A young woman discovers something terrifying in this film from WorldFilmGeek Hall of Famer Harley Wallen.

17-year-old Julia is in an unhappy household. A foster child, she lives with the Gibbs, a couple who have also taken in two girls, Sarah and Erica, along with Stephen. When Julia takes in an injured bird, she is shocked when Todd decides to put the bird out of its misery in front of her. An upset Julia runs away and ends up in the woods. There, she discovers something she never expected to see. Meanwhile, social worker Rebecca is investigating the Gibbs after Julia has run away.

Julia returns with the only one she can trust is Spencer. When Julia takes Spencer to the woods, she unveils her discovery. He is Frey, a 1000-year-old Viking vampire who needs to be fed. As Frey begins to traverse in town to begin feeding on humans, reports have hit of an animal attack. In charge of the case is Detective Booker, who is gearing up to move out of town for a federal position. Meanwhile, Frey begins to enter Julia’s mind and soon enough, she begins to help Frey but when someone close to her is victimized, will she be able to break free and stop the vampiric Viking?

Director and WorldFilmGeek Hall of Famer Harley Wallen has been making a name for himself in the horror genre especially as of late with Ash and Bone, in which a sequel is in development as of this review. However, for his latest horror film, he brings in a core story of a vampiric Viking unearthed from a disgruntled teen mixed in with a drama tale of a foster family on the brink of falling due to the nature of the couple taking care of the children.

Sean Whalen and Maria Olsen are great as the foster parents who find themselves constantly under investigated as they seem to care more about their own issues than those of the children. They pretty much treat the children like dirt, especially lead character Julia, played by Angelina Danielle Cama. Kaiti Wallen is great as Rebecca, the social worker willing to help Julia when she turns 18 in a few months and tries to get through to her. Rebecca is quite an interesting character as well as she finds herself conflicted as well. It’s clear that she has some sort of connection with the soon to be departing Detective Booker, played by the director himself, as he offers her a change in scenery with working alongside him.

Yan Birch is excellent as the mysterious Frey, the vampire Viking. He starts off as a character who seems to befriend Julia and even Spencer. However, one we see Frey begin to “feed”, we know his true intentions. There’s even a sense of mystique as he seems to be able to get in Julia’s head and it gets a bit predictable from there. There is a scene of heartbreak that changes the course of the Gibbs’ mindset with Olsen showing why she is definitely a talent in the genre as is Whalen, whose Todd has a bit of a side story as a debt-ridden monster who owes money to some very bad people in town. The finale is quite a shock and unexpected in some ways.

Beneath Us All is a well-made vampire film meshed with social worker drama. Once again, Harley Wallen is definitely a great filmmaker and his work in the horror genre as of late speaks for itself.

WFG RATING: A-

Deskpop Entertainment presents a Cama/Painted Creek/Westside Warriors Film production. Director: Harley Wallen. Producers: Harley Wallen and Kaiti Wallen. Writer: Bret Miller. Cinematography: Alex Gasparetto. Editing; Johnny Flynn.

Cast: Sean Whalen, Yan Birch, Maria Olsen, Angelica Danielle Cama, Kaiti Wallen, Harley Wallen, Malachi Myles, Hanna Wallen, Emilia Wallen.