I am not a fan of horror movies. With a few notable exceptions, I have found them to mostly be poorly acted, poorly scripted, predictable and not all that horrific. That being said, I recognise that there are a lot of people who love the genre and are willing to suspend credulity and settle for third rate acting and plotting in the hope of getting being scared. Go figure. Anyway, you definitely have to be one of the latter group to get any sort of enjoyment out of 'Under the Bed'. It is full of clichéd characters and familiar, overused horror movie tropes and boasts a predictable plot. Horror movie fans will probably forgive these failings and even enjoy this. The rest of us, not so much.
The plot centres on a young man of indeterminate age who has been forced to move away from home under mysterious circumstances following the death of his mother. He returns home to his adoring younger brother, new step-mother and unsympathetic father. Following a familiar trope, the family's circle of friends think the returning son is dangerously disturbed and walk round him on eggshells. The father has no sympathy whatsoever for either of his sons and their dilemma with a strange entity which lives under the bed - hence the title. Exactly what this being is, why it lives under the bed and why it is interested in the boys is never adequately explained. Of course, no one believes that there is anything under the bed anyway, except for the two brothers. Certainly the adults don't believe the kids - another familiar trope. The dad in this case takes it a step further than most, locking the boys in the bedroom where the monster lurks and even, at one point, removing the light bulb so it will be really, really dark. Seems to me that the real nut job in this movie is the over reacting Dad. Anyway, as is to be expected, there is a lot of screaming, frightened expressions, moody music and somber performances before the situation with the creature is resolved - and is resolved in one of the corniest plot twists I have seen in a long time.
The good thing about this movie is that it only lasts 86 minutes. I guess the writers ran out of ideas. That's probably an ideal length however. I did well to last that long. Honestly, I didn't hate this movie but I certainly couldn't recommend it.
The plot centres on a young man of indeterminate age who has been forced to move away from home under mysterious circumstances following the death of his mother. He returns home to his adoring younger brother, new step-mother and unsympathetic father. Following a familiar trope, the family's circle of friends think the returning son is dangerously disturbed and walk round him on eggshells. The father has no sympathy whatsoever for either of his sons and their dilemma with a strange entity which lives under the bed - hence the title. Exactly what this being is, why it lives under the bed and why it is interested in the boys is never adequately explained. Of course, no one believes that there is anything under the bed anyway, except for the two brothers. Certainly the adults don't believe the kids - another familiar trope. The dad in this case takes it a step further than most, locking the boys in the bedroom where the monster lurks and even, at one point, removing the light bulb so it will be really, really dark. Seems to me that the real nut job in this movie is the over reacting Dad. Anyway, as is to be expected, there is a lot of screaming, frightened expressions, moody music and somber performances before the situation with the creature is resolved - and is resolved in one of the corniest plot twists I have seen in a long time.
The good thing about this movie is that it only lasts 86 minutes. I guess the writers ran out of ideas. That's probably an ideal length however. I did well to last that long. Honestly, I didn't hate this movie but I certainly couldn't recommend it.