The ocean is a place where people go to lose themselves - to escape the noise, the pressure, the mundane grind of daily life. But in Jesse V. Johnson’s new thriller Above & Below, the characters who venture out to find paradise end up discovering something far more sinister lurking just beneath the surface. Released on July 29, this 96-minute ride has been generating serious buzz, not just for its star-studded cast, but for the way it weaponizes wide-open water into a claustrophobic nightmare.
The premise is deceptively simple. A group of friends, led by Laura Marano’s Tatiana, set off for the vacation of a lifetime. The promise is one of sun-drenched hedonism: partying, diving, and the kind of reckless freedom that only a fully disconnected trip can offer. But that bliss is shattered when they are attacked by criminals in the middle of nowhere. There is no coast guard to call, no harbor to flee to, and nowhere to hide. What follows is a brutal, desperate fight for survival where the water itself becomes a prison.
It’s a setup we’ve seen before, but Johnson, a veteran of the action genre, isn’t content to rest on familiar tropes. He plays with the audience’s sense of scale. The ocean is vast, infinite, and yet, for the characters, it becomes a shrinking cage. The cinematography captures the terrifying paradox: the same beauty that drew them in becomes the very thing that traps them. You feel the sun on your skin in one moment, and the cold dread of an unseen threat in the next. It’s a tonal tightrope walk, and for the most part, Johnson pulls it off with the confidence of a filmmaker who knows exactly how to crank the tension.
The cast is a fascinating mix of rising stars and established heavyweights. Marano continues to shed her Disney Channel past with a gritty, vulnerable performance as Tatiana. She’s not just a scream queen here; she’s the reluctant anchor of a group unraveling under extreme pressure. Her chemistry with Christina Ochoa is palpable, giving the film an emotional core that elevates it above standard survival fare. But the real scene-stealer is Antonio Banderas as Burns, the film’s enigmatic antagonist. Banderas brings a chilling, calculated menace to the role, a stark contrast to the youthful energy of the friends he’s hunting. He’s the kind of villain who doesn’t need to raise his voice to be terrifying, and his presence looms over the entire picture. Mario Tardón, Ramiro Alonso, Ryan Bertroche, Jess Liaudin, and Diego Llinás round out the ensemble, each bringing a distinct dynamic to the group, ensuring that you actually care about the fates of these people before the chaos begins.
That emotional investment is crucial because Above & Below is not subtle about its violence. It’s an unflinching look at what happens when ordinary people are pushed to their absolute limits. The horror here is not supernatural; it’s the horror of human cruelty, of greed, and of the primal instinct to survive at any cost. The film weaves together elements of action, thriller, and horror seamlessly, creating a hybrid that will satisfy fans of all three genres. It asks a simple, uncomfortable question: when the law is a thousand miles away, and your only option is to fight or die, what kind of person do you become?
The critical reception has been mixed, with the film currently holding a 6.2/10 on TMDb and a slightly harsher 5.2/10 on IMDb. It’s easy to see why. The plot is lean, almost to a fault, and some viewers have pointed out that the thriller elements occasionally overshadow the character development. The movie is often in a hurry, sprinting from one set piece to the next, leaving little room for quiet reflection. But in a summer clogged with bloated blockbusters and overstuffed sequels, there’s something refreshing about a film that knows exactly what it is: a tight, efficient, and brutally effective genre piece.
The early buzz suggests that audiences are responding more favorably than critics, which is often the mark of a film that delivers on its base-level promise. You go into Above & Below expecting a thrill ride, and that is exactly what you get. It’s the kind of movie that makes you check the shadows in your own swimming pool, that makes the sight of a distant boat feel ominous rather than romantic. It’s a lean, mean, and surprisingly effective cinematic punch to the gut.
While it may not rewrite the rulebook on survival thrillers, it proves that with the right director and a committed cast, a simple story about bad people in a beautiful place can still be deeply, viscerally entertaining. For those looking for a dose of summer anxiety wrapped in a slick, Hollywood package, Above & Below is well worth the dive.
