Highlights
- Underwater is a thriller/horror film set in an underwater facility that is on the brink of destruction after an earthquake in the Mariana Trench.
- The film references other deep sea thrillers like The Abyss and Sphere, leaving audiences clamoring for more.
- The ending reveals that the horror aspect of the film was heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, with the creature resembling Cthulhu and hints at a potential sequel.
Deep sea thrillers are a rare commodity in cinema these days, but they make for some of the more intriguing stories in the thriller/horror genre. From James Cameron's The Abyss to Barry Levinson's Sphere, they leave audiences talking for months. Underwater's ending left audiences clamoring for more after discovering the horror aspect of the film was heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft. A successful twist by William Eubank, who only directed three productions prior, one of which was a music video.
Underwater follows a crew of engineers and scientists in an underwater facility that's on the brink of destruction after an earthquake shakes the entire Mariana Trench. Kristen Stewart plays the engineer Norah Price and takes center stage throughout the film, leading the few survivors to safety despite encountering unknown creatures that have no issue surviving in the depths of the ocean.
What is Underwater About?
Director | William Eubank |
|---|---|
Writers | Brian Duffield and Adam Cozad |
Cast | Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Mamoudou Athie |
Release Date | January 10, 2020 |
The Mariana Trench is the deepest point on Earth and is easily the least explored place on the planet. It's easy to see why setting a horror movie there could be frightening. Many movies use the Mariana Trench as a plot device, with 2007's Transformers featuring it as a prison for Megatron and The Meg using its mysteries to house the prehistoric megalodon shark. Underwater uses it in a similar fashion to The Meg, with the drilling crew aboard the Keppler 822 encountering previously undiscovered creatures awoken by crew's drilling.
Norah Price (Kristen Stewart) and other crewmembers realize Keppler 822 is flooding, and they have to flee to the nearby Shepherd facility in order to escape to the surface. Along the way, aquatic creatures pick off one crewmember after another only for Price and the few survivors with her to realize there a no more escape pods in the facility. This prompts them to flee to the Roebuck 641 facility where she's hopeful a few escape pods remain.
Underwater is a monster movie that gives a nod to those movies that paved a trail for it to follow, such as Alien, Leviathan, and The Abyss. There's not a lot of meat for thematic fans to bite into, but Underwater subtly suggests that it's a film about human greed, specifically corporate greed, with Jessica Hanwick's Emily saying:
We’ve drilled too deep. We’ve taken too much
H.P. Lovecraft created the Monster in Underwater
No, H.P. Lovecraft wasn't on set giving the director or production designer ideas to use, but during post-production of Underwater, director William Eubank decided to have the team design the monstrous creature to fit the description of Cthulhu. Brian Duffield (No One Will Save You), who wrote the screenplay, only designated the creature as "Behemoth," and it stayed that way for two years of the movie's production. Eubank talked with Bloody Disgusting:
Brian Duffield wrote this terrific, scary film, but it wasn’t Cthulhu. It was just called a Behemoth. And I was in post for two years, basically. And during that time, when [we] actually started designing and creating what this Behemoth was gonna look like, I just knew at that point the movie was more mystical; in the way we shot it, in the way there were so many unanswered questions.
Making Underwater a secret Cthulhu movie added a lot of value to the movie while taking audiences by surprise. It's a new kind of shock value that pays off and makes sense. It's rare that a movie begins its path in one direction only to take another. It's even rarer for that new direction to lead to the incorporation of a prolific literary creature. Pitting characters against a god-like entity that towers over them in the depths of the ocean not only makes them feel small, but it also makes the audience feel small, with an added level of claustrophobia.
What makes the Great Old One's inclusion in this film even better is that the characters don't have a name for it. And why would they? It's a gargantuan creature towering over the facility that climbed out of the depths of the Mariana Trench. Nobody on Earth had encountered such a thing. However, there's reason to believe that the company Price worked for, Tian Industries, had knowledge of its existence and it's the reason they're drilling.
How did Underwater End?
Once Price realizes there are no more escape pods in the Shepherd facility, she, Liam Smith, and Emily Haversham have to make their way for the Roebuck 641 facility, which requires traversing the ocean floor one mile. In reality, this trek would be impossible due to the depth of the Mariana Trench. Thanks to cinematic science and the creation of submersible pressurized suits, Price and the remaining survivors are able to make the hike. Unfortunately, they need to avoid detection from the mysterious creatures that have been picking them off throughout the film.
Price commits herself to getting her two crewmates to safety as it's apparent they just want to get to the surface to get married after all the turmoil they encountered on the ocean floor. Unfortunately, they encounter a nest of the menacing aquatic creatures hovering around the Roebuck's entrance once the station is in sight. They resolve to walk slowly through the maze of creatures, with Haversham dragging Smith due to a prior injury. Haversham accidentally awakens one of the creatures as swallows her whole, forcing her to react quickly and use her flare gun to blast her way out. This scuffle awakens the rest of the nest and just as they're about to attack the three survivors, they pull back to reveal the Great One.
When the three finally make it inside, Price discovers that there are only two escape pods and they only hold one passenger at a time. She resolves to sacrifice herself, allowing the other two to survive. Naturally, there's brief reluctance on Haversham's part as she doesn't want Price to sacrifice herself, but some quick negotiating gets her into her pod, and Price launches them both. The smaller creatures immediately make chase for the two pods. Price, being the crafty engineer that she is, overheats the facility's core and turns the Roebuck station into a thermonuclear bomb, seemingly killing the smaller creatures along with the great Cthulhu while Haversham and her beau make it to the surface.
As the credits roll, newspaper clippings litter the screen suggesting Tian Industries was fully aware of the creatures, using the drilling as a means to investigate them. There's potential for a sequel as the newspapers reveal that the conglomerate intends to expand its drilling operations in the trench and that this wasn't the first incident.