry together, but when he’s on his own, Almani isn’t able to really get away from being in constant distress, or able to show much in the way of believable anxiety or emotion, even when he discovers some unexpected truths. It’s good enough for a cheesy horror film, which “They Crawl Beneath” ultimately is, but doesn’t really give us as much to work with to gauge his overall talents as an actor. Having said that, I enjoyed “They Crawl Beneath” just fine, and if you want a low-key horror film to watch- nothing too tense, nothing too violent- I think it’d be worth a look.
