Beneath Us All (2023)


REVIEWER RATING: 
7/10

DIRECTOR:

CAST:


Thrilled to see Sean Whalen in a lead role with all the uneasiness of a rural man fostering several children for monetary gain. When the eldest (Cama) ventures into the woods to blow off steam after another home scuffle, she discovers an ancient pendant that is linked to a mysterious feral man, hiding the unthinkable within him.

Beneath Us All is a present-day vampire film stripped of any Twilight glamour, and absolutely no humor such as that found in The Lost Boys. What it DOES provide is all the ugliness and despair that a would-be monster film wouldn’t pretend to hide. High points scored by the incredible cast. Led by foster kid, Julie who is desperately waiting for her 18th birthday to come so she can finally escape the emotional, physical (and presumably sexual) abuse by foster parents Todd and Giselle (the incorrigible Whalen and Olsen), it is when she discovers a powerful force connecting her to primordial predator named Frey (Birch) who slowly possesses her thoughts and eventually…her entire being.

While trying to fight off the urges that start to engulf her after being “turned”, Julie does her best to protect her foster siblings from both the horrors of the home and the terror that lurks outside their doorstep.

During this transformation, a committed social worker (Kait Wallen, who emulates a strong-willed Jennifer Jason Leigh in every scene) is steadfast in shielding these foster children from an evil “animal” that has been on the rampage since Julie’s discovery in the forest. Unknowingly, she puts herself at risk by just standing up to the crude and vile Giselle with each unplanned visit as the exposure of foster care fraud is a front for the couple’s kind and generous appearance.

However much thrilling the story sounds, the pace is way off due to unnecessary story tangents that should have been left on the cutting room floor. For example: the length of the injured bird event that kicks off the movie; the on-going underground gambling and debts that never amount to much; the job offer from sergeant Donovan for Rebecca to relocate and move…all of these side plots just whittle away and die. Was there a foreshadowing I missed? Symbolic relation to the vampiric mission in contemporary society? Probably not, so I’ll just write it off as strange elements that just never fit the narrative.

OVERALL: 
Even good Samaritans like Rebecca can’t elevate Beneath Us All to the potential it may have developed. With Julie’s odd behavior to a terrifying moment (i.e. her unusual friendliness to Frey the moment she encounters him; her immediate eagerness to drink blood from Frey without question), leaves us with a troubled thought that may have come from poor writing, or inaccurate reactions. Even so, the speed of events is sloth-like until everything (finally!) comes to the climatic moment that surprisingly turns into a nice twist which I hadn’t expected. This won’t become a top 5 favorite vampire movie but could be a good source of entertainment on a dark and stormy Sunday evening.


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