Upcoming Lovecraft Movie Already Has the Perfect Netflix Rival Releasing in 1 Month
A new Netflix thriller may arrive before Dredge makes the jump from video game to movie, but the two projects already have striking similarities. Both center on fishermen, isolated coastal communities, and terrifying forces emerging from beneath the ocean. Most importantly, both tap into the same Lovecraftian fear of encountering something humanity cannot fully understand.
Netflix’s Below premieres on October 8, 2026, as a six-episode limited series starring Josh Hartnett, Mackenzie Davis, and Charlie Heaton. The series follows a Newfoundland fishing community threatened by an unidentified sea creature. Meanwhile, Dredge, the acclaimed indie horror game from Black Salt Games, is being developed as a live-action feature film.
Although Below is not an adaptation of Dredge, the similarities are difficult to overlook.
Netflix’s Below Has a Lot in Common With Dredge
At first glance, Dredge and Below appear to tell very different stories.
In Dredge, players take control of a fisherman whose routine work at sea gradually leads him toward a disturbing truth about the creatures and supernatural forces hiding beneath the surface. The game’s mystery unfolds slowly, with the protagonist’s experiences becoming increasingly connected to psychological trauma and the horrors lurking in the deep.
Below takes a different route, focusing on Calvin Penney, a fisherman living in a small Newfoundland community. Josh Hartnett plays Calvin, a man still haunted by his father’s mysterious death decades earlier. When an unidentified sea creature begins terrorizing the town, Calvin is forced to protect his family and community while trying to understand what has emerged from the water.
That setup immediately creates a strong connection with Dredge. Both stories place fishermen at the center of an increasingly disturbing mystery, and both use the ocean as the source of an unseen threat.
The setting also strengthens the comparison. Below was filmed in Newfoundland, Canada, using the region’s rugged coastline and waters as a major part of the show’s atmosphere. The game’s world, meanwhile, revolves around isolated islands and dangerous waters where ordinary fishing gradually gives way to encounters with things that should not exist.
But the biggest similarity is the way both stories approach their monsters.
Rather than immediately explaining the nature of the threat, they build tension around what remains hidden beneath the water. That sense of uncertainty is central to Lovecraftian horror. The fear comes not only from the creature itself, but from the realization that humans may be incapable of understanding what they have encountered.
Watch the Trailer for Netflix’s Below
Netflix has released an official trailer for Below, giving viewers a better look at Hartnett’s Calvin and the mysterious creature threatening Newfoundland. All six episodes of the limited series arrive on October 8, 2026.
Below Could Be the Perfect Companion to Dredge
There is no guarantee that Below will ultimately become a full-fledged Lovecraftian horror story. It could still develop primarily as a creature-driven survival thriller.
The trailer, however, suggests that the series is interested in more than simply putting a monster in the water. Calvin’s history, his father’s death, his relationship with his son Wade, and the secrets surrounding the creature all point toward a mystery that reaches beyond a straightforward battle for survival. Calvin also teams up with Fonda Howander, a marine researcher played by Mackenzie Davis, as the pair attempt to uncover what is happening beneath the Newfoundland waters.
That makes Below particularly interesting for fans of Dredge.
One of the game’s strongest qualities is the gradual transition from ordinary fishing adventure to something much stranger and more psychologically unsettling. Its horror comes from uncertainty, isolation and the suggestion that the world beneath the surface is far larger and more dangerous than the protagonist can comprehend.
Below appears to be exploring similar territory, even though it has its own characters and story.
If Netflix’s series succeeds, it could also give audiences a timely example of how underwater creature horror can be combined with mystery and cosmic-horror elements. That could make Dredge feel even more relevant when its own live-action adaptation eventually arrives.
Dredge’s Movie Adaptation Is Still in Development
The Dredge movie has been in development for some time, with Black Salt Games working with Story Kitchen on a live-action feature adaptation of the game.
Wētā Workshop, the acclaimed effects and creature-design company known for its work on The Lord of the Rings and Avatar, has also been involved in the project’s early concept and creature design. More recent development information identifies acclaimed filmmaker Andrew Adamson as part of the creative team working on the adaptation.
The movie remains in development, so there is currently no reason to expect it to arrive alongside Below. In fact, with the project still progressing through script development, a release before 2027 appears unlikely.
That extended wait could make Below an especially appealing stopgap for fans who have been looking forward to seeing Dredge translated into live action.
The game already has a cinematic foundation. Its story combines fishing, isolation, psychological deterioration and supernatural creatures with an atmosphere heavily influenced by cosmic horror. The film therefore has plenty of material to work with, but translating that slow-building sense of dread to the screen will be a significant challenge.
If Below proves successful, it could establish a useful benchmark for Dredge. A strong reception would demonstrate that audiences are willing to embrace stories in which the ocean itself becomes the setting for an unknowable horror.
More Lovecraftian Horror Is on the Way
Dredge and Below are not the only projects giving Lovecraftian horror fans something to anticipate.
Mike Flanagan is developing a new adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist. His version is expected to take a substantially different approach from Frank Darabont’s 2007 film rather than simply remaking it. Flanagan has described the project as a new interpretation of King’s story.
James Wan is also continuing to develop an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu. Wan first revealed that the project had been a personal dream project he had been developing for years, and in 2026 he confirmed that the film remains in development. He has also acknowledged that Lovecraftian movies can be expensive to produce, making the project more difficult to get off the ground.
For now, though, Below is the project arriving first.
The Netflix series premieres on October 8, 2026, putting its mysterious sea creature and isolated Newfoundland community in front of audiences well before the Dredge movie is ready. Whether Below ultimately delivers genuine cosmic horror or remains a creature thriller, its similarities to Dredge make it an intriguing preview of the kind of atmosphere the live-action game adaptation could eventually explore.