UB-13
2017 · 13m
Directed by Juri Ferri
Tones: contemplative, dark, tense
Based on a true story, the crew of a WWI submarine endures a terrible wait as something ghostly from the hellish deep takes hold around them.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
WWI submarine horror based on a true story sounds like the safest pitch imaginable, but Ferri somehow weaponizes the claustrophobia and historical detail into something genuinely unsettling—the ghosts here feel earned, not borrowed from genre playbook clichés.
A formally rigorous marriage of war film and supernatural dread that understands how to build tension through negative space and silence; the film knows exactly where it sits in the lineage of psychological horror and executes with the restraint of someone who's studied their precedents.
The decision to keep the 'ghostly' threat ambiguous—never quite revealed, never quite rational—transforms what could've been a creature-feature into something stranger and more potent, done on what clearly wasn't a studio budget but feels like it cost a fortune.
Reviews
UB-13 is impressive for more reasons than one and not the least for its production design, with the set looking completely authentic and deftly conveying the claustrophobic air. The film is worth watching for its masterful realisation of the director's vision.