‘Below’ Review: An Atmospheric Sea Monster Tale Kept Afloat by a Bounty of Charismatic Performances [TIFF]

As a massive horror fan, you’d think nothing scares me. Quite the contrary. I’m scared of many things, none more so than the terrors that lurk beneath the depths. So, I immediately found myself cowering from Jesse McKeown’s Below, Netflix’s upcoming aquatic horror limited series. An atmospheric tale drenched in eerie mystery, engaging characters, and shocking gore, it’s a welcome dish for anyone missing Widow’s Bay and craving more horror from the sea.

Wholly Canadian and set in the close-knit fishing village of Snook’s Arm, Newfoundland, Below takes place during Come Home Week, an annual homecoming celebration during which families return to reconnect. Meanwhile, a political conflict hangs over the townspeople. The government has asked them to vacate their homes and move their village just four decades after the last time they were forced to do so. If seventy-five percent approve, they’ll get a hefty payout. Widower and fisherman Calvin (Josh Hartnett) has no intention of voting yes, nor does his sister, Ruth (Willow Kean). But that’s not all that threatens to spoil the arrival of Calvin’s children, who have left the island to pursue their lives. Lurking off the coast is an enormous and hungry sea monster…and it’s not alone.

At first glance, Below is a rather average though well-executed (Giant Squid?) story. Following an opening where young Calvin watches his father perish in their family home as they transport it across the sea, the tale eases us into the usual conventions. Grizzled fishermen who met a monster as a kid? Check. Schools of fish (and people) mysteriously disappearing? You betcha. A rival fisherman who Calvin can’t stand? Of course. And then there’s the Jaws influence that McKeown wears on his sleeve, from the upset widow who confronts Calvin on the dock to a poor bastard dragged into the water when the monster breaks the dock in half. Love interest/oceanic scientist, Fonda (Mackenzie Davis), suspects something is amiss after Calvin brings in a hunk of ice drenched in ammonia. All things we’ve seen numerous times before.

Then the first episode ends in a gruesome manner, along with hints of something more supernatural at play, and Below starts to get a lot more interesting.

I screened the first two episodes of the six-episode series. It’s never easy to discuss only a small portion of a show where I only know a bit more than you do. What I can say, though, is that first looks are deceiving with .