Film Review: Fear Below (2025) - Australia
I rated it 6/10
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Not the crystalline terror of the open ocean, but the thick, brown soup of the Murray River in 1946. Not sleek neoprene, but clanking, copper diving suits that look like medieval torture devices crossed with deep-sea coffins. “Fear Below”, Australian director Matthew Holmes' simple genre mash-up, takes the well-worn shark thriller and drags it kicking and gasping into the muddy depths of post-war Australian noir. It’s a fascinating, atmospheric gamble that mostly works, even if its teeth aren’t quite as sharp as its premise promises.
The atmosphere is the undeniable star here. Holmes and his production designers conjure a world heavy with the grime of war’s aftermath and the desperation of men clinging to the edge. The river isn’t just a setting; it’s a character – opaque, suffocating, hiding ancient secrets and a very modern, very territorial bull shark. The genius lies in swapping sun-dappled panic for silt-choked dread. You don’t fear what you see; you fear the monstrous shapes your mind conjures in that impenetrable murk. And those diving suits! They aren’t protection; they’re prisons, making every submerged moment a battle against crushing weight and dwindling air. This is vulnerability etched in copper and rivets.
Hermione Corfield, as Clara, provides the film’s essential, beating heart. She’s the anchor for the aptly named "Sea Dog Diving Company," radiating a practical resilience that feels earned, not scripted. Jacob Junior Nayinggul is equally compelling as diver whose wartime scars are mirrored by the fresh terror below. Jake Ryan plays the very terrestrial menace of a criminal syndicate breathing down both necks. Their desperation is palpable, a gritty energy that fuels the film’s best moments. Indeed, the tension crackling between these river rats and the land-bound thugs often generates more genuine peril than the aquatic predator. That’s a testament to the script’s understanding that human greed and desperation are the oldest, most reliable monsters.
Ah, but the shark. This magnificent, territorial female bull shark – a creature worthy of primal nightmares – feels curiously underemployed. While the commitment to practical effects and miniatures is laudable, a refreshing antidote to weightless CGI, the execution sometimes betrays the ambition. The "dry-for-wet" technique, while admirably attempting to capture the oppressive gloom, often renders the underwater sequences frustratingly indistinct. Action becomes obscured shapes in brown fog. Furthermore, the film’s pacing leans deliberately towards a heist-gone-wrong drama, thick with human treachery and survivalist grit.
So, what are we left with? “Fear Below” is a solid, often beautifully crafted piece of Australian genre cinema. It succeeds magnificently as a period crime drama steeped in post-war disillusionment and river muck. The performances resonate, the setting is uniquely terrifying, and the mood is thick enough to cut with a knife. Holmes has crafted something distinct. But as a pure shark horror film? It lacks the visceral punch, the sustained aquatic terror its title and premise suggest. The final act, while tense, doesn’t quite deliver the cathartic, watery dread it seems to promise.
See it for the bliss atmosphere, the performances, and the fascinating period grit. See it for the unique terror of that muddy river and those claustrophobic suits. Just don’t expect the shark to truly surface as the star. It’s less a classic creature feature, more a compelling, murky thriller where the real monsters might just be wearing suits and carrying guns. And sometimes, that’s frightening enough. (Neo, 2025)
I’m the film’s director and I 100% agree with your assessment of my film. The shark sequences were the letdown, but it was not planned to be that way. The original screenplay had SOOOO much more shark stuff and the finale was far grander. Sadly, due to a number of circumstances the film was not able to be shot or edited the way I wanted it to be, so what eventuated was a half-arsed version of a once fantastic script.