Below Review: Josh Hartnett Leads Supremely Atmospheric Coastal Town Sea Monster Horror
TIFF: Hartnett stars opposite Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) and Mackenzie Davis (Speak No Evil) in the new Netflix series from The Umbrella Academy writer Jesse McKeown
by Alex Kaan 12 September 2026
Netflix
It’s been an all-timer year for horror television. Between the trippy horror romance thrills of Netflix’s Something Very Bad is Going to Happen and the sharp horror comedy of Widow’s Bay, genre television is becoming an increasingly competitive market — and Netflix’s latest miniseries comes to compete. Satisfying coastal small-town horror cravings after Widow's Bay, Below is a charming, eerie, and brutal sea monster series that serves up both gory scares and a moody, moving portrait of an isolated Canadian community.
Created by Jesse McKeown, best known for Netflix’s adaptation of comic book series The Umbrella Academy, Below unfolds in Snook’s Arm, a remote Newfoundland town with thick accents, no hospital, and a distinct sense that its culture is wholly its own, untouched by globalisation. Its residents include Calvin Penney (Josh Hartnett), a widower father unsatisfied with his inherited ice harvesting job, and his unfiltered ADHD son (Charlie Heaton) who helps run the family side hustle of renting out a room on Airbnb. Calvin remains close with his sister, Ruth (Willow Kean), and often stops by the office of visiting marine researcher Fonda (Mackenzie Davis) to get the scoop on where he can find the best ice. Moreover, his two other kids, Mary (Ruby Stokes) and Jay (Rohan Campbell), are back in Snook’s Arm for a “Come Home Year”, a Newfoundland tradition that encourages ex-residents to return to their home town.
Netflix
Traditions like that are suddenly under threat when the Canadian government wants to resettle the village because of the high costs of public services to such a distant area. They’re offering each household $140,000 — and each resident an additional $60,000 to do so — and Calvin is one of the minority who won’t budge. But the town soon finds itself facing a far bigger danger. A Portuguese trawler fishing illegally has gone missing in the nearby waters, and Calvin retrieves a slimy haul of “bad ice” that, when Fonda tests it, is revealed to be a huge mucous membrane belonging to a logically huge creature.
Like many horror series today, from Cape Fear to The Beauty, Netflix’s Below boasts a real cinematic ambition, with its lush cinematography capturing the idyllic yet menacing seaside scenery, and a sweeping, spooky score from The Witch and The Lighthouse composer Mark Korven. Not to mention the creature design, which the first two episodes furtively tease. But the show’s real draw is its vivid depiction of an idiosyncratic, close community that feels like a dying breed, which makes the mythic threat feel all the more urgent. The series also has Ginger Snaps scribe Karen Walton on the writing team, and it taps into the winning fusion of Canadian small-town drama and creature feature body horror that made the cult werewolf film so alluring.
Netflix
A relatively underrated scream king, Josh Hartnett shines in what makes for a diverting companion piece to his remote Alaskan village-set vampire thriller 30 Days of Night. Playing a struggling father still traumatised by the early loss of his own, he delivers a grounded performance enhanced with leading-man charisma. While the whole ensemble is game, the other standout is Charlie Heaton, who swaps the quiet bravery of his breakout role as the nerdy Jonathan Byers in Stranger Things for a magnetic, live-wire take on a restless son stuck in a co-dependent relationship with his dad.
Led by a gripping Josh Hartnett, Below is a smart fusion of slice-of-life drama and large-scale horror thrills that adds its name to this year’s stellar list of genre television.