Secrets in the Water

Cerina Vincent does a wonderful job in her role. Her next door neighbor is alright. No one else in the movie can act AT ALL. It's honestly embarrassing to watch. Emily Skinner *might* have done alright but she is given such horrible lines that it's impossible to tell.

I had forgiveness for the film at first because it said it was based on true events. It's full of ridiculous and completely unbelievable lines, motivations, and details but I thought.. oh well maybe it's just an actually insane story. After researching I came to find this: "Albeit the inspiration isn't drawn from specific characters, several stories alluding to murders, like that of Mia, have erupted in the past, giving creators the creative liberty to create a storyline along such lines." So, in other words, when they say it's based on true events they are COMPLETELY LYING.

The premise was good. Unfortunately it was incredibly predictable and full of insanely unbelievable details including: a sheriff running a homicide investigation instead of a detective, a sheriff giving an unchecked cell phone back to a parent a week after a crime, yet hanging onto the body for weeks, a tiny town being completely unaffected by a teenagers murder, 2 teens in a tiny town being last entry & runner up for the same fancy French art school, a child that is supposedly poor and seen as "trailer trash" living in a massive Hawaiian home, a restraining order against a grieving mother being issued in a matter of an hour or so after two contacts, a sheriff handing evidence to a grieving mother to read and declaring the case closed while still later forensically analyzing said evidence because the case was apparently not closed, etc. Then there is the confession. Just.. what? The dialogue in this seen is unparalleled. It's shockingly bad. I cannot believe this script was approved or that this poor actor/ actress (to avoid spoiler) was actually expected to split this drivel out. No one would say this. No murderer is this instantly self aware. It's... annoying.

And then there is the knife. The cardboard, spray painted knife. Why???

Oh my gosh, how does stuff like this get financed and distributed? I was craving some Hawaiian scenery and got sucked in by how bad this was, I couldn't look away...the script, the costumes, the 'special effects', etc. I laughed out loud at the knife scene, what was it made out of, rubber coated in tin foil?

Why couldn't anyone act? I know that there is a talented acting community in Hawaii, so even if you aren't flying people in from elsewhere, why weren't talented locals utilized. Was this a student film. No, it would have been better.

The location was stunning so I guess I got that out of it.

As a storyline, it was ok, but too easy to see who killed Mia by watching Bailey's expressions. Acting of all cast was on a par with daytime soaps. Ok to watch if you've grown tired of watching the shapes of clouds above.

Review contains non-specific plot details - but no obvious spoilers.

Implausible, yet predicatable storyline.

Much of the plot is very implausible and unbelievable.

For example: Police providing a relative of a murder victim with belongings of the deceased that were in posession of the deceased at the time they went missing. Really? You don't think that would be evidence? Especially the victim's phone?

Another example: The murder investigation is handled by a regular uniformed traffic patrol officer, not a detective. Nobody ever visits a police station - they just pull up in their car next to where this police officer is regularly parked.

Another example: Everyone's home looks to be a newly finished 5 star residence - regardless of whether the character occupying the residence is reputed to be trailer trash, an unemployed aspiring surfer or a high school student living away from their parents. One scene contains a very obviously fake television. Nobody in this movie lives in a plausible residence. Even the residence of the main character is implausible considering their occupation.

There are many more implausible things about this movie but to go into detail on them would give away spoilers.

Amateur directing, acting and dialog. Although in the actors defence - in some scenes they're forced to make the best of a bad situation.

For example: A character opens a glass door and then looks surprised to see what's on the other side after opening it... Really?

I get the dramatic effect the director was going for but in the end a good scene should be plausible with the actors acting logically.

I would not watch this movie again or recommend it to anyone I like.

The acting in this was so bad it was difficult to watch to the end but I had to see if the obvious killer was the actual killer or if there was a twist. No twist. It seems they spent a lot of money on the location but not enough on actors or props. They didn't even do a decent job of cutting cardboard into the shape of a knife blade & painting it gray. And that poor sheriff could have been fitted with a much better toupee. It's hard to use up 600 required characters for a review when the movie is this shallow & transparent. What more can I say? It wasn't good and I don't recommend watching it unless you're desperate.