Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Under the Bed Blu-ray Movie Review

In the Closet, Behind the Door, Under the Stairs . . . Where's the Movie?

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 30, 2013

The only suspenseful element in director Steven C. Miller's Under the Bed is whether the evil presence attacking two brothers will turn out to be an actual creature or a psychological manifestation they've generated in response to some sort of trauma. Unfortunately—and I don't feel that I'm giving away anything important here—the script by aspiring writer Eric Stolze never answers the question, trying to have the best of both worlds while delivering a few mechanical shocks that come too late in the proceedings to salvage the film.

Miller and Stolze were obviously hoping to tap into primal childhood fears about monsters in closets and boogeymen in the shadows of bedrooms that appear ordinary, even cheerful, by the light of day. But they’re such literal-minded filmmakers that their imaginations seem to have stopped short at calling the film “Under the Bed” and having prosthetically enhanced limbs emerge from beneath the space where a young boy is sleeping. Everything else is left vague, except for the predictable element that Adults Don’t Get It. What they filmed should be the outline for a movie, not the shooting script.

Under the Bed played various festivals before receiving a May 2013 DVD premiere in Germany under the title Es lauert im Dunkeln (literally, "It lurks in the dark") and a June DVD release in France under the title Scary. The film reached the U.S. by video on demand and in a few theatrical screenings in July, after which XLrator Media's "Macabre" line is releasing it on DVD and Blu-ray.

An older brother, Neal Hausman (Jonny Weston), returns home after a two-year stay with an aunt to recover from a traumatic experience. The details are never specified, but fire was involved and Neal's mother perished in the incident. Rumors persist in the Hausmans' neighborhood that Neal was responsible for the blaze.

Neal's father, Terry (Peter Holden), just wants a quiet, normal life, but he is clearly on edge as he drives home with his elder son. Some portion of his anxiety is no doubt attributable to the new wife living there, Angela (Musetta Vander), whom Neal is meeting for the first time. But Terry also seems afraid of his son, as if Neal had some strange power or knew some dark secret or . . . well, who knows why.

Trying too hard like so many stepmothers, Angela has organized a welcome home party for Neal, when all he wants to do is hide. At the same time, the only hiding place is the family home that he contemplates with dread. Neal's sole consolation is being reunited with his younger brother, Paulie (Gattlin Griffith), who is the one other person who understands what happened That Night.

The bulk of Under the Bed consists of Neal and Paulie being stalked by an evil force that is meant to evoke childhood nightmares, and Miller churns mightily to generate suspense and intrigue over what exactly is tearing their world apart. Is it really a monster that emerges from under the bed, only to disappear without a trace whenever anyone might glimpse it? Or is it something they've generated in a telepathic dream state, as is suggested when Neal and Paulie fall asleep in separate but nearby locations, and the monster's rampage is renewed? Is it a garden-variety poltergeist, which momentarily neglects the brothers to give Angela a fright in her laundry room? Or is everything just a fantasy the boys have cooked up to hide from the painful truth that their father's mania control has spilled over into abuse?

Miller and Stolze never really answer these questions. They raise them to fill the time, just as they throw in a subplot that goes nowhere involving a pretty neighbor named Cara (Kelcie Stranahan), whose attraction to Neal is self-evident but who has no chance with him because, as portrayed, he's too traumatized for such trivia as dating and relationships. Nor do they pursue the possibilities suggest by the waitress, Maggie (Nikki Griffin), at the diner frequented by the brothers, who remembers their usual order even after two years and has missed them all this time. They even throw in an overly elaborate sequence of the two brothers constructing home-made weapons and preparing for battle with a chainsaw—yes, a chainsaw!—but these machinations are ultimately a red herring. And no, that’s not a spoiler, because the ultimate "weapon" against whatever it is that has been pursuing these two unfortunates for so many years is flagged early on, and we just have to wait around for the film to circle back to it. Miller and Stolze seem to think that a few hurried gore effects, a poorly explained dimensional "shift" accomplished with lighting tricks and a pinch of mysticism are enough payoff after 80 minutes of random buildup. Even if the effects were big-budget and first-rate (and they are neither), the result wouldn't be worth the wait.

Under the Bed Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Like most of today's low-budget features, Under the Bed was shot digitally using the Red system. The cinematographer was Joseph White, who is no stranger to the horror genre (The Barrens and Mother's Day). The video encode on XLrator Media's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray reflects all the usual advantages of digital capture with high-end equipment: a clean, sharp and detailed image, with deep blacks, proper contrast levels and an absence of aliasing, noise or other interference. The film's color palette runs toward the cool and bluish end of the spectrum, except for a major sequence near the end, when the color scheme recalls one of those playful effects included in digital image editors (e.g., "posterization", "art", etc.). This effect is deliberate and was no doubt achieved in post-production.

With no real extras, the 87-minute film resides comfortably on a BD-25 without noticeable compression errors.

Under the Bed Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Under the Bed has a few audio tricks on its lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. Manifestations that rattle appliances, appear (perhaps) behind doors and windows and chase our two brother heroes through landscapes real and unreal create sonic "disturbances" in the surrounds, at least enough to let you know your full speaker array is working. A journey through an alternate dimension—possibly real, possibly imaginary—surrounds the viewer with haunted, windy sounds. The dialogue is clear, even if it isn't especially informative or intriguing, and the intended shocks are telegraphed (and are probably meant to be intensified) by the generic horror film score supplied by Ryan Dodson (who worked as an assistant to Tyler Bates on Watchmen).

Under the Bed Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra is the film's trailer (1080p; 2.40:1; 1:53). At startup, the disc also plays trailers (in 1080p) for Saturday Morning Mystery, Inbred and American Mary, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Under the Bed Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Under the Bed is a perfectly adequate Blu-ray, but as a horror film it's generic, dull and instantly forgettable. Skip it.