THE ONES BELOW is a modern addition to the wave of psycho-thriller films that were all the rage in Hollywood in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These films typically depicted suburban families at the menace of urban threats and THE ONES BELOW is no exception. This time around, dull couple Clemence Poesy and Stephen Campbell Moore are an expecting couple whose relationship with their new neighbours, played by David Morrissey and Laura Birn, quickly sours.
This thriller has an early plot twist which comes out of nowhere and is extremely shocking and powerful. Once I saw it, I was hooked. Sadly, the rest of the narrative can't match these early moments, and indeed this is a film that gets gradually more and more predictable as it goes on. As usual the main characters are ten steps behind the viewer and it gets more than a little familiar and more than a little tiresome very quickly.
Poesy makes for an unlikeable heroine although Moore is good, even though his character is typically dim and oblivious to what's going on around him (much like his role in THE CHILDREN). Birn and Morrisey are excellent in their subdued and creepy roles, no surprise given the latter actor's pedigree. This low budget story is well shot and realistic, but towards the end it gets very dramatically unsatisfying, which I put down to laziness on the writer's part. The extensive use of flashbacks is also poor. In the end, this is a seen-it-all-before type film that needs more oomph and more originality to make it work.
This thriller has an early plot twist which comes out of nowhere and is extremely shocking and powerful. Once I saw it, I was hooked. Sadly, the rest of the narrative can't match these early moments, and indeed this is a film that gets gradually more and more predictable as it goes on. As usual the main characters are ten steps behind the viewer and it gets more than a little familiar and more than a little tiresome very quickly.
Poesy makes for an unlikeable heroine although Moore is good, even though his character is typically dim and oblivious to what's going on around him (much like his role in THE CHILDREN). Birn and Morrisey are excellent in their subdued and creepy roles, no surprise given the latter actor's pedigree. This low budget story is well shot and realistic, but towards the end it gets very dramatically unsatisfying, which I put down to laziness on the writer's part. The extensive use of flashbacks is also poor. In the end, this is a seen-it-all-before type film that needs more oomph and more originality to make it work.