Into The Deep: The Submarine Murder Case (2022) Movie Review – A Shocking and Jaw-Dropping Documentary

Back in 1886, Robert Stevenson wrote the psychological thriller, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Within the book, Stevenson writes about the duality of man; the idea that every single one of us has a good and evil side within.

So why am I bringing this up here? Well, Into The Deep: The Submarine Murder Case essentially toys with this idea and across its 90 minute run-time, distorts and changes what we think we know about Peter Madsen eccentric Danish celebrity, Peter Madsen. Well known for making his own submarines, filmmaker Emma Sullivan sets out to profile the inventor and his newest creation, which happens to be a homemade rocket. What she captures instead, is beyond her wildest dreams.

For those unaware of this case, Into The Deep focuses on the events before, during and after the disappearance of Kim Wall, a charismatic journalist with a bright future ahead of her. When she dives with him in the UC3 submarine… and is never seen again. We won’t reveal what actually happens here as that would be a disservice to this fantastic documentary.

The format that Into The Deep uses is certainly unusual and to begin with, it feels quite uneven in both pace and tone. However, stick with this as 20 minutes in  you’ll be absolutely gripped.

This true-crime doc is uniquely positioned in the field because the footage captured here is raw and authentic, with actual shots leading up to and after the disappearance. With film crews operating around this time, we see Kim’s friends and colleagues genuinely concerned for her wellbeing and see how they adjust to different facts that come about when the submarine resurfaces. This really helps with the immersive feel of this.

Speaking of immersive, the archival news footage from the time really helps this one out a lot as well. Ordinarily this can give a documentary some extra flair but here it genuinely feels like you’re getting breaking news as the different anchors report on new findings. This is backed up by some newspaper clippings from the time, while the film constantly flits back and forth between the past and those aforementioned moments after Kim’s disappearance. The final scene of this is absolutely chilling too and one heck of a way to close things out.

Into The Deep is one of those jaw dropping documentaries that’ll catch you completely off-guard if you (like me) are unaware of this case. On the surface (I’ll try to keep the submarine puns to a minimum!) this looks to be a pretty perfunctory and simple story but once this film dives into the murky depths below, it reveals a shocking and sinister truth that’s hard to believe. This is an absolute must-watch.