Beneath

Young Christy (Nora Zehetner) at the age of 14 has suffered a terrible loss. With both parents now dead and buried, it’s her and her sister against the world. One day after visiting the grave of their parents Christy talks Vanessa (Carly Pope) into letting her drive. Being 14 and easily distracted, the worst happens and the car crashes into a large roadside obstacle trapping Vanessa in the wreckage. Leaving her sister horribly burned and disfigured, and eventually dead, Christy grows into a dark and brooding woman as she is forced to deal with the damage she has caused. Starting with what seemed like an obsession with her past she soon begins to suspect that the visions she is seeing are exactly that; visions. Following the clues she sets forth to find the truth of her sister’s death and to find if she was in fact not responsible.

Stylistically, Beneath is a fairly attractive package that exudes atmosphere seldom seen in this day and age. With an overlying dreamy feel the movie takes on an otherworldly tint. As we delve deeper into Christy’s visions and the line blurs between her dreams and reality. With a sleepy pace it’s pretty easy to slip into this one, drawn in to her world of strangeness and fear. Zehetner works well as her suspicions and fear play into your uneasiness. Unfortunately the two of these combined are not enough to push Beneath into ‘good’ movie territory leaving it mired in mediocre and forgettable.

The biggest fault I can attribute this too is that while the pacing and atmosphere is very nice, they throw so much into this that it becomes muddled and hard to follow. The vision sequences are easy enough to follow as the cinematography changes to reflect these sequences but it’s hard to pinpoint just exactly what she’s seeing and when it was supposed to take place. Is she seeing the past? Is she seeing the future? It’s really hard to say; as they plod along we see glimpses of both. It’s been said that hindsight is 20/20, which is the case with Beneath. Many of these glimpses and sketches make sense after the credits have begun to roll. The problem being that by the time the credits have rolled, you’ve already forgotten about this flick and you really don’t feel like putting in the effort.

This is a movie that I did not regret watching. The overall package is good enough for a viewing. The cast puts in a worthy performance to keep you engrossed with Zehetner standing out with her troubled and scared Christy. However, even with its heavy and well crafted atmosphere Beneath feels confusing by the end with a muddled plot line that often leaves you scratching your head. The biggest fault of all though is that after all is said and done? This movie is forgettable as it begins to slip from your mind immediately.

2.5 Zehetner could still use a sandwich’s out of 5