The Abyss Below | Jack Turner creates a close family horror

There’s something amiss in The Abyss Below, the new film from writer director Jack Turner. Either there’s a deep dysfunctional family dynamic on Greek-mythology scale, or there’s the onset of mental illness. Or it could be the supernatural intervention of a demon.

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Jack Turner’s chilling short hinges on a twilight world where the sense of loss and revenge quickly overtakes a lifetime of nurture. He leaves us musing just where such malevolence comes from.

As mum Eve Lenyar, Naomi Richards, slips between faux to real care. Dad, Lucius Morningstar (Steve Huggins) has an embracing allure. And Tommy Carmichael, plays son Samuel Lenyar, who handles innocent confusion and murderous dedication in equal measure.

Cinematographer Harry Moorcroft provides both the tight angles of terror and the sense of evil in nature. While Lennie Stanford’s music points to dread and horror.

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One of the joys of The Abyss Below is that it makes you ask just where that abyss lies: the Underworld; beneath the skin of a family relationship; or lurking underneath the fragile cortex of what makes up the psyche of mental health.

The Abyss Below seems straightforwardly sinister, but the performances and depth point to a deeper darkness. The short is released on the internet in September. Dive in!

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