Sharks, Shotguns and Sunken Treasure in ‘Fear Below’

Signature Entertainment has unveiled the UK trailer for Fear Below, a river-set horror thriller with teeth, set to sink its jaws into digital platforms and DVD from 9 June. Directed by Matthew Holmes (The Legend of Ben Hall) and starring Hermione Corfield (Sea Fever), the period-set chiller blends the sweat and steel of postwar noir with the cold-blooded menace of nature’s most efficient predator.

Set in 1946 in the rugged wilds of the Australian outback, Fear Below follows the Sea Dog Diving Company, a struggling outfit of professional divers hired to recover a sunken vehicle from the bottom of a murky river. But what should be a routine salvage job quickly descends into chaos, as the divers find themselves stalked by a female bull shark with a mean territorial streak and an appetite for warm flesh. The threat beneath the surface, however, is only part of the problem.

As the team begins to piece together the real reason behind their mission, they learn their employers are not who they claim to be. The sunken car is no accident, and inside it lies a cache of stolen gold bullion, the spoils of a violent heist. Their clients, it turns out, are the very criminals who stashed it there—and who are more than willing to let the divers die to protect their secret.

Corfield leads the cast as Clara Bennett, one of the few voices of reason amidst rising paranoia and bloodshed. She’s joined by Jake Ryan (Wolf Creek), Jacob Junior Nayinggul (High Ground), Arthur Angel (Red Dog), and Maximillian Johnson in a tense standoff between human greed and primal survival.

Shot across multiple locations in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, Fear Below faced production setbacks including a full-scale evacuation due to floodwaters. Despite nature’s interruptions, the filmmakers returned to complete the ambitious production using a combination of practical effects, miniatures, and dry-for-wet studio work to recreate the film’s harrowing underwater sequences. The shark, portrayed through a blend of animatronics and clever in-camera tricks, is a fittingly monstrous presence throughout.

While comparisons to Jaws are inevitable, Fear Below draws equally from gritty postwar thrillers and pulp action films, with the paranoia of criminal betrayal surfacing just as often as the shark’s dorsal fin. Holmes and co-writer Gregory Moss inject a period authenticity that sets the film apart from contemporary shark thrillers, using vintage diving suits and detailed set work to evoke a post-WWII tension simmering just beneath the waterline.

Following its UK trailer drop, Fear Below looks set to make waves with horror and thriller fans who prefer their bloodbaths with a side of grit, gold, and gills.

Fear Below arrives on Digital and DVD across the UK from 9 June.

Fear Below trailer