What starts as a carefree getaway with friends turns into a fight for survival on open water in Above and Below, a Spanish-American thriller from director Jesse V. Johnson.
What is Above and Below about?
A group of friends heads off for a vacation meant to be about diving, partying, and little else, the kind of trip that promises nothing more complicated than sun and open sea. That plan collapses when the group finds itself targeted by criminals while out on the water, turning a leisure trip into a desperate scramble to stay safe with no easy way back to shore. The film builds its tension from isolation, stripping away the comforts of a normal vacation and leaving the group to rely on each other once the threat closes in, with the ocean itself becoming as much an obstacle as the people hunting them.
About the cast
Laura Marano and Christina Ochoa lead the cast, joined by Mario Tardón, Antonio Banderas, Ramiro Alonso, Ryan Bertroche, Jess Liaudin, and Diego Llinás, with Jesse V. Johnson directing. The mix of established and rising performers gives the ensemble both a recognizable anchor and room for newer faces to carry the film's tension.
Context & significance
A joint United States and Spain production, Above and Below carries a 2026 catalogue year and draws on the open-water thriller tradition, a genre that trades on the vulnerability of being far from shore and cut off from easy help. Jesse V. Johnson's direction leans into that isolation, using the setting itself as a source of dread rather than relying purely on the criminals the group encounters.
Watching Above and Below on K-Time
Above and Below is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, so Farsi-speaking viewers can watch it fully localized, and streaming requires only a free K-Time account login through the platform's Farsi-language interface.