On the big screen at least, horror can always typically be relied on to post a strong opening weekend. It doesn’t matter in the slightest what the critics say, audiences are never going to grow tired of that visceral thrill that comes with being scared out of your seat, which is why so many widely-panned titles often pull in big numbers before fading from memory in no time at all.
The VOD market is another story entirely, though, with a relentless churn of low budget chillers and gory slashers arriving on an almost weekly basis, many of which are catered specifically to the diehards. One title that didn’t manage to appeal to anyone, however, was The Devil Below, which scored a limited theatrical release back in March, wound up gaining a reputation as one of 2021’s worst horror movies, and currently boasts the unwanted distinction of a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Director Bradley Parker has a decent track record in other departments, having worked as Matt Reeves’ second unit director on his two Planet of the Apes blockbusters and The Batman, while he’s also been a visual effects supervisor on projects such as Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Loki and upcoming actioner Bullet Train. However, having made his feature debut on the maligned Chernobyl Diaries back in 2012, maybe wielding the megaphone isn’t for him.
The Devil Below was shot in 2018, but the story of amateur adventurers visiting an abandoned mining town sat on the shelf for years before recently making its way to Netflix, where it’s somehow managed to become one of the most popular titles on the platform, and it can currently be found sitting in seventh position on the most-watched films list.
