Underwood Review

Writer/director John McLoughlin’s new film Underwood is a small budget production that has taken five years to create. Movies with a development timeline and budget like this must always be viewed and critiqued on its own merits. Unfortunately, Underwood doesn’t handle its limitations gracefully. The film has many noticeable problems that makes it challenging to stay engaged for a long period of time. There’s a clear passion put into Underwood, but it doesn’t take long for the plethora of poorly executed elements to completely mar the charm that the film does have.

Underwood follows a novelist named Samantha, who embarks on a retreat to a lakefront property recently purchased by her boyfriend in order to relax and try to overcome her writers block. Samantha doesn’t spend long in the cabin before feeling as if it’s home to a strange presence. Odd things begin to happen, and Samantha starts to have strange and haunting recurring dreams that slowly begin to unravel mysteries and secrets about the small town that the cabin resides.

The films strongest aspect is McLoughlin’s screenplay, which offers some intriguing moments and dialogue that flows well. The supernatural mystery that blurs the lines between reality and fiction is carried out interestingly enough, but Underwood’s story is constantly burdened by nearly every other aspect of the film. The terrible performances from everyone involved ruins any element of suspense or tension that the film attempts to create. McLoughlin’s inconsistent directing combined with the poor cinematography results in scenes that are either visually stale or framed poorly. There are moments that feature playful camera movement or underwater moments that are wonderfully done, but these only stick out so much due to the lack of consistent quality in the majority of the visuals.

Underwood also displays questionable editing choices that are often jarring or bizarre. The film has many noticeable continuity errors that can become distracting. The erratic changes in sound quality also makes some scenes a more difficult experience to fully enjoy.

Overall, the poor acting can often result in moments that are enjoyable for the wrong reasons, sometimes crossing into the “so bad that it’s funny” territory during some of the films more serious scenes. McLoughlin’s newest film is in no way devoid of creativity or ambition, but it’s too apparent that the clever story of Underwood can't overcome its technical hurdles.

The dreadful acting, poor editing and inconsistent directing of Underwood ruins the creative and intriguing moments of John McLoughlin’s story.

Produced By: Professional Slacker
Runtime: 93 minutes
Rating: Not Rated