Phantom Below is the first film released by Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

-based studio

Movie studio

A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...

 Pacific Films

Pacific Films

The Pacific Film Unit was established in Wellington, New Zealand in 1948 by ex-National Film Unit staff Alun Falconer and Roger Mirams. At this time most films produced in New Zealand were documentaries made by the government’s National Film Unit...

. Its world premiere

Premiere

A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...

 was at the Hawaii International Film Festival

Hawaii International Film Festival

The Hawaii International Film Festival is a film festival held in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It was started in 1981 by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko and has been held annually in the fall for two weeks...

 on March 31, 2005. The film is notable in that it has several different editions, one for general audiences, another with eight additional minutes for Japanese audiences and one with homosexual themes for the LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

-interest television channel

Television channel

A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...

 called here!

Here! (TV network)

here! is an American premium television network targeting the LGBT audiences. Launched in 2002, here! is available nationwide on all major cable systems, fiber optics systems, and Internet TV providers as either a 24/7 premium subscription channel, a video on demand service, and/or a subscription...

.

It was filmed entirely on the Hawaiian island of Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

 and employed hundreds of local actors and crew members. It was produced and directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith

Brian Trenchard-Smith

Brian Trenchard-Smith is an English film and television director, producer, writer, consultant and actor who is notable for his contributions to the horror and action genre during the 1970s and 1980s in Australia. Most of his work has been in television, and the majority of his films have been...

 and stars Adrian Paul

Adrian Paul

Adrian Paul Hewett , better known as Adrian Paul, is an actor best known for his role on the television series Highlander: The Series as Duncan MacLeod. In 1997, he founded The Peace Fund charitable organization.-Early life:...

 as Commander Frank Habley and Mike Doyle

Mike Doyle (actor)

Mike Doyle is an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is best known for his recurring roles in the television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, playing Forensics Tech Ryan O'Halloran, and Oz, playing Adam Guenzel....

 as his lover, Lt. Commander Tom Palatonio.

Plot summary

The film takes place primarily in the waters

Territorial waters

Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline of a coastal state...

 off the coast of North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

 with some scenes set in Hawaii. As it opens, an American submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 under the command of Commander Habley is attacked by an enemy submarine that has no sonar

Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

 signature. Although it survives the fight, the American submarine is badly damaged and Tom, Habley's Executive Officer

Executive officer

An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...

 and lover, is killed.

Upon return to base in Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, Commander Habley is subjected to a court martial. The Navy does not believe his story and it appears his career is over until he is recruited to command a covert mission

Military operation

Military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state's favor. Operations may be of combat or non-combat types, and are referred to by a code name for the purpose...

 to tap

Telephone tapping

Telephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...

 an underwater cable lying between North Korea and mainland China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. This is a highly sensitive and dangerous task because tensions are rising between the United States and North Korea, and it appears the two nations are on the brink of war

War

War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...

. Habley's mission is complicated by the presence of Lieutenant Claire Trifoli, Tom's sister, who blames him for her brother's death.