UNDER THE BED (2012)

Studio:       XLrator Media
Director:    Steven C. Miller
Writer:       Eric Stolze
Producer:  William Clevinger, Brad Miska, Tom Owen
Stars:     Jonny Weston, Gattlin Griffith, Peter Holden, Musetta Vander, Kelcie Stranahan, Bryan Rasmussen

Review Score: 

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Summary:

Two brothers must confront the creature under the bed that has tormented their family for years. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

After spending two years living with his Aunt Sarah in Florida, troubled teenager Neal Hausman returns home with his father Terry. Neal has been gone since setting fire to the family home in an incident that claimed his mother’s life. Terry has since remarried a woman named Angela and they are attempting to normalize the family. Terry is frustrated with Neal’s emotional distance and lack of communication.

Neal finds a “Welcome Home” party waiting for him at the house. Neighbor Mr. Evans invites Neal to his house for a sleepover with his sons Richard and Robert. Neal also reconnects with Mr. Evans’ daughter Cara, with whom Neal had a relationship in the past. Neal goes upstairs to his old bedroom and reunites with his younger brother Paulie. Terry discovers that Paulie has been going through boxes of Neal’s things from before the fire. Furious, Terry scolds his two sons and abruptly ends the party.

The two brothers ride their bikes to Melanie’s Diner. Paulie reveals that he knows his brother is not crazy because he sees the same creature that haunted Neal before his breakdown. Meanwhile, back at the house, the creature frightens Angie while she does laundry, although she never sees it. After a brief encounter with Cara and two bullies, the boys return home for dinner with their father and stepmother.

Paulie falls asleep at school and a nightmare causes him to wake screaming. Terry lectures his sons about their poor behavior and their seemingly irrational fear of sleeping. The boys are sent to bed and their father locks the door. Paulie shows his older brother how he runs and jumps into bed to avoid the creature lurking underneath. Neal sleeps on the dresser to avoid the floor. In the night, a mist envelops the room as everything begins to shake. A vision of their deformed father chokes Paulie while Neal tries fighting him off. The real Terry enters the bedroom and finds Neal with his hand around Paulie’s throat. Thinking that Neal was responsible, Angie treats the wound on Paulie’s neck. Terry thinks Paulie did it to himself. Terry takes the light bulb out of the bedroom to force his sons to sleep in the dark. Both boys end up sleeping on the dresser.

Paulie shows Neal the urn of their mother’s ashes that he keeps hidden in the garage. Neal admits that he begged their mother to stay in the house the night of the fire so that she could see what was under the bed. Neal believes she died because she believed him. The brothers look for things in the garage that they can use as weapons. Angie stops Neal from using the chainsaw. The boys then create makeshift tools including a pole with three flashlights attached. Neal theorizes that the monster may feed on dead skin cells left in the bed.

That night, the mist returns along with the creature, who emerges out of Neal’s old bed. The boys escape and the next day they are sent to the Evans house for a sleepover. Back at the Hausman home, a robed shadow stalks Angie. Neal and Paulie tell their story to Richard and Robert. As they do, mist enters the room. The creature appears and tears off Richard’s head. Neal tells Cara to hide in the light in her room. Neal and Paulie jump out the window and run home. The creature follows them and kills Terry. The monster then takes Paulie under the bed.

Neal prepares to rescue his brother by going under the bed. He ties a rope around himself with Angie holding on at the other end. Neal enters the monster’s world and rescues his brother. The creature follows the boys back to reality and a fight ensues in the garage. When the urn is knocked over, Neal sees that his mother’s ashes affect the creature. Neal talks a handful of her remains and destroys the monster with them. Reunited with Cara as well, the two boys then embrace their stepmother.

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Review:

“Under the Bed” has realistic characters, believable performances, and a phobia for its engine that reaches right into the heart of anyone who ever slept with the lights on as a child.  It also has two crippling defects.  Not enough to put the film in a wheelchair or to require crutches, but enough to give it a very noticeable permanent limp.

It may be unfair to open this review by mentioning the film’s issues.  “Under the Bed” does several things well and those deserve to be covered up front.

The script starts with a strong foundation.  And if the story is a left jab, then the actors are the right hook.  From the honest dialogue exchanges to the genuine familial relationships, the words and the performances combine for a one-two punch of characters as vibrant as they are real.

Neal is a troubled youth.  His backstory follows a crumb trail that gradually paints his secret history as the plot rolls along.  Basically, an event in Neal’s past that ties into the death of his mother sent Neal over the edge.  A few months away at Aunt Sarah’s in Florida turned into two years.  Neal’s father Terry has since remarried, and his new wife wishes to reunite the family for a return to normalcy.  So Neal returns home to find a neighborhood whispering allusions to arson and a mental breakdown.  Even worse, Neal discovers that his little brother Paulie is on a path to repeat his meltdown cycle.  Because it turns out that the creature under the bed that took Neal’s sanity never actually left the house.

Problem teen.  Angry dad.  Discouraged stepmother.  There are plenty of stereotypical characterizations on the plate, but “Under the Bed” presents them with depth and authenticity.  Father Terry is not merely a plot device to ignore his sons’ frantic ravings and keep them defenseless against the monster in their bedroom.  Rather than being just a strict, harsh dad, Peter Holden plays him as truly conflicted about how to discipline an emotionally distant son while also caring about fixing their estranged bond.  There is a complexity in the portrayal of the father’s frustration that fleshes out a third dimension for the role.

Similarly, the camaraderie between the two brothers is just as layered and natural and avoids forcing a connection with formulaic schmaltz.  The “monster under the bed” idea may be a familiar hook, but “Under the Bed” stops itself from cookie cutting the characters out of a typical family TV mold.

The description of two young brothers afraid of what darkness lurks in their bedroom conjures a certain type of story in the head.  Before passing off “Under the Bed” as a movie fit for an extended episode of “Goosebumps,” know that this is not the case.  If it were not for the occasional four-letter word, acts one and two might in fact seem as if they were pulled straight from the Disney Channel.  But act three turns the film on its ear by replacing creepy jumps with head-ripping kills.

While that third act makes “Under the Bed” more appealing to the adult sect, it is this same element that introduces one of the film’s major problems.  It has an identity crisis.  Swearing aside, two-thirds of the film has “Under the Bed” positioned to be a family friendly fright fit for a Friday night with the kids.  Then the back portion starts liberally tearing apart bodies in a finale that seems torn from another movie.  With a front half appropriate for the younger set and a back half aimed at adult horror fans, the movie shrugs its shoulders when confronted with choosing a target demographic.  The result is a movie that pleases one group some of the time, and the other group for the rest of the time.  But vacillating between PG and R assures that neither group will achieve complete satisfaction.

Unable to make up its mind, “Under the Bed” finds itself also unable to settle on a pace.  This is another element that holds the film back.  The piecemeal method of filling in the blanks about Neal’s past and the nature of the creature causes some scenes to chug slowly.  During these doldrums, my mind wanders to thoughts outside of the script instead of maintaining an investment in the fantasy.

I wonder, in films like these, how do the characters explain events to the cops during the homicide investigation afterwards?  When a creature oozes black tar all over the place and rips heads off adults and children, someone in authority is going to ask questions.  And “monster under the bed” is not going to cut it as an answer.

And here is a million dollar idea.  Since monsters under the bed always come out of the darkness, and sleeping with the lights on is impractical, wouldn’t it make sense to create a rectangular under the bed light that shines from each edge towards the bed’s center?  That way, it would be impossible to have a shadow under the bed and the light source would be relatively unobtrusive.

While that might be a solution to financial independence, it is not a blueprint that should be thought of while watching the movie.  “Under the Bed” has its work cut out for it with maintaining attention and with deciding just what type of audience it wants to entertain.

Review Score:  65

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