Variety: “In London, you never know your own neighbors,” observes the cosmopolitan creep downstairs in “The Ones Below,” a compact psychological thriller that makes a mostly persuasive argument for why that’s the case. With apologies due to Roman Polanski, David Farr’s debut feature brings the maternal anxiety (and “la-la-la” choral accents) of “Rosemary’s Baby” to the brittle quarters of a tony British two-flat. Making a tentative jump from stage to screen — though he does have a co-writing credit on Joe Wright’s “Hanna” — Farr delves into the sticky issue of parental ambivalence, but he only goes deep enough to carve a small pit in the viewer’s stomach. Premiering as part of the Toronto Film Festival’s City to City program, the film channels London’s chilly reputation effectively, but doesn’t stand to travel too far beyond city limits.
WGTC writes: The Ones Below is a polished creepy-neighbor thriller that ramps up its dark intensity a little too much.
Deadline:
Hanna co-writer David Farr is making his feature directing debut with The Ones Below, a psychological thriller that’s just kicked off principal photography in London. Not to be confused with Legendary and Universal’s current catacombs pic As Above/So Below, The Ones Below focuses on two affluent couples living above and below each other whose lives become fatally interlinked. Clémence Poésy (The Tunnel, Harry Potter), David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Stephen Campbell Moore (The History Boys) and Finnish actress Laura Birn (A Walk Among The Tombstones) star in the ensemble that’s also scripted by Farr.
