I’m watching Underwater (2020), and it seems to have a monster that should interest me… but I’m barely paying attention.
Now, sure, I could TRY HARDER to pay attention, but I’m watching it for fun. And also, I’ve learned from being a slush reader to trust my instincts…
When you’re sent dozens and hundreds of stories to read, and you’ll only be able to buy a small handful (and you’re not getting paid for reading them), you learn how to discern really quickly if a story just isn’t going to work for you, because… well, it saves you time.
I know it would be nice to think that every time you send a story to a market, the editor carefully reads it from beginning to end and ponders deeply before making their decision.
But that simply isn’t feasible.
So, I’ve learned to trust my instincts as a reader (or viewer).
I’ve been reading (and watching) fiction my whole life. My brain knows how to pick up on subtle clues and, metaphorically, make my ears perk up with interest.
If I’m profoundly struggling to even pay attention to a work of fiction, it’s usually time to move on. With stories in the slush pile, I’ll try jumping ahead a few pages or to the end to see if there’s anything surprising to make me want to try again.
With a horror movie I’m watching for fun, if it’s not holding my attention… well, I guess I end up writing a twitter thread.
In the case of Underwater, I think it fell prey to the mistake of jumping into action too fast without establishing a baseline normality for the viewer.
I recently watched Leviathan (1989) and like a lot of older horror movies, it started out kinda slow. However, that gave me time to get to know the characters in their normal state which made me care so much more about them as they tried to survive.
Although, it may have also helped that Leviathan featured Buckaroo Banzai and Winston Zeddemore.
In conclusion, Underwater is over now, so I’m gonna go do something more useful than writing a twitter thread about how it didn’t hold my attention.
Maybe.