Horror cinema has always been a comfortable environment for early career and aspiring filmmakers, partly because its audience are generally more forgiving and partly because that critical support translates into commercial success. There will always be an audience for horror movies, regardless of their quality. Director Steven C. Miller likely understands this better than most. His debut feature Automaton Transfusion (2006) was extraordinarily cheap and jaw-droppingly awful (back in 2022 I called it “probably the lowest-quality presentation I have ever seen given a release by a studio-backed label”). Despite its faults it found a paying audience, and Miller has continued to direct feature films ever since.

Under the Bed (2012) sees troubled brothers Neal (Jonny Weston) and Paulie (Gattlin Griffith) Hausman reunited after an unspoken incident saw Neal separated from both Paulie and their father Terry (Peter Holden). Both remain terrified of the monster under the bed: a very real creature with murderous designs on Neal in particular.

While Automaton Transfusion was Miller’s first feature, Under the Bed is his third. It shows a more considered and careful talent at work. The scope of the film is more modestly composed, and this affords a higher quality of movie in every regard. It has stronger plotting, more original ideas, and more engaging performances all round. While it still sits comfortably in a low-budget, relatively B-grade niche, it does so in a broadly entertaining fashion. Under the Bed captured my attention, I watched it right the way through, and I enjoyed watching it. At the end of the day that’s always going to be a film’s bottom line.

With more expensive horror movies awash with computer-generated enhancements, it is always nice to see a more physical, albeit scrappy production. The monster of the piece is a classic bit of rubber-suit-monster work, with a distinctive look and a penchant for hiding in the shadows. By the film’s third act it becomes surprising just how gory it all becomes. Much of the film runs along on atmosphere and things lurking in the shadows. When arms start getting ripped off in fountains of blood, it comes as quite a surprise: it really did not seem to be that kind of a movie. A bombastic musical score by Ryan Dodson sits just on the right side of ridiculous.

The performances are solid across the board, although script-wise it underserves its female characters. Terry’s new wife Angela (Musetta Vander) veers between sympathetic and unlikeable, while a love interest for Neal is developed, incorporated, and then literally abandoned in the middle of an action scene.

I watched Under the Bed, and I enjoyed it. Critically, however, I cannot imagine ever watching it again. While it nice to see its director improved after his 2006 debut, I have unfortunately seen his subsequent action sequel Escape Plan 2 (2018). That one I described as ‘so fraudulent that someone ought to be arrested’. Still, one out of three isn’t so bad I suppose.