In the wake of the success of Apple TV+ Widow’s Bay is Below, an eerie supernatural Netflix drama about a fishing village in remote Newfoundland. The comparisons between the two feel inevitable. Both share enough water-based, spooky supernatural DNA to satisfy your cravings for the Matthew Rhys Emmy-winning series.
Created by Jesse McKeown (The Umbrella Academy), Below takes place in the remote Newfoundland town called Snook’s Arm, with no hospital, very few modernities, and a distinct sense of identity. This TV series follows the current trend for finding horror in isolation, away from the comfort blanket of technology.
Welcome To Snook’s Arm
Below focuses on Calvin Penney (Josh Hartnett), a widowed father dissatisfied with his inherited ice-harvesting job, his chaotic son Wade (Charlie Heaton) and his grounded sister Ruth (Willow Kean).
Calvin’s other two kids, Mary (Ruby Stokes) and Jay (Rohan Campbell), have recently returned to Snook’s Arm for a “Come Home Year”, a tradition where residents come back to their hometown. She has a new boyfriend, he has debts, neither of these things matter on the big scheme of things but they do add texture to the plot.
The family is immediately presented as salt-of-the-earth people just doing their best. The threat of the Canadian government hangs over their heads, wanting to resettle the village due to the high costs of maintaining public services in the remote location. The government is offering residents a significant amount of cash to move, but Calvin won’t budge. So, as you can expect, pig-headed Calvin isn’t the best-liked figure in the community.
But, Calvin has his own reasons for staying on the island and for wanting to stick with his fishing life. Although something strange is happening to their home. A Portuguese fishing vessel has gone missing, the ice is oily, people are vanishing and limbs are washing up ashore.
Meanwhile, marine researcher Fonda (Mackenzie Davis) is on the island investigating the ice. Nothing in this post-COVID era is scarier than a scientist finding something unexplainable and then being blocked from stopping it or helping it. There are plenty of not-so-suitable references to climate change, melting glaciers and warming oceans. There are too many other more interesting strands for Below to follow to give a TED talk on global warming, which is a little disappointing.
Within the first 30 minutes, the landscape of Below is laid out. The show very smartly sets up the island and its water as the leading characters, and then introduces all the humans. The opening episodes also expertly balance the threat of real-life dangers in this remote setting and a mystical one lurking underneath the expansive water.
A Sea Creature Tale With Family At Its Heart
Below is predominantly a sea monster yarn and it doesn’t shy away from showing these aquatic terror, nor the harm they can cause. But, this isn’t a megamonster, turn your brain off as everyone dies TV series. Under the Giant Squid is the story of a community clinging to their identity, a man grieving, and the cycles of trauma.
That makes Below sound dark and deep, sometimes it is, and sometimes it is just a sea monster causing destruction. The show balances these two tones succinctly, and while it has nowhere near the gags of Widow’s Bay, it certainly doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Of course, once the mainland gets word of these mythical happenings, they descend and break the peace. In comes David Wenham having a whale of a time as an eccentric “climate change activist” chewing as much scenery as the sea creatures are. His arrival on the island turns up the chaos by at least 50%, whether that is a positive change or not very much depends on audience perception.
The last two episodes break down the family drama and commit to the Man Vs Giant Squid plot thread. There is probably more build-up than payoff, but the suspense of getting to the scare is half the fun. By the end of the series, there are a lot of characters, a lot of tentacles, and a lot of splashing around in the dark. It’s chaos, but it’s thrilling chaos.
Great Acting, Just Ignore The Accents
Below has cinematic ambition that gives this six-part series a shine. The cinematography uses the landscape as another character, shooting this remote world through a permanently dusky lens. Minus a few questionable VFX shots, this show looks chillingly gorgeous.
Before mentioning the actors, it must be said that Below features some of the worst accents of the year. No one’s Newfoundland Irish accent sounds very good, and it takes a good few minutes for your ears to adjust to what they are trying to say. The terrible accents add to the uncanny valley nature of this tale.
Josh Hartnett continues a stellar comeback run in Below, as a grieving dad trying to hold himself and his family together. Hartnett is expertly falling into a haunted man type of figure. Heaton does a little too much here, though his character’s love of a psychedelic substance makes this kind of performance work. Davis is once again delivering solid work that deserves much more than the thankless task of being the scientist warning people who won’t listen.
Below is a surprise hit for Netflix. While it’s an effective, if not occasionally low-budget, monster show, it works even better as a character study or a community clinging to its own legacy. Fresh, fun, and entirely bingeable, Below is a supernatural thriller well worth your time.
Below is now streaming on Netflix.
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