Beneath

Though it kicks off with a relatively promising prologue, Beneath‘s few positive elements are ultimately rendered moot by an almost impossibly slow-moving narrative that’s exacerbated by Nora Zehetner’s woefully flat turn as the central character. The storyline follows Zehetner’s Christy Wescot as she returns to her hometown six years after the horrific death of her older sister (Carly Pope’s Vanessa), with the bulk of the movie devoted to Christy’s investigation into Vanessa’s mysterious demise. It’s the fact-finding mission that Christy embarks on that inevitably spells Beneath‘s death knell, as screenwriters Kevin Burke and Dagen Merill have infused the majority of such sequences with a tedious, overly simplistic sensibility that becomes increasingly difficult to overlook. The attractive yet underwhelming cast effectively perpetuates the pseudo-WB vibe and ensures that the film’s consistent efforts at transcending its low-budget, direct-to-video origins prove fruitless, with Burke and Merill’s inability to transform Christy into a compelling figure certainly contributing heavily to Beneath‘s undeniable downfall (although it’s impossible to discount the negative effect that Zehetner’s astonishingly emotionless performance has on the proceedings). There’s little doubt that the aforementioned opening stands as the one compelling interlude within an effort that’s otherwise entirely lackluster, and it’s finally impossible to envision even the target demographic of teenagers finding much worth embracing here.

*1/2 out of ****