'Beneath Us All' Review: A Promising Horror Undermined by Underdevelopment
- Becca Johnson
- 43 minutes ago
- 4 min read
By Becca Johnson - June 24, 2025
Directed by Harley Wallen (Ash and Bone) and starring Yan Birch (Strange Days), Sean Whalen (Men in Black) and Maria Olsen (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief), Beneath Us All is a slow-burning horror film centering on the foster care experience.
Boasting solid performances and a unique story, Beneath Us All is an occasionally admirable watch, though the lack of horror, uninspired dialogue and meandering pace means it lacks bite.
What is 'Beneath Us All' about?
A soon-to-be 18-year-old foster child, Julie, stumbles upon a Yggdrasil pendant, which unintentionally releases an evil presence disguised as an injured man. As this presence continues to gain power, it turns into a race for Julie to save her family.
The performances are quite impressive, especially from the cast members who are less well known. Lead Angelina Danielle Cama is good as Julie, giving a layered and emotional turn. Relied upon by her foster siblings due to being their only decent role model, and nervous about what’s coming next due to her looming adulthood, Cama wears this anxiety on her sleeve and embodies her character’s difficulties in a believable way. She is easily likeable as she gives the youngsters someone to lean on, despite lacking the drive to put that positivity into her own life. Kaiti Wallen (Ash and Bone) is another standout, as her social worker character Rebecca grounds this story and adds in a rare-to-find ray of hope for the kids. Clearly being the only adult in the kids’ lives that actually cares about them and wants to help, particularly where Julie is concerned, her character feels necessary, and she becomes quite the scene stealer.
Perhaps the two biggest names in this movie are Maria Olsen and Sean Whalen – they’re totally unlikeable in the best way, adding another good performance to each of their rosters. Foster parents who don’t seem to give an ounce of love, care or attention to the many kids under their roof, they’re a villainous duo that work well together.
The story at play is quite a unique one, which gives Beneath Us All some edge. Kicking things off with a flashback scene that adds in some intriguing lore, to bringing us into a young girl’s life in the foster system during the present day, the script presents plenty of fresh locations, ideas and commentary. Blending coming-of-age themes with vampirism is certainly not new within the horror genre, but the added stresses, worries and experiences of a child growing up in the foster system ensure to give it a unique spin. Unfortunately, the great ideas presented lack thorough development, and the social commentary is very surface level. This quickly becomes quite a disappointment, as the first act shaped Beneath Us All up to appear as though it’d have much to say. It’s also the dialogue that tremendously lets the script down – conversations are bland and uninspired, some line delivery is sombre and awkward, and character interactions sorely lack depth. Plenty of ideas are in place, and they’re all strong ones, but the execution lets it down.
The horror in Beneath Us All is unfortunately quite lacklustre, which may let fans of the genre down and wind up leaving them itching for more. There is plenty of pay-off during the final act, where the vampire theme really kicks into gear with some gore, body horror and effects, but until that point, the journey is slow and meandering. It does have a sense of eeriness about it, and an uncomfortable tone is introduced from the start which is hard to shake. The cinematography is gloomy, the locations are isolated and bleak, and the pacing is clearly deliberate, as attention is paid to setting the scene and letting emotions linger. However, due to the dialogue being uninteresting and the themes and ideas lacking development, this slow pace does not have the desired effect. Instead of feeling like a tense build-up to what is quite a competent final act, it feels more like a mediocre build-up to a final act that doesn’t warrant the meandering pace. Even fans of the slow burn may struggle with this film.
Beneath Us All must be commended for its solid ideas and ability to create a looming sense of dread with its unsettling tone. The cinematography works a treat, the performances are impressive and the themes and ideas it introduces cause initial intrigue and boast a unique flavour. However, the lack of development really lets things down, as what starts as a promising horror-slash-coming-of-age moves at a snail’s pace to unfortunately become an underexplored missed opportunity. A tighter script with more engaging dialogue and theme development would’ve raised Beneath Us All from okay territory to good, even great territory.
'Beneath Us All' is available on digital platforms
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