Review: ‘Beneath Us’ digs up American horrors for undocumented workers -

Where The Hunt writhes around in the mud of a heightened, satirical playpen, Beneath Us reads more straight and serious ⏤ an uncomfortable doom lining its cracked cage. That’s not to say Max Pachman’s directorial debut doesn’t explore heated socio-political topics with the force of a cast-iron skillet to the skull. Instead, the tone slides under the fingernails and behind the eye balls; its story might ring uncomfortable to some, but for others, it’s cold, hard, and brutal reality. With a script written by Pachman and Mark Mavrothalasitis, the story follows undocumented workers, their desperation to build a life in America, and the bloodsucking white supremacists who’d rather bury them six-feet deep than show an ounce of compassion.

Rigo Sanchez (Goliath, Animal Kingdom) and Josue Aguirre (Showtime’s Dexter) offer strong, emotionally rich performances as two undocumented workers named Alejandro and Memo, respectively. Day in and day out, they camp out near a lumber mill, longing for a break that’ll push them closer to the American Dream. Contract work is hard work, and they’ll do anything to push forward. Alejandro hopes to earn enough money to bring his wife and son across the border, while his younger brother Memo expresses great disgust toward Alejandro for seemingly abandoning his family.

Lynn Collins (Bosch, True Blood, Haunted) makes a star turn as the poisonously privileged rich white woman named Liz Rhodes, who, alongside her husband Ben (played by James Tupper, known for roles in Revenge, Big Little Lies, and Aftermath), hires Alejandro, Memo, and three other undocumented workers named Tonio (Thomas Chavira), Hector (Roberto Sanchez), and Jesus (David Castro) to fix up their estate’s adjoining guest house. $500 a person, work immediately begins, from installing drywall to painting exteriors to landscaping, and early on, Liz’s demeanor is perky and welcoming.

But that’s the trouble with white people sometimes.

Once Alejandro, Memo, and company arrive on the property, the curtain begins to fall, and Liz’s true intentions are slowly revealed. During the first night, after putting in a solid, honest day’s work, they turn in for the night. Liz has other plans; first, she flicks on overnight work lights, and when that doesn’t do the trick, she hoses them down, forcing them to work 24/7. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Liz and Ben slowly torture, maim, and kill them one-by-one. It’s truly heart-wrenching and infuriating to behold.

Pachman’s Beneath Us pulls no punches. Alongside cinematographer Jeff Powers (NOS4A2: Ghost, Class of Lies), Pachman frames the story with glossy, sometimes artful, camera work, lighting, and editing. Sequences of great suspense pair nicely against more gruesome imagery, and there’s rarely a dull moment. His thesis hammers further into the ground when it is revealed Liz and Ben’s business of flipping houses ⏤ as the camera pans out on a wall display, exposing an array of other newly-renovated homes, the full extent of their destruction is cemented.

Beneath Us is a necessary, emotional, and draining piece of filmmaking. It’ll surely get people talking.