With the exception of “Scream of the Banshee”, Steven C. Miller’s films have been very good. Whether it’s his debut “Automation Transfusion” to his last film the remake of the classic horror film “Silent Night”, his films have been entertaining. With his new film “Under the Bed”, I was hoping that this wouldn’t be like “The Aggression Scale”. I liked that film, but I was worried that this might be the same film that I saw a year ago.
The film is about a teenager (Jonny Weston), who is returning home two years later after being exiled following an encounter with a monster that had tragic circumstances. Now living with his nervous father, his new stepmother and his little brother (Gattlin Griffith), he is hoping to get things back to where they were before that fateful night. But it’s not long before the monster returns to terrorize him and his family. Now with his little brother only believing him, he must find a way to kill the monster before it kills him and his family.
The fact that Miller was doing another children in peril so soon after “The Aggression Scale” was going to hurt any chances of me liking this film. Both films has similar theme with children in peril. Instead of hit men, you have a monster causing the danger. But, I was surprised the comparisons stopped there, as “Under the Bed” is a more terrifying and horrific film from his previous film with that subject matter.
Most of that had to do with Steven C. Miller’s direction. He does a very good job making sure the film has a very dark and intense feel to it. Miller does a very good job building the suspense and tension aspects that go along with some of the scenes, especially in the beginning. There was a lot scenes where it had me on edge. Whether it be the jump scares during the film or the final act of the film, the scenes were filmed very well and the action comes off as intense. It helped made some of the scenes come off as scary and not dumb. The other thing that Miller does well was his ability to work with his cast to get the performances that he needs. Like in all of his previous films, the acting was good. He’s able to get his cast to make sure that they make the performances fit the film’s dark tone. It made the characters and the story interesting as the film went along.
The screenplay written by Eric Stolze was surprisingly good considering the expectations that I had with that aspect going into this film. One of the things that makes his screenplay work was the fact that this didn’t feel like your typical monsters under the bed type of story. What he’s able to effectively was making using the elements and making it completely dark with some violence that you don’t see with this type of story. It made the film work very well as a serious horror film. The other thing that I liked was the fact that I liked the main characters a lot. Stolze does a very good job making sure that the relationship between the brothers and the family work. Everything was developed well enough, so that everything made sense in the story department. It helped make the better and I was more into the film than I thought I was going to be.
It’s amazing that I liked this film as much as I did, because I thought the film was going to feel like an episode of an old horror TV show called “Goosebumps”. But with its edginess and very good direction from Steven C. Miller, “Under the Bed” will scare the hell out of you.
Review Rating: Four Stars.
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