Fear Below

Fear Below
Directed byMatthew Holmes
Written by
  • Matthew Holmes
  • Gregory Moss
Produced by
  • Blake Northfield
  • Michael Favelle
Starring
CinematographyPeter Szilveszter
Music byAngela Little
Production
companies
Distributed by
Running time
95 minutes
CountryAustralia

Fear Below is an upcoming Australian action adventure horror film directed by Matthew Holmes, and starring Hermione Corfield, Jake Ryan, Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Arthur Angel, Josh McConville, Maximillian Johnson and Clayton Watson. Written by Matthew Holmes and Gregory Moss, the period-set thriller follows a team of professional divers hired to locate a sunken van in a river, only to be confronted by a territorial bull shark.

Plot

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Set in 1946 Australia, a struggling team of divers from the Sea Dog Diving Company are hired to locate and retrieve a sunken car from a river. When their efforts are thwarted by a highly-aggressive female bull shark, the team soon discover they are working for a ruthless criminal gang attempting to recover their stolen gold bullion, who prove to be as treacherous as the beast lurking beneath the surface.

Cast

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Production

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Fear Below began as a spec script written by Matthew Holmes and Gregory Moss, who were passionate about creating a fresh spin on the shark thriller, as well as paying homage to classic adventure films like Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark.[1] In May 2022, Producer Michael Favelle and Odin's Eye Entertainment secured key territory pre-sales for the film, with Blake Northfield of Bronte Pictures coming onboard to produce.[2]

On August 2022, English actress Hermione Corfield was announced as the film's lead alongside Australian actors Jake Ryan, Josh McConville, Arthur Angel, Jacob Junior Nayinggul and Maximillian Johnson.[3] Principal photography for Fear Below began in October 2022 in Echuca and Moama on the border of Victoria and New South Wales.[4]

Locations included the historical Perricoota Station on the Murray River, which featured prominently in the 1983 Australian television miniseries All the Rivers Run.[5]

Production on Fear Below was shut down after several days due to severe floodwaters from the Murray River which threatened the towns of Echuca and Moama where the production was based.[6][7] The cast and crew were forced to evacuate after their filming locations were flooded. Filming was temporarily suspended until a new location could be found.[8]

In November 2022, the production resumed outside the regional town of Goondiwindi, Queensland. A large lagoon running off the Macintyre River stood in for the film's central river location.[9][10][11] In January 2023, the production moved to the Screen Queensland Studios in Brisbane. The filmmakers utilised extensive dry for wet filming techniques to stage the many underwater diving sequences, with the characters wearing standard diving dress equipment.[12]

Practical effects and miniatures were largely employed to create the sequences featuring the bull shark, both on location and in the studio.[13]

References

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  1. ^ "Fear Below: A shark film with a twist". Riverine Herald. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Odin's Eye shark movie 'Fear Below' snaps up key territories". Screen Daily. 22 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Hermione Corfield to front Matthew Holmes' 'Fear Below'". Inside Film. 2 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Fear Below: feature film to be shot in Moama over the coming months". Riverine Herald. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Seventh heaven for station owners". Riverine Herald. 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Floods at Moama break 30-year record as more New South Wales towns are evacuated". ABC News. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Echuca's makeshift levee holds against highest flood levels in over a century". The Age. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Rising floodwaters halt production on Matthew Holmes' 'Fear Below'". Inside Film. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Lights, camera, action! Goondiwindi is location of new feature film". Goondiwindi Regional Council. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Fear Below film set to be shot in regional Queensland". Queensland Country Life. 10 November 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  11. ^ "How sleepy Goondiwindi went from outback town to movie Mecca in an instant". InQuennsland. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  12. ^ "Screen Queensland Studios, Brisbane". Screen Queensland. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  13. ^ "New shark thriller 'Fear Below' announced". Bloody Flicks. 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
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