Ghouls are talking about the aquatic creature feature, Underwater. Gabe dives into the horrors of being trapped underwater where the environment wants to kill you. She also discusses the dystopian, villainous company that awakens the beasts below. Kat shares their fears of the ocean and tells us about all the monstrous fish just waiting to kill you.
Sources in this Episode:
Media from this week's episode:
Underwater (2020)
A crew of oceanic researchers working for a deep-sea drilling company try to get to safety after a mysterious earthquake devastates their deepwater research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Director: William Eubank
Underwater: Deep Diving Dangers & Lovecraftian Monsters
by Gabe Castro
RED: Quotes, someone else's words.
Synopsis:
Underwater takes place very that, under the ocean. Deep in the Mariana Trench (the deepest trench on Earth) is an underwater drilling site, Kepler 822. We are first introduced to Norah (played by Kristen Stewart) on the seemingly empty base. She works for a company known as Tian Industries and is a mechanic. Through voiceover, we get introduced to the grungy and sad world she lives in. “Under the water, you lose track of time. You don’t know what day and night is.” Giving us incredible Alien vibes, Kepler 822 and the other places she and other workers traverse are incredibly claustrophobic and industrial. Norah rambles on about her uncaring world, illuminating her depressing character when we hear some strange churning, creaking, sounds that you really don’t want to hear when you’re underwater. Then she feels a few drops before it becomes clear something is wrong. The base erupts into a watery grave while Norah frantically runs through the halls, yelling for everyone to wake up and attempts to seal off areas that have been flooded. We see many workers rushing to where she is but there’s no time and she has to seal them behind, ultimately resulting in their death. Along her journey to the escape pods, she runs into other workers trying to survive. There’s Rodrigo, a soft-spoken man who works hard to get to know Norah and comfort her as she struggles with the unintentional murder. Paul (played by TJ Miller) is our strange Alice in Wonderland obsessed underwater weirdo who serves as comic relief. Captain Lucien who attempts to keep things under control and make a man out of the crew. Emily a glorified intern (I mean research assistant) who really didn’t want to be here in the first place and surprisingly, the voice of reason. And lastly, Smith who is also there. This ragtag group navigates the watery grave and decide the best way to survive is to walk a mile to get to a different facility with presumably working escape pods. However, since this is a horror movie, apparently the horrors of being underwater in a base that is taking on water isn’t enough to scare people, there are mysterious beings stalking and picking off our crew one by one.
Underwater Terror:
I thoroughly enjoyed this film despite it garnering many bad reviews. Though I understand the disappointment some felt at the rather empty plot and one-dimensional characters, there was something charming and honest about this setting that captured my interest immediately. I am terrified of closed, claustrophobic spaces. Space itself is terrifying to me because we are not meant to exist up there but neither are we made to exist in the ocean. The amount of care that goes into the construction of these bases, the suits, and more is fascinating and proof that we just shouldn’t be there. As soon as we are introduced to the suffocating, empty facility, Norah brushing her teeth and waxing poetic, I was in. Watching crew people not only die from the monsters in the film but also becoming victims to the environment they were disrespecting by being there was terrifying.
Spoilers Ahead:
Underwater almost immediately falls into the terrible, exhausted trope of killing off its only black character and doing this first. (No name characters die all around us but Rodrigo is the first character to die that we care about). How he dies was enough to distract me from that faux-pas and Mamoudou Athie’s performance had me in my feels. Rodrigo is a soft, kind man and we see his nervous fear overshadowed by Emily’s. While trying to flee the deteriorating base, the crew dons hard suits and submerge themselves in water. Once they reach their location, the work to open doors and pressurize the space they’re in. However, Rodrigo’s helmet was faulty and begins to crack. To the cries and dismay of Emily and Norah, the cabin get pressurized and Rodrigo implodes in his suit.
I did find some interesting factual errors about their suits and the deaths that occur. On the helpful website, Movie Mistakes they helpfully explain,
The way the implosions were simulated isn't exactly accurate. At that depth, going from a pressurized suit immediately to unpressurized would completely crush you, to almost non existence. Instead, in the cases of Rodrigo and the captain, they seem to explode with such a force (an outward exertion of energy) that it blows everything and everyone back. The worst being Rodrigo, he "implodes" (as the movie says) but a regular sized (albeit torn off) human hand hits Norah on her helmet and I think there was a normal sized eyeball that floated by. Again, these parts would be reduced (or flattened) to an unidentifiable size.
They also mention that, The "hard suits" the divers wear have soft, relatively normal gloves and soft joints. More akin to a football uniform with armor over spandex. They are at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, at 36,0000 feet below sea level. The pressure is over 7,000 psi. Without a hard suit, they would instantly be crushed.
Which is honestly terrifying in and of itself. Also, an issue that Kat and I had with the ending was addressed in one factual mistake report. The Kepler's energy core is a huge nuclear reactor. It can easily obliterate the whole station so its accessibility should be protected by all kinds of fail-safe systems and high level security protocols, yet, Norah - a simple mechanic - can fire it up and overcharge it without any password, keycard, identification method or such, only by pressing a few buttons, then 'space' (not even 'enter'). There is not even a confirmation process before switching the reactor to terminal overload.
The Real Horror:
Though the environment was interesting to me and influenced my appreciation of the film, I also enjoyed the small background details of the film. The announcements throughout the base, the fliers, and even the company’s goal were also haunting and terrifying. The vibe reminded me heavily of the aquatic horror games, Bioshock and SOMA. Bioshock features an underwater civilization that relied heavily on propaganda and was reminiscent of 1984. In Underwater, we learn about Tian Industries through the signage in the facilities and the announcements over intercoms reminding the workers that they’re “not just a part of the team, but a part of the family,” and to “file complaints with their supervisors.” These we hear as the station erupts into watery terror around Norah. Seeking refuge, Norah finds herself on another base that had been previously abandoned. This site is full of posters and other paperwork encouraging hardwork and obedience. It felt so eerie to imagine the life they lived before the earthquake and how horrifying it was to work for this company.
In the end credits, we learn more about the film’s background and about Tian Industries. The year is 2050 and despite strange sightings at drilling sites, Tian Industries is persevering and drilling for natural resources. The company refuses to shut down despite the horrific acts and silences the only two survivors. It’s not too far off from the current state of our world and despite the existence of monsters, completely believable. We’ve covered this in episodes previously like, The Bay where those in charge ignore horrible events and cover up the murders of thousands. The money-hungry industries continue to siphon the resources from our planet without any respect or understanding for the effects or the limitations.
Emily says in a moment of awe and terror, We're not even supposed to be down here. We drilled to the bottom of the ocean, and we don’t know what came out.
Lovecraftian horror:
As mentioned there are monsters afoot. The film becomes less aquatic horror and more creature feature when we first catch glimpse of strange Slenderman-like creatures outside. As the crew adventures forward to safety, they encounter a dead body that appears to have had something emerge from inside of it. In a truly Alien fashion, we see that a small creature has been born inside this human and in a move that would greatly anger Ripley, they bring it inside (and touch it with their bare hands!)
There creatures are Deep Ones, a Lovecraftian creation. Deep Ones are fish-like creatures who reside underwater. They are attracted to humans and try to mate with them to create half-breeds of fish-humans. For the majority of the film, we are afraid of these beings. They are lurking beasts that are both incredibly quick and strong. They rip wacky Paul right out of his hard suit! They spend most of the film in the shadows or throwing/dragging the crew around. At one point, the last remaining survivors Norah, Emily, and Smith encounter a den of them slumbering right in front of the very place they need to go (figures). Once they are accidentally awoken, you think that’s the end of our girl, Norah until something manages to frighten them.
In the last moments of the film, we are introduced to the big monster and king of creatures himself, Cthulhu. He has risen, Tian Industries having dug so far deep into this trench that they’ve breached the interdimensional space he was napping in. He awakens and is angered by the drill. He seeks to reak havoc and his minions, the Deep Ones race to finish off the last remaining humans as they escape in their pods.
In a last attempt to save those two and maybe the world, Norah initiates a ridiculously easy self-destruct sequence for the nuclear reactor that no one mechanic should be able to access or launch simply by pushing the space bar. But she does. And we watch as she goes out in a moment of glory, leaving Cthulhu and his friends to scramble away to safety.
It does not appear to show the death of Cthulhu (as if you could!) and instead hints at the potential for more chaos. Tian Industries covering up the events and proceeding to dig while Cthulhu lurks along the ocean floor leaves me to believe a sequel could exist. Or perhaps this opens the door for a film multiverse of Lovecraftian lore and creatures! Will Guillermo Del Toro finally finish his Mountains of Madness film? One can only hope.
Terrifying Fish, Flesh-Eating Bacteria & Other Aquatic Horrors
by Kat Kushin
RED: Quotes, someone else's words.
Ocean = scary
Because there’s just stuff in there that’s been here since before the dinosaurs. Lived through an entire asteroid hitting the planet, ice ages, etc. It’s also filled with monstrous things that are poisonous things that can kill you.
Awful things that need to stay far away from me:
Zombie worms that eat bones: Several worms love to feast on carcasses on land—for example, the squeamish maggots. Down in the ocean, zombie worms do the work. They suck out the nutrients out of any bones in the sea, using feathery plumes splay. But that is not the scary bit. The worms you see enjoying their bone buffet are female zombie worms with up 111 males living inside them!
Bobbit Worms: Sand strikers or Bobbit worms are marine ambush predators with bone-hard grappling hooks and can reach up to a length equivalent to a human’s arm. These worms bury themselves in sand or gravel and can grab and drag their prey at 20 feet per second, slicing them in one go using their large spring-like retractable jaw with scissor-like serrated plates. Although they offer no poison or actual harm to us humans, stepping on one can leave significant painful wounds on your legs. If they do not harm you, simply looking at them will give you the creeps.
The proboscis worm: grows to lengths up to two meters and scavenges for grub on the seafloor. These worms will eat pretty much anything they come across and have few—if any—predators.
Stone Fish: Perfectly camouflaged to look like a rock on the floor of a coral reef, the stonefish is the most venomous fish in the world. It has 13 spines along its back that release the venom, which can kill humans within just a few hours.
The Sloane’s viperfish: At less than a foot long, may seem relatively harmless, but its teeth are a force to be reckoned with. The fang-like chompers are more than half the size of the viper’s head, allowing the fish to impale prey by swimming at the victim headfirst, mouth agape.
Giant isopods: look like they might eat you in your sleep if given the chance, and they just might—if they could only catch you. Giant isopods live in the deep sea, where they catch what prey they can, including slow-moving sea cucumbers, sponges, and nematodes, but mostly scavenge the dead carcasses of fish, squid and whales.
The lionfish: is known for its many spiky fin rays, which also happen to be highly venomous.
Found in the Caribbean and Eastern Atlantic Oceans, the lionfish packs a powerful sting if disturbed. The sting might not be fatal for humans, but it’ll certainly be painful.
Sea Snakes: Found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, there are around 50 different species of sea snakes. The most poisonous species is the beaked sea snake, whose venom is eight times as toxic as a cobra’s. Just 1.5 milligrams of its venom could kill up to eight humans. Luckily, they are not known to attack humans often – just don’t provoke them.
Sea Urchins: There are many species of sea urchins. They have sharp poisonous spines which are extremely painful if they pierce the skin. The puncture wounds also have a tendency to become infected. The flower urchin is one of the more perilous sea creatures, as their extremely painful stings can lead to paralysis and even death.They are usually found in rocky or sandy sea beds and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, so take care to avoid their venomous sting. Don't let this sea urchin's beauty fool you. Each of its "flowers" is actually a tentacle with a little jaw (called a pedicellaria) that can inject toxic venoms and potentially kill you. Let's just say there's a reason that this ferocious "flower" was named the most dangerous sea urchin in the 2014 Guinness Book of World Records. And for more fears from the seven seas, check out the 30 Reasons Why the Ocean Is Scarier Than Space.
Fire Coral: There's two things that you should know about fire corals. Firstly, they aren't actually corals—they're members of the Hydrozoa class, which is closely related to the jellyfish. And secondly, that these creatures (that ironically attach to coral) can inflict a serious sting that causes burning and a raised rash.
Blue Ringed Octopus:
Found in the waters of Australia and Japan, the blue-ringed octopus is as dangerous as it is spectacular. When provoked, this tiny octopus will start flashing a bright, neon blue. Whilst it may be a dazzling sight, one bite can kill a human. The pufferfish has nothing on the blue-ringed octopus, as its venom is 10,000 more lethal than cyanide and there is no known antidote.
Textile cone snail: Though shell collectors lust after the complex carapace of the textile cone snail, even the bravest and brashest wouldn't dare get too close to a live one. Though tiny, these vicious snails can inject venom through their radular teeth capable of paralyzing and killing a human.
Pufferfish: or blowfish, possess venom that's 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide, making these little guys one of the most toxic animals in the world. But despite their deadliness, the inflated fish is considered a delicacy in Japan, where trained chefs prepare it for exorbitant fees.
The flamboyant cuttlefish: is the only toxic cuttlefish known to exist. This colorful creature has been compared to the blue-ringed octopus—as in, its poisonous flesh can kill any predator that dares to feast on it. And like the blue-ringed octopus, marine biologists believe that this toxic tank dweller uses its vibrant colors to warn potential predators to stay away.
Crown-of-thorns starfish: Generally about 13 inches in diameter, the crown-of-thorns starfish is larger (and much more dangerous) than its benign, literally washed-up relatives on the seashore. This coral-loving creature is covered in poisonous spines that cause intense, immediate pain lasting for up to three hours. And for more news from under the sea, check out the 30 Facts About the World's Oceans That Will Blow Your Mind.
Stargazers: have a tendency to burrow under the sand, making them hard to see and, therefore, avoid. Should you accidentally step on one, you'll know if you've been stung by the bleeding, pain, swelling, and slight electrocution.
Frilled Shark: With its 300 rows of needle-like teeth, the shark snags soft-bodied squid and fish in the deep. How it attacks prey is not known.
THERE ARE STINGING ANEMONES
Starfish are so scary
Great white sharks travel thousands of kilometers just to eat baby seals
There is a coral that pushes its guts outside its body and dissolves other coral with DIGESTIVE ENZYMES