Lieutenant Brice is the main antagonist of the 2002 submarine supernatural horror movie Below. He is the naval lieutenant of the USS Tiger Shark submarine during WW2 who tries to cover-up his mistake in the accidental destruction of a British Hospital Ship, Fort James. His cover-up is hindered by the vengeful spirit of his superior officer, Lieutenant Commander Winter whom he killed to prevent him and those involved getting court-martialled for war crime.
He is portrayed by Bruce Greenwood
Below[]
In 1943, as the crews of the USS Tiger Shark was near the end of their duty, lieutenant Brice and crew members Paul Loomis, and Steven Coors wanted to score some kills against Kriegsmarine ships before their duty ends. In their haste, they mistook a British Hospital Ship Fort James as enemy ship and sunk it. When they realized their mistake, the commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Winter decided to do the right things by trying to rescue the survivors but in a plan to cover up the accident that was mostly concocted by Loomis. Brice, Loomis and Coors killed Winters and ordered the sub to leave the area leaving the survivors for dead to prevent the three of them from getting court-martialed for a war crime. The vengeful spirit of Winter then proceed to rise from Davy Jones's Locker to get revenge on the crew.
The survivors of Fort James, nurse Claire Page and two others survivors are rescued by the Tiger Shark. The Tiger Shark crew then spots a German destroyer approaching. The submarine has several encounters with the destroyer and suffers damage from depth charges. Brice discovers one of the survivor is actually a German prisoner-of-war, Bernhard Schillings. Believing Schillings has been making noise to betray Tiger Shark's position to the German warship, Brice confronts him, shooting Schillings dead when the German panics and grabs a scalpel to defend himself.
Brice reveals to Paige that Tiger Shark recently sank a German submarine tender, and previous commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Winters, died after surfacing to confirm the sinking. According to Brice, Winters attempted to salvage a souvenir from the flotsam with a boathook when Tiger Shark struck a submerged object, causing Winters to fall overboard and drown; Brice then assumed command.
Following Schillings’ death, those aboard Tiger Shark perceive disembodied voices and other eerie events. Brice, Coors and Loomis realize that Ensign Douglas Odell is suspicious of the Winters death and plot to have Coors kill Odel while fixing an oil leak in the ballast tank. While working in a ballast tank, Odell questions Brice’s account that Winters fell after the submarine struck a submerged object, saying that he felt no such impact. Coors tells Odell a false story: Winters, on deck with only Brice, Coors, and Lieutenant Paul Loomis, had ordered a gunnery party summoned to fire on the German survivors. When Brice, Loomis, and Coors objected, a heated argument escalated into a physical altercation during which Winters hit his head and fell overboard. To protect Winters' reputation, Coors asks Odell not to tell anyone. Right before Coors can kill Odel with his hammer, Coors sees Winters ghost which scares him and causes him to slip and fall to his death.
A series of bizarre mechanical problems cause the crew to lose control of Tiger Shark, and the submarine turns back towards the site of her sinking of the German ship, apparently of her own volition, and the crew suspect a supernatural influence, questioning Brice's version of Winters' death. Crewmen die in accidents at an alarming rate - Loomis sees Winters' ghost, and tries to escape from the submarine via an escape trunk while the submarine is underwater, and dies when he is impaled on an outside railing.
Crew member "Weird" Wally concludes the submarine is haunted by a "malediction" that must be satisfied to escape its netherworld between heaven and hell. Paige is lured by Winters to his room and the spirit guided her to the log book, which reveals the truth behind his death and how Brice, Loomis and Coors were responsible for the sinking of her ship.
Tiger Shark is crippled by mounting accidents, and only five survivors remain: Brice, Odell, Paige, Stumbo, and Wally. After Tiger Shark arrives at the location of the sinking of Fort James and surfaces in a disabled condition, those aboard detect a surface ship nearby. Brice prevents the surviving crew from radioing the ship, but Paige sneaks out on deck and tries to signal the ship with a flashlight. Brice confronts her and holds her at gunpoint. His remorse over the accident overcomes him; he begins shooting Loomis's corpse still impaled on the railing revealing Loomis was the real brains behind the coverup while admitting everything, and shoots himself in the head, falling dead into the ocean but not before throwing the flashlight Paige was using to signal for help into the ocean out of spite.
Mysteriously a rescue flair was fired (Likely Winters ghost again.), getting the ships attention The ship turns out to be British, and picks up the four survivors. Tiger Shark sinks, coming to rest on the ocean floor next to the wreck of Fort James.