After living with his aunt for two years, teenager Neal Hasuman (Jonny Weston, John Dies at the End) returns home. He was sent away following a fire that accidentally killed his mother; the blaze was set by him in an attempt to kill the creature lurking in his room. Naturally, Neal’s high-strung and short-fused father (Peter Holden, The Social Network) thinks he is mental; only little bro Paulie (Gattlin Griffith, Green Lantern) believes him, because he, too, has troubles with this nocturnal demon.
Although competently made and looking every-cent-sharp for its meager budget, Under the Bed can’t help but come off as supremely silly. It’s essentially a story to be shared ’round the campfire — hardly adult fare, except for the adult doing the telling.
In this case, the adult is on-the-rise director Steven C. Miller. After killing it last year with the unflinching home-invasion thriller The Aggression Scale and the Silent Night slasher remake, this represents a big step back. I assume Under the Bed was undertaken just for a paycheck, because he appears to have no emotional investment in the material, flimsy as it is, and neither will you. —Rod Lott
Hey! Read This:
• The Aggression Scale Blu-ray review
• Green Lantern Blu-ray review
• John Dies at the End Blu-ray review
• Silent Night Blu-ray review
• The Social Network film review
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2013.