Devil Beneath (2023)

The Devil Beneath is, in Australian slang, "pretty stink". There's a dose of woke twaddle, I can ignore but the rather tedious story plus the really bad special effects, let this thing down.

Perhaps the only upside, is the acting is mostly alright but so much else is off, well, it makes it hard to say positive things.

In summary, a pretty basic, not terribly good horror, from down under.

The first thing "Nick" (Dan Ewing) discovers when he arrives at the home of his late grandfather is an half-eaten kangaroo on the lawn! Then his brother "Tristan" (Tim Pocock) appears with a shovel and assuming it was the victim of a crocodile, they bury the animal. "Tristan" has a decision to make about their inherited property. Will he agree to leave it to the local Aboriginal population or will he sell it to developers? Well that decision might be taken out of his hands by the source of some fearful noises that are emanating from the woods, especially as their friends turn up for a party and then start to go missing! There really isn't anything original about this 'creature from the black lagoon" style mystery, peppered as it is with familial discord and horny friendships, but once we get to the last half hour the thing comes alive a little better with some decent visual effects and a wee bit of roar and gore mixed in with plenty of gunfire, overturned trucks and some traditional mythology. The narrative is a bit of mess and neither the acting nor the writing are going to win any prizes, but the two lads are easy enough on the eye and it's eventually got just enough action and mysticism to make it watchable - once!