Dhruv Trivedi
‘The Deep House’ is a mystery horror film that follows a young couple into the watery depths of a lake. Looking for locations to film creepy footage for their online videos, Ben and Tina dive down to a submerged house, only to find that it was the site of horrific crimes in the past. Now, running out of oxygen and trapped in the house by evil entities, the couple tries to hold on to their sanity even as they desperately struggle for a way out.
The story takes place predominantly underwater, and the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped below the surface is one of the film’s most distinct and effective fear tactics. If you’re wondering where the unsettling underwater visuals of ‘The Deep House’ were filmed, we’ve got the story!
The Deep House Filming Locations
‘The Deep House’ is set almost entirely in France and was filmed across a few locations in Southern France. The production also spent significant time filming in a studio in Belgium, where most of the underwater scenes were shot. One of the film’s directors, Alexandre Bustillo, described how difficult it was to shoot a movie underwater, saying that all the technical aspects had to be revamped and established processes changed. He even compared it to making a movie for the first time!
Principal photography kicked off on January 27, 2020, but had to be halted on March 13. The COVID-19 pandemic reportedly delayed the production, and filming resumed on June 15 and lasted until June 26, 2020. The production team then spent a few days in July filming on-location in France, concluding on July 17, 2020. Now let’s take a look at the specific locations that were used to bring the movie to life.
Vilvoorde, Belgium
The film is set almost entirely underwater, and most of the filming was undertaken at Studios Lites, located at Fabrieksstraat 81 in the municipality of Vilvoorde near Brussels. The studio is known for its world-class interior water stage, which is 9 meters (about 30 feet) deep and is used for high-quality underwater and water surface filming. The submerged house — inside which Ben and Tina get trapped —was reportedly built on a large grid and could be partially submerged into the water for filming scenes in specific parts of the house.
Furthermore, the decor used to furnish the interior of the house was allegedly built in a nearby warehouse. Filming reportedly took place in the tank at a depth of about six meters. Since the house could only be lowered into the tank at a rate of about one meter per hour, it would often take about six hours to lower the “set” into the water tank.
Occitanie, France
In July 2020, the production moved to the Occitanie region in Southern France, where multiple locations were used for outdoor filming and establishing shots. Most notably, filming took place around lake Raviège (Lac de la Raviège) near the Lacaune commune. As seen in the film, the lake is surrounded by picturesque forests and is a popular spot for various activities.
It is also worth noting that the water body is an artificial one and gets its name from a hamlet named La Raviège, which was submerged in 1957 due to the construction of a dam. This is especially poignant since the lake in the film — Lake Frais — is also described as an artificial one that was made by submerging a village. The production team also shot a few scenes at the Lac des Saints-Peyres, another artificial lake which is situated on the Arn river in the region. Finally, a few additional scenes were filmed in the nearby commune of Anglès.
Bry-sur-Marne, France
A portion of the filming of ‘The Deep House’ was undertaken at the Bry-sur-Marne Studios, situated at 2 Avenue de l’Europe in the Bry-sur-Marne commune. The area is an eastern Paris suburb and falls within the Grand Paris metropolitan area. The cast and crew reportedly spent the last few days of the production filming at the production facility, which is one of the largest ones in France.
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