What is it about “The Devil Below,” which has gone viral and is currently on Netflix’s top ten most-watched list, that makes it so special? Is it the suspense, the strange, unsettling finale, or the creature that has yet to be discovered? Bradley Parker directs this 2021 horror thriller, which stars Alicia Sanz, Adan Canto, Zach Avery, and many others.
The film follows a group of academics as they strive to locate Shookum Hills, a mining town in the Appalachian region, while facing a creepy mystery and terrible underground monsters. The loss of the town’s people, as well as the town’s disappearance from the map and the ongoing coal mine fire, add to the mystery.
The film began filming in Kentucky in May 2018, based on a script written by Eric Scherbarth and Stefan Jaworski. Chernobyl Diaries director Parker is also noted for his work on the film. Simultaneously, a couple of the actors in this film were also in the Chernobyl Diaries cast.
Let us now travel to the world of the long-forgotten underground coal mine and learn about the devils who dwell there.
The Devil Below
The movie commenced in the coal mines of the fictional town of Shookum Hills in the Appalachian region, where we find a man named Schuttmann and his son Derek arguing about another co-worker. Derek is suddenly attacked by an unknown creature. His father tried his best to save his son, but the creature stabbed him in the shoulder and paralyzed him. Schuttmann stared in despair as Derek was pulled away by the monster before his eyes. Before we even realize anything, the monster attack commences and puts us on the edge of the seat.
After many years we meet Arianne, an adventurer who was supposed to guide a team of scientists, Darren, Shawn, Terry, and Jaime, trying to locate the coal mine in Shookum Hills. This town had vanished from the maps since the 1970s with its population. The local newspapers and the people around believed that the underground coal fire that opened up sinkholes in and around the town was responsible for the disappearance of the townspeople.
On their way to the coal mine, Arianne and the group stopped at a store to buy supplies and get the direction to Shookum Hills. At first, the shop owner denied any knowledge of such a town but on insisting, he warned them to go back and not proceed with the journey. As the team moved with the journey, the shop owner called someone named Dale and informed him that there was a problem.
Soon, Arianne noticed that a car was following them, but she managed to elude the pursuers and found an abandoned road blocked by an electrical fence. They were surprised to find electrical fencing in the abandoned area in the middle of nowhere. Arianne found a way by climbing up a tree, to enter the deserted area. At night as the group debated about the fate of the Shookum Hills, the locals appeared distressed as they tried the locate Arianne and her group and get them out of that place at any cost.
Later that night when Arianne asked Darren about his expedition, he explained that he was there to find out the exact reason behind the vanishing of the town so that this kind of disaster could be avoided in the future. The next morning, they set out on their journey and finally reached the Shookum Mines.
They were ecstatic with their discovery and soon found a sinkhole covered with an electrified fence. They disabled the electricity and lowered sensors to understand the environment inside. But soon, Terry was dragged inside the sinkhole. Arianne and Jaime descended into the sinkhole to find and rescue Terry, but he was nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, Darren and Shawn were confronted by angry Dale threatening them with a gun and asking them why they had opened the sinkhole cover. As Dale tried to cut the rope, Shawn hit him unconscious. Once Arianne and Jaime returned from the sinkhole, she told them that there were unearthly creatures in the hole. The group fled into the woods, but Shawn was attacked and killed.
Some of the locals rescued Arianne, Darren, and Jaime under the guidance of none other than Schuttman, whom we met at the first scene. Now we know that Schuttman was the co-founder of the Skookum Hills Mines. He revealed to the group that the real reason behind the disappearance of the town was the devilish monsters that lived below the earth. Ever since he and the remaining townsmen had tried their level best to keep the creatures contained.
Arianne volunteered to the two locals, Ellroy and Shellby, to show the sinkhole they had opened, while Darren and Jaime decided to follow her. But the creatures ambushed them as Ellroy and Shellby sacrificed their lives to save Arianne, Darren, and Jaime. Jaime tried to kill a few creatures with a grenade, but he himself got killed when the grenade detonated.
Totally exhausted, Darren finally confessed that this expedition was not to locate the Shookum Hills and investigate the disaster, but he had been hired by a coal mining company, who believed that there was some rare mineral in the coal of Shookum Hills Mines which burned for a longer time.
The entire research was about that rare mineral. The motive behind the expedition was the greed of money and recognition, not concern about nature and humanity. Arianne also confessed that in her previous expedition in the Himalayas, an experienced climber of her group fell off the mountain and kept hanging, while she had to cut the rope to save her finally. She consoled Darren about situations in life when a person had to make tough decisions.
Darren refused to move on. Arianne left for the moment, determined to bring back more help for him. But, as soon as she reached the surface above, she was captured by a creature and paralyzed by the venom. She regained consciousness for a brief time when she saw that she was being carried away in a raft with the corpse of Shellby.
Soon she was stung again, and she fainted. The next time she awakened, she met Darren and Shawn. Shawn is then consumed alive by the Queen of these monsters. Next, it was Arianne’s turn, but at the nick of the moment, she threw the grenade in the Queen’s mouth while Darren started the alarm on the phone to distract the monsters. Darren and Arianne fled and began to climb up the rope, but many creatures chased them, and one of them started climbing up the rope.
Adrianne passed him the knife to fight, but Darren sacrificed his life by cutting the rope and saving Adrianne’s life. The local people reached the sinkhole, and one of them was about to cut the rope with which Adrianne was climbing, but Schuttman stopped that person and saved her. The local people used flamethrowers to drive the creatures back to the cave and managed to seal the sinkhole that Darren had opened. While Schuttman drove Arianne, she told him about his son’s death and he requested her to stay back in the town and fight the creature with him. At first, she seemed reluctant, but then she readily agreed and got into the car with Schutzman.
The movie is decent enough within its budget to keep you on the edge of the seat. With its tight-packed plot, it gets to the action from the very first scene. The background score and the cinematography are appropriate according to the tense theme of the film. The performance of the actors is also pretty impressive. I would repeat exactly the same thing that the other critics have mentioned. This is not a movie that would go for the award-taking film list, but at least it has been one of the most-watched films on Netflix. One of the major drawbacks of the movie is the dark atmosphere. Most of the film has been shot in so much darkness that hardly anything is visible. This is supposed to be a creature feature film. So let us discuss a bit of the creature, as much was visible.
Underground Grotesque Creatures Explained
The concept of the monster creatures in “The Devil Below” was pretty good, and it could have been terrifying if and only if we could see it properly. Let us recall that at the beginning, we were made to understand that Schuttman and his son, Derek, had been attacked by the creature. Schutzman tried to help his son, but the creature was too powerful for him, and Derek had been pulled away in front of his eyes.
When Arianne and the group reached the locality of Shookum Hills, the tense atmosphere was evident from the conversation of the local people and the tight security that was being maintained to keep people away from the abandoned mines. Unlike the local people, the outsiders were totally unaware of the devils below and the threat they posed to mankind.
The entry gate and the opening of the sinkhole were all electrified. If the group had paid more attention to all these minute details, they might have thought twice before entering the area. The found-footage clips also had a scary impact.
Next, we find the existence of the creature right below the sinkhole of the abandoned Shookum Hills Mines when Terry was dragged inside the sinkhole. Adrianne and Jaime went down the sinkhole to save Terry, but Adrianne could hear the strange sounds inside the cave, which made her suspicious that something unearthly lived inside the cave. By the time Shawn was dragged away, it had become evident that something monstrous was after them.
We could only get glimpses of the grotesque humanoid creatures in the dark which were attacking them. Later, when the local people rescued them, Schuttman revealed the secret of the monsters to them, explaining the existence of tight security in and around the area. Later, Shelby told them that the monsters were attracted to loud sounds. She also said that they have a sharp, pointed, poisonous tentacle that they use to attack and paralyze people.
Soon they heard that due to the opening of the sinkhole, the creatures had come out and were roaming everywhere. Their primary task was to cover and seal the sinkhole to protect mankind from the wrath of the devil below. Unfortunately, everyone was captured by the creature, alive or dead. When Arianne was taken inside, she met Darren and Shawn, who were still alive.
Shawn explained that these monsters were alternate creatures that remain underground in a colony with the Queen as their leaders, like the ants and the bees. Before he could say anything, he was dragged away and fed to the Queen. We could see the grisly Queen, whose series of sharp jaws could give anyone a nightmare.
So, then it was evident that all the human beings that were dragged away were brought as a feast to the Queen, who was their leader, though I am quite curious to know what did the Queen eat for so many years when the sinkhole was locked, and no one was around? Anyway, the Queen was killed when Adrianne threw a grenade inside her mouth, while the other monsters chased her, but she managed to escape. The locals managed to drive them back into the cave and seal the sinkhole once again.
Why Should You Watch the Devil Below
As I mentioned earlier, apart from the minimum view of the monster creature, the film offers everything you need in a horror movie. I have already warned you about the darkness issue of the film. No matter how hard I tried to get a good glimpse of the monster, like increasing the brightness and contrast, lots of fast forward and rewind but no luck.
One good thing is that there was only practical effect and no CGI for the monster creature in the movie. But there should have been more of a creature effect visible to the audience. There is plenty of scope for a sequel of the film, and we hope that we get to see some more creature feature in the next film. When you are craving a monster horror movie on a lazy day, and your mind doesn’t need anything complex to digest, this is just the right movie on the watch list.