Review: THEY CRAWL BENEATH

Let’s begin October with a new creature horror movie, They Crawl Beneath!

It’s difficult not to hear swelling music after saying the movie title out loud. Tagged as “the Practical Effects-Driven Sci-Fi Creature Feature” directed by Dale Fabrigar, we are treated to ground dwelling monsters that could possibly be distant relatives of the graboids in the Tremors franchise.

Official Synopsis:

Young police officer Danny (Joseph Almani) is working on an antique car at his uncle’s remote ranch when a major earthquake hits, pinning him under the vehicle and leaving him bloodied, alone, and with no way to call for help. Just when he thinks the claustrophobic nightmare can’t get any worse, something truly horrifying emerges from the fissures in the ground, forcing Danny to engage in a brutal fight for his life—and his sanity.

After enduring a squirmy montage of nematodes, we land on a lone ranch in the middle of nowhere. Our hero Danny has decided to spend Thanksgiving with the black sheep of the family, his uncle. In a short time frame, we also learn that Danny is going through a rough spot with his girlfriend and he’s a cop. A quick snapshot to establish that Danny is a caring and resourceful man. From the arguments with his girlfriend, does Danny cherish his life to live out with her? A question that bleeds into the movie later on. It’s not just a shaky relationship, there has also been a lot of seismic activity. Danny’s worries are dismissed by the uncle as the need to fix this vintage car right now overrides any concerns of safety.

Seriously. Go to the hospital if you are bit by a giant nematode.

Before accident that spawns the movie, one major missed checkpoint to safety was the lack of any action after the first bite. While standing around waiting for Danny, the uncle is bitten by one of the nematodes. With barely any reaction, he just swats his leg and casually mentions it to Danny later.

At least Danny scoops up the nematode to submit to a convenient contact for research. Maybe mysterious bites are common while ranching out in the middle of nowhere. It is understanding that heading to the hospital for a minor injury is not worth the long drive. However, when it's the bite from something that looks like a toothy maggot, it is most preferable to jump in the car and head straight o the hospital. Even without knowing about the fast-moving fatal neurotoxin, the decision to get that bite checked out would have been a no-brainer.

But then, we wouldn’t have a B-movie to entertain us.

It is this decision to stay in the teeny garage to work on the car combined with the earthquake that yields the most predictable outcome: both men are now trapped under the car. This is the beginning of many questionable decisions that quickly establishes that this movie will not go down the logic road smoothly. How they both end up trapped is already a sheer affront to safety protocol. The dismayed cries of all car mechanics and enthusiasts can easily be heard with this scene.

The creature movie quickly shifts into a survivor story. Danny has to pry his leg out and to defend himself against the blood-thirsty nematodes crawling up from the ground. It is easy to imagine this movie as a survivor type video game. Everything he needs to survive, including a sandwich, is within reach. If the items started blinking or glowing to indicate their usefulness, I would not have been surprised.

So what are these nematode monsters? They apparently grow really fast within a few hours. It’s not clear if it’s because they are exposed to the open elements or once they munched on human flesh. These monstrous nematodes are not only gigantic but we learn that they leave a typical slimy trail, can movie fast, are sensitive to light, contain a venom, and does a satisfyingly bloody splat when they are killed. They also display traits of menace and a bit of sarcasm seen in moments when they peer around the headlight to hiss some fear into Danny. Even though there is more than one, they all attack in their own time. They are not the mindless worms that you dissected in science class.

How these nematodes are so big and aggressive was sort of explained as a result of soil salination and pollution. Any future details would have been provided had the scientists not poked around the lab. Which already brings up a major question after watching the movie. What happened to the one that attacked the lab? Did it attack other lab personnel and got bigger and more blood thirsty?

The list of characteristics of these giant nematodes are enough to make a biology students head explode. Yet the questions will still pile up. How were these creatures feeding on blood? A nematode does not have a circulatory system nor the capabilities to process blood. It all comes down to it is what it is: a movie that takes a delightful saunter down wacka-doodle lane. With monsters.

They Crawl Beneath carries the same cinematic weight as movies such the 1954 film, THEM! Except switch the giant ants for giant nematodes. Essentially, what was small is now big and threatening human kind. It must be squished. Push aside questions of how this is happening. It just is. The question that should be forefront in your mind is: would you survive if you in Danny’s place? Assuming you were not fixing a car using an old car jack inside a rickety garage during a wave of mysterious earthquakes.

How is there not a giant swam of monster nematodes coming out of that fissure?!

The fissures created by the earthquakes seemed to provide an opening for the nematodes to escape but only the one in the garage is being actively used. Swarms are not emerging from the giant ones in the road. Just a steady onslaught from this one ranch. Which admittedly leads to a possible secondary layer to the movie. As Danny is fending off the monsters, he learns about the deeply buried secret within the family. His mind is already warping thanks to the nerve-destructive venom but his mind struggles to stay in reality at the same time he is mentality revisiting traumatic memories,. Each of the nematodes become faster and stronger (somehow) as Danny digs deep within. The nematodes could definitely a be a physical manifestation of all of the secrets that were “buried” deep and are now coming to light.

They Crawl Beneath is a perfect candidate for a late movie to much popcorn on. As the movie transitioned to game mode, viewers can also be amused with how everything Danny needed is conveniently near him and with some slight “MacGyver” skills, he is able to move on the next level of the creature feature. There is no gore or drawn out scenes to stretch out the jump scare. It is a movie that harkens back to the science fiction cinema of creatures. In a movie landscape of CGI and human gloom, it is a pleasure to enjoy a fun movie of epic nematodic proportions.

They Crawl Beneath out now on blu-ray and DVD

ABOUT WELL GO USA ENTERTAINMENT

Well Go USA Entertainment (www.wellgousa.com) is an Oscar®-nominated theatrical and home entertainment distribution label that specializes in bringing the best in action, genre and independent films from the U.S. and around the world to North America. Well Go titles can be seen across a variety of platforms, including in theaters, on-demand, via DVD and Blu-ray and on television, as well as on mobile and connected devices through martial arts action channel Hi-YAH! (www.hiyahtv.com). Well Go USA Entertainment’s corporate headquarters is in Plano, Texas, with an additional office in Taiwan.