Written by: Michael Den Boer on September 28th, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: USA, 2007
Director: Blake Reigle
Writer: Blake Reigle
Cast: Dominique Croix, Tiffany Fox, Andy Freeman, Gloria Grant, Kimberly Higgins, Brett Lawrence
DVD released: October 7th, 2008
Approximate running time: 94 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Letterboxed Widescreen
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital Mono English
Subtitles: N/A
DVD Release: Well Go USA
Region Coding: Region 1 NTSC
Retail Price: $19.98
Synopsis: Ethan an aspiring comic book artist has a crush on his childhood friend Kahlah. After Ethan finds the courage to talk to Kahlah they quickly rekindle the friendship they once had. This doesn’t sit well with Kahlah’s boyfriend Shane who feels threatened by the time she is spending with Ethan. Things quickly escalate out of control when Kahlah dies from a drug overdose at Shane’s party. Ethan who blames Shane for her death brings her back to life to get her revenge against Shane.
Beneath the Surface was directed by first time filmmaker Blake Reigle, who also wrote the film’s screenplay. The plot revolves around a young man named Ethan and his crush on Kahlah a childhood friend. Ethan is pretty much a loner outside of his one close friend Eric. Ethan and Eric are outsiders at their high school while Kahlah has traveled a different path as part of the in crowd. This is not your typical zombie film. The Zombie in this film Kahlah is brought back to life when Ethan use some voodoo. He brings her back so that she can point the finger at her killer her boyfriend Shane. Trying to get her to remember that tragic night is not an easy task. Ethan soon discovers that bringing Kahlah back to life has its own repercussions. The voodoo that he used has side effects that are activated when Kahlah has a break through after seeing Shane for the first time since her resurrection. The Shane character is the quintessential affluent asshole boyfriend who never takes responsibility for his actions.
Blake Reigle does a spectacular job with the visuals and the film’s editing choices. The cast is made up of virtually all unknown actor and actresses who all exceed expectations and then some. The film’s most amazing performance is Dominique Croix who gives a flawless performance as Kahlah. It is not easy to play a dead person for 2/3’s of a film and have to covey everything through your eyes and body language. Unlike most indie horror films that lack depth and are only an endless parade of gore. Beneath the Surface takes the opposite route with the focus more on the story and the characters that populate it. Then some madman type scenario where the bodies start to pile up. Beneath the Surface is refreshing and unique twist on the take on the zombie/horror film. Overall what makes Beneath the Surface so enjoyable is its cleaver dialog and well rounded characters.
The DVD:
Beneath the Surface is presented in a letterboxed widescreen that preserves the films original aspect ratio. This is a clean looking transfer that sports nicely saturated colors and details look crisp throughout. The knocks against this transfer is that is it non anamorphic and that during some of the darker scenes details are not as Sharp.
This release comes with two audio options a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and a Dolby Digital stereo mix. You can’t go wrong with either mix as they both sound clean and clear. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix sounds slightly fuller then the stereo mix.
Extras for this release include an extensive image gallery, three music videos, four deleted scenes (2:50) and a ten minute segment titled “Beneath the Movie: Outtakes and Behind the Scenes”. The main extra is a fun and informative audio commentary with the film’s director Blake Reigle. Overall Well Go USA gives Beneath the Surface gets a fully loaded DVD release.