Underwater and 3 movies that use the power of tension in horror
Tension is the secret ingredient that keeps moviegoers on the edge of their seats. Among others, Underwater expertly utilizes suspense in a way that feels fresh.
In Kristen Stewart’s latest flick, Underwater, she plays a mechanical engineer deep under the Pacific Ocean fighting against all odds to survive. When the rig Stewart’s character, Norah, has been hired to maintain suddenly and inexplicably starts folding in on itself from immense pressure after what appears to have been a major earthquake, a rag tag group of survivors attempt to cross the sea floor to find working evacuation pods.
Underwater, directed by up-and-coming filmmaker William Eubank, is 2020’s premiere sci-fi horror offering, and it delivers many scares and surprises. Although box office returns weren’t all that impressive, Underwater deserves to be seen on as big of a screen as possible.
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Audiences descend to a dingy drilling station over six miles below sea level where day is indistinguishable from night. From the offset, Kristen Stewart’s Norah exudes an air of palpable paranoia, as if the ocean’s unending darkness houses her worst nightmares.
Far from the first genre offering to lean into nerve-racking tension, Underwater follows a long lineage of horror movies that force viewers to revel in uncomfortableness. The following titles prove that, no matter the subject matter, tension taps into a primal human response mechanism that makes these films undeniably addictive to watch.
1. Haute Tension (2003)
Appropriately titled Haute Tension, or High Tension as it was released in the U.S., follows the story of Marie (Cécile de France) as she faces off with a serial killer at a remote French farmhouse. Haute Tension is a tour-de-force built around a whirlwind performance from the then relative newcomer de France.
Haute Tension makes the most of the gruesome makeup efforts from renowned practical effects artist Giannetto De Rossi, of Dune and The Man in the Iron Mask fame. The kill scenes in Haute Tension are outrageously graphic and, depending on which cut of the film you’re viewing, border on flat out gross. Despite this, it’s hard to take your eyes off the action that is unfolding onscreen, no matter how much you want to cower in terror.
Director Alexandre Aja (of 2019’s criminally underrated crocodile thriller Crawl) has been heralded as the master of the New French Extremism film movement of the early 2000s. Haute Tension carefully toed the line between horror and art house cinema, making it a must-see for genre lovers.
2. The Strangers (2008)
When it opened in May of 2008 against Sex and the City: The Movie, no one could’ve predicted the surprise box-office success The Strangers would become. The flick earned over $80 million worldwide on a $9 million budget, proving just how profitable horror can be when executed correctly.
The Strangers tells the story of Kristen (Liv Tyler in one of her best performances) and James (Scott Speedman) as they fight off a band of home intruders at a remote country house late one night. The true terror in The Strangers comes from the fact that the events that took place in this movie could happen to anyone, Kristen and Scott were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The film makes great use of sound design to craft a suspenseful environment. Whether it be through a crackly, spooky vinyl record or through intentionally deafening silence, The Strangers transports you into the world director/writer Bryan Bertino so meticulously built. You won’t even think about retreating to the country for a trip any time soon after watching this one.
3. Hereditary (2018)
A24’s Hereditary was one of 2018’s highest praised horror releases, but that label doesn’t quite do the film justice. Hereditary plays out like a psychological thriller mixed with a family drama with a heavy dash of the supernatural. The movie follows the Grahams, an upper-middle-class family living in the beautiful Utah mountains. Following the passing of Graham matriarch Annie’s mother, increasingly bizarre events start occurring, leading to a heartbreaking tragedy that I wouldn’t dare spoil.
Hereditary principally revolves around Annie (played by Toni Collette in her fiercest and most unhinged role yet) as she goes through every stage of grief, and then some. Slowly the film transforms from a creepy drama into a blood-curdling nightmare fueled by squirm-inducing tension.
The complete 180 that occurs about halfway through the film forces the audience to put themselves in the characters’ shoes. We are able to connect the dots and understand what is going on inside these characters’ heads, and it isn’t pretty. And after last year’s bonkers Midsommar, I’m eager to see what filmmaker Ari Aster has up his sleeves next.
Underwater is now playing in theaters nationwide.