4K UHD Review: Kino Lorber’s Below (KL Studio Classics) 

David Twohy’s excellent and underrated WW2 Submarine Horror film Below gets a 4K UHD upgrade including a new 4K Scan of the OCN from Kino Lorber.  

The Film  

Who doesn’t love a good WW2 Submarine Thriller?  Who doesn’t love an old-fashioned haunted house film?  What if you mash ‘em up???  It’s the “you got peanut butter in my chocolate”, and “you got chocolate in my peanut butter” argument of something already great becoming amazing when put together.  Director David Twohy’s Below manages to successfully meld the haunted house film and submarine thriller to great effect.  

1943, the Atlantic Ocean.  The submarine USS Tiger Shark takes on a British contingent of relief workers whose boat was destroyed by the Germans.  The Tiger Shark’s crew is already on edge because of an incident early leaving Lieutenant Brice (Bruce Greenwood) in command.  As the German boat and Tiger Shark begin a dangerous game of cat and mouse – the crew begins to realize there is something lurking in the shadows that has put them in danger other than the Germans above them.  

Part of the delight of Below is how Twohy as a director innately understands both sub-genres he’s working in and how to remix them for maximum effect.  Much like his previous directorial effort, Pitch Black the film juggles tone perfectly. Equally effective is Twohy’s understanding of how to use the budget he’s been given.  Those two strengths result in the scares and action set pieces popping in a way most genre entries of similar ilk do not.  The set pieces are rightfully claustrophobic, taunt, and effectively constructed for maximum impact. 

The film’s biggest strength is its reliance on its ensemble cast of truly wonderful actors led by the always-great Bruce Greenwood.  Greenwood sets the tone throughout, similar to his role as acting commander, for the rest of the cast to follow in kind.  The result is a film that manages to be both a character piece and an effective genre piece.  However, it’s not difficult to see why when the supporting cast includes Olivia Williams, Dexter Fletcher, Holt McCallany, Jason Flemyng, Matt Davis, Scott Foley, Zach Galifianakis and Nick Chinlund.  Each could lead their own film, during this era, and contribute the kind of work that feels similar to the best of this kind of war film (think of a similar mashup like James Cameron’s Aliens … yes, they are that effective).

Below deserved better than the buried release the studio gave it (which isn’t surprising considering it was Miramax at the highest of its … Miramax-ness).  Now, with this release hopefully, the film will get the reassessment it justly deserves.  

The Transfer

The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is an excellent upgrade from prior editions. The work done by Kino is simply jaw-dropping.  The film literally looks like it was filmed yesterday.  The transfer is sharp, and clean without any hints of scratches or blemishes on the negative.  The color reproduction and contrast levels because of the Dolby Vision encoding are both deeper in their details giving us a darker luminous and far more textured and beautiful image.  Watch the red light-infused scenes and the subtly in that color spectrum of red – a color in an SDR color grading simply doesn’t have the detail to accomplish.  There isn’t a scratch, blemish, or issue with the picture.  It is free of any sort of digital artifacting or DNR to remove the grain.  Below in its 4K UHD iteration is the best version ever produced for the film – even the 35mm release prints.  

The Extras

They include the following;

DISC 1 (4KUHD): 

• Audio Commentary by Director David Twohy and Actors Matt Davis, Bruce Greenwood, Holt McCallany, Zach Galifianakis and Nick Chinlund 

DISC 2 (BLU-RAY): 

• Audio Commentary by Director David Twohy and Actors Matt Davis, Bruce Greenwood, Holt McCallany, Zach Galifianakis and Nick Chinlund 
• The Process: Featurette 
• Deleted Scenes – with Optional Audio Commentary by David Twohy 
• Theatrical Trailer 

NOTE: the commentary track appears on both the 4K and Blu-ray discs.  

DISC 1 (4KUHD):

The archival audio Commentary by Director David Twohy and Actors Matt Davis, Bruce Greenwood, Holt McCallany, Zach Galifianakis, and Nick Chinlund opens with Twohy discussing the opening shot which was done reel for real and not CGI.  Some of the details include filming in Lake Michigan for the Atlantic Sea; the reason why they used models/miniatures and CGI for the diving scenes of the submarine; a great discussion of the way they were able with dialog and visuals to show the division of the ship going more and more blue-collar and the rise in misogyny about the Olivia Williams character; how they rigged the sets for sound so they could push through ambient sounds and other things like alarms; discussion of the McCallany’s yo-yo tricks interfering with Davis’s scene; the hook scene and if it’s based in reality; the underwater work and how it was prepped and accomplished – including an issue for Galifianakis which he discusses; a larger discussion throughout of the stunt work and action set pieces how they were accomplished; a larger discussion throughout of the amazing work done by production designer Charles Dwight Lee; a larger discussion throughout of the work of VFX supervisor Peter Chaing; and much more.  The group is a jovial and lively bunch constantly joking and ribbing each other and what’s occurring on screen – in the best way possible.  There is little if any of the dreaded overlapping comments or describing what’s on screen unless it’s to give an anecdote to the production.  

DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):

The Process: Featurette (12:24) – this fascinating look at the production process via interviews and clever editing of b-roll footage, script excerpts, storyboards, previz, uncompleted scenes, and completed scenes.  One wishes more care, time, and effort was placed into this type of featurette giving people an effective look at the hard work and multiple crew members it takes to bring a production to life.  This may be one of the best featurettes that gives one an understanding of the craft and skill required to bring something to life that begins as a few sentences in a script. 

Deleted Scenes (8:19) – The deleted scenes can be played individually or all together with the Play All option.  Each scene has an Optional Audio Commentary by David Twohy where the director shares why each scene was removed including why the different ending was not used. Note the scenes appear to have been pulled from the previous edition and are presented in SD.  

• Creepy Comic (1:36) 
• Hot Fish (3:39) 
• Red Flare Ending (3:03) 

Rounding out the special features include trailers for Below (2:27); Deepstar Six (1:57); Bug (1:22); Suspect Zero (2:14); Thirst (0:43)

The Final Thought 

Kino Lorber has done it again.  They’ve given Below a beautiful 4K UHD upgrade.  Highest recommendations!! 

Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD Edition of Below is out December 17^th