Movies
[Review] ‘The Deep House’ Is an Eerie and Technically Ambitious Aquatic Nightmare
The very concept behind Inside directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s latest is simultaneously ingenious and daunting. A haunted house that can only be accessed by diving to the bottom of a murky, deep lake exhilarates for its innovative new spin on the subgenre. Yet, the technique and precise, painstaking execution required to bring this ambitious aquatic nightmare to life seem like, well, a nightmare. While the nature of bringing this vision to the screen does limit it narratively, The Deep House more than unsettles through an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere and an exhilarating new twist to the haunted house.
Urban explorer Ben (James Jagger) is a thrill seeker in perpetual pursuit of the next unique find that will draw big numbers on his social media channels. Ben’s latest goal is to find legendary village ruins submerged deep underwater fifty years ago during a dam’s construction. He drags his girlfriend Tina (Camille Rowe) along, constantly pushing her past her comfort zone and refusing to slow down. The couple happens upon a local, Pierre (Eric Savin), who promises to show them the coveted spot that isn’t on any map. With the instructions of “follow the steps” down 50 meters below to the dark depths of the lake and only an hour or so worth of oxygen, Ben and Tina find leaving their discovery might prove harder than finding it.
D.P. Jacques Ballard’s extensive experience with underwater cinematography is The Deep House’s most significant and vital asset. As Ben and Tina make their descent into darkness, to eventually discover a pristinely preserved home where no fish dare come near, it’s Ballard’s cinematography that creates an eerie, elegant atmosphere that never relents. That atmosphere of preserved bodies or home décor lifelessly floating in the abyss engages visually where the narrative sags.
The technical precision and safety measures required of having actors and crew underwater means a scaled-back story; it’s simple mythology. The scares don’t come as fast or furious as many would probably like. Blocking a scene is tricky enough on dry land, but underwater? It’s a technical marvel. That means a slowed sense of movement, too; it takes Ben and Tina a while of careful exploration before the activity escalates. But Bustillo and Maury give enough story details to keep things interesting, followed by a post-credit scene that further clicks the mythology into place. When the scares do come, they’re effective, even though some are obscured by frenzied camerawork in panicked moments.
Jagger’s Ben might also frustrate viewers. His unwavering focus on his career and achieving the next big find for numbers means he’s not the most likable, especially in the context of his relationship. Tina feels pressured to meet Ben on his level, and that lack of experience complicates matters. Jagger also isn’t the strongest of performers, which undermines the film’s climax in parts.
The Deep House offers a slow, dark descent that builds to a satisfying conclusion. The underwater setting gives an otherworldly, eerie quality unlike anything else and makes the house’s ghosts all the more startling. It’s more content to let the current slowly wash over its audience than provide a sensory assault, so enjoyment will likely vary depending on how well you’re willing to submerge yourself in the details over the simplified story. But Bustillo and Maury successfully blend two subgenres that couldn’t be further apart and execute it with impressive ambition. That daring ability to test the bounds of horror, at least on a technical level, is always welcome in the genre space, even if not a perfect success.
There are no shortcuts here. It’s as practical and tangible as possible. And it makes for one of the most remarkable and memorable haunted houses in recent memory.
The Deep House will premiere on EPIX on November 5 and will also be available for digital purchase from Paramount Home Entertainment on the same day.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Kraus took the literary world by storm back in 2023 with the release of his hit novel Whalefall. A terrifying yet intimate survival thriller with mythological undertones, the book was almost immediately bombarded with offers from movie studios wanting to adapt its claustrophobic imagery to the big screen.
Fast forward to June of 2026, and we finally got our first glimpse at Brian Duffield’s long-awaited adaptation of Whalefall, starring Austin Abrams as our unfortunate lead who gets swallowed alive by a sperm whale. While this two-and-a-half-minute teaser only covers the beginning of the story, it’s already been making waves online (and in-person at select 4DX promotional screenings) as one of the most stressful cinematic experiences of the year.
In fact, my own wife had to cover her eyes and exclaim, “You’re definitely not dragging me to watch this one” when we saw the whale’s jaws begin to close in on Abrams, with this incident alone already leaving me convinced that this will likely be one of the biggest genre hits of the year. With that in mind, I’d like to invite you to take a closer look at the teaser in order to break down interesting details and get a better idea of what’s in store for genre fans when the movie finally comes out this October.
Of course, as usual, don’t forget to comment below if you noticed something we didn’t!
Now, without further ado, here are five things we learned from the Whalefall trailer!
5. Austin Abrams Performed Many of His Own Stunts
Much like in his previous film, No One Will Save You, Duffield insisted that this visceral experience should be grounded by our main character’s believable reactions, regardless of the plot’s effects-heavy setup. That’s why the camera always makes sure to linger on Abrams through his diving mask, so we know that it’s really him going through this ordeal alongside the audience.
While plenty of CGI was used in order to bring this larger-than-life story to the big screen without killing our leading man, Abrams apparently insisted on performing many of his underwater stunts himself (several of which are visible in the trailer) – much to the chagrin of a worried Duffield and the flick’s stunt coordinator, Shauna Duggins.
4. The Film Seamlessly Transitions Between the California Coast and Underwater Sets
Duffield obviously wasn’t about to drag his crew out to the middle of the ocean and shoot inside a real sperm whale, but it’s reassuring to see the filmmaker blend on-location footage with the underwater tank segments and the literal belly of the whale set.
There may be plenty of CGI stitching these elements together, but the trailer shows us that only the truly impossible shots are completely digital, meaning that the filmmakers didn’t take the easy way out when it came to adapting this unique story.
3. The Whale is Only Part of the Story
Book adaptations tend to leave out inner monologues and the occasional flashback in order to streamline the narrative (which is one reason why it’s so difficult to translate Stephen King novels to the big screen), but a claustrophobic parable like Kraus’ Whalefall would get a bit dull after a while if the whole thing was entirely set within the creature’s stomach.
That’s why it’s such a relief that the trailer hints at how Duffield will also be adapting many of the book’s introspective moments chronicling our protagonist’s harsh upbringing under his troubled father. Not only do these inclusions give the audience some much-appreciated breathing room, but they also give Josh Brolin a chance to shine as a truly complicated character.
2. The Movie is Keeping the Book’s Scientific Accuracy…
While Kraus’ novel was inspired by a viral video of kayakers nearly being swallowed by a humpback whale, the writer ended up consulting with marine biologists about exactly what kind of situation might lead to a whale actually eating a human being alive.
The answer was surprisingly specific, as cetaceans are almost universally known to be friendly towards humans. However, even a gentle giant can make mistakes, and as we see in the trailer, Abrams’ unpleasant fate is more of an accident than anything else – with the massive sperm whale only trapping the poor diver in the first (and thankfully acid-free) chamber of its stomach due to a mix-up involving a giant squid.
Fortunately for the film’s special effects artists, they can now reference the first-ever footage of a real-life sperm whale chowing down on one such squid, as this freaky recording was released late last year.
1. …With a Catch!
Duffield may be doing his best to recreate the grounded (or is it submerged?) thrills of Kraus’ novel, but there are limits to what can be depicted onscreen while still guaranteeing an entertaining movie. That’s why it’s no surprise that Whalefall will take advantage of certain cinematic parlor tricks as the director tests the limits of both physics and biology so we can actually watch his movie.
For starters, the innards of the whale itself have been greatly exaggerated so there’s enough space to make out the action, and in the spirit of movies like Neil Marshall’s The Descent, there also seems to be plenty of non-diegetic lighting meant to show us what’s going on even if Abram’s character wouldn’t necessarily be able to see anything.
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