Beneath Still Waters

This movie is an adaptation from a novel.  It says so right in the beginning of the movie.  I'll never read the book after seeing this movie.

The story is not that bad.  In 1965, an evil man by the name of Mordecai Salas has learned black magic and has begun taking over the town of Marienbad, Spain.  In order to combat the evil that Salas is spreading, the town is flooded when a new dam is put into operation.  But before the town is flooded, two boys go playing in the town and one boy unknowingly sets Salas free.  And the boy pays with his life when Salas rips his head apart at the jaw.

Fast forward 40 years.

The town is going to celebrate the Debaria Dam and the mayor does not want anything to get in the way of the celebration.  So when a man drowns in the lake, it is deemed an accident.  But we know different.  There is a funny part of this scene when the blond (Susana) comes out of the water after a swim and has been entangled by some black seaweed, she immediately grabs her cigarettes.  I don't know why I thought that was funny, but I did.

A photojournalist, Dan Quarry, arrives into town.  Not to photograph the celebration, but to photograph the town that was flooded.  Some odd occurances happen and Dan is forced into helping with save the town.  And he does.  And everybody is happy.

The gore doesn't happen until very late in the movie when the town reverts back to its evil ways and a police officer performs some self mutilation.  As he hobbles along, he shouts, "You're under arrest!" to a woman trying to locate her daughter.  It's weak at best.

For the most part, I enjoyed the movie.  The story moved along well, but there were some scenes that could have been avoided.  The movie also could have used a bit more needless violence for my taste as well.  The nudity was at a minimum.  Susana is so broken up about her friend Antonio drowning, that she decides to get nude and have "one last swim together" with him.  He comes out of the water and chews through her neck.  Just like she wanted.

I give this movie 2 out of 5 Captain Lightning comic books.