Black Water

"Black Water" is one of the most tense films I have viewed in a long time. The story moves fast as it follows three tourists (all great actors) into a swamp on a tour with a butch tour guide on a small boat. Soon after dropping anchor in a remote area of the swamp, they are flipped over by something huge in the water.

Hastily, the three manage to make it into a tall tree nearby as they realize that a crocodile has attacked them. Throughout the next two days, they have to desperately try to escape from the crocodile's evil watchful eye, and he doesn't seem to want to go away. The movie drags just a tad bit, but what can you expect from the setting and the limited budget? It's so much better than "Primeval" and other recent crocodile/ underwater predator thrillers. The tension is heavy, and all three leads give terrific performances. Truly chilling, this movie struck a deep chord of claustrophobic fear in me. Apparently based on true events.

As a kid I loved the song "Never smile at a crocodile", and if I found myself in this state of affairs, which is actually inspired by true events. Smiling would be the last thing on my mind. From the opening set-up, I've never been so entrenched, caught up and finally exhausted like I was when watching this limited budget Independent Australian horror film, about three people in Northern Territory trapped in a mangrove swamp with a very conniving crocodile waiting in the water below them. What really brought the film alive, was how realistic it managed to be in transporting the fear and uncertainty of the characters' situation to the audience. Semi-documentary camera-work with a disquietingly eerie backdrop and authentic performances effectively take you out of your comfort zone. What we get is a patient survival tale than just a bloody, all-out creature feature onslaught. Think of "Open Water (2003)", where its budget and time restraint made sure it would stay low-key, but this minimal barrier enhanced the experience.

The slow-grinding story might be black and white, but it never seemed to become disposable, or succumb to formulaic patterns. Well not largely, and the connection between the characters were emotionally engaging even with a bare, straight-forward script. Although you can say "less is more", with the actions and expressions illuminating the lingering thoughts plaguing their minds. The ordeal is utterly terrifying, because the threat is very alive and never seems to loosen up. This is what drives the film's chaotic adrenaline, and in which it lasts (even when its kept buried) through to the very end.

Writers / Directors Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich's economical guidance alienates and smartly strings along the viewer with its taut pacing and harrowing psychological traits. In certain patches the notch goes up, with pressure induced suspense and startling images. The way the night sequence is executed is immensely chilling and pulsating. The menacing crocodile manipulative toys with its fresh-meat in a distressingly suspenseful approach. Sure some moments felt unlikely, but never does it get in the way or distract. Sound FX is the key, and at times the lack of any just eats away at you. Rafeal May's musical score is unassuming and doesn't really enter the mixture much, but when it does it builds an organic sounding quality. The cinematography of John Biggins is beautifully devised, and rapidly aggressive when the mood changes. It was always on the move and claustrophobic, but none of this jerky movements. The editing was sharply handled, and the effects were professionally catered by superbly combing live crocodile footage.

Something like this production would also have to rely on its cast to sell to the story in a believable manner and they do it. Diana Glenn, Andy Rodoreda and especially Maeve Dermody are persuasively good. A lot of the responsibility falls on Dermody, and she strongly delivers with an inspired turn. Now this item might cop some comparisons with another killer crocodile film "Rogue (2007)", but the two couldn't be any different in what they want to be and how they end up. If I had to pick though, I'm leaning more towards this outing for its sheer involvement to snap at you.

A remarkable effort on all fronts, with everyone involved showing potential to really look out for.

Black Water, co-directed and written by David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki, is very simple in its execution yet effective. The film is a low-budget Australian movie that will unfortunately not get the recognition it deserves because as far as creature features go, this is one of the best out there. The setup is rather basic; Grace, her husband Adam and her younger sister Lee are touring some mangroves in the Northern Territory when a saltwater crocodile flips their boat and leaves them stranded in the trees. The whole movie is about their survival while the crocodile is lurking below waiting to strike.Unlike Greg McLean's Rogue (another killer croc movie released earlier in 2007), Black Water is not about the audience having fun guessing who's gonna be eaten next, it is about hoping and praying that the three people will get out safely.

The three unknown actors do a great job with pretty demanding roles, considering it was filmed on location with a real crocodile instead of CGI. The characters act realistically in the situation and the dialogue seems natural and not forced. Suspense is built up throughout the entire film, we do not see a lot of the creature but just knowing it is near is terrifying enough. This is edge-of-your seat stuff and highly recommended if you enjoy original and (most importantly) scary horror films.

4/5

Black Water (2007)

**** (out of 4)

Australian horror film about two sisters (Diana Glenn, Maeve Dermody) and one of their boyfriends (Andy Rodoreda) who decide to take a guided tour down a river where they can fish and see crocodiles. Once out in the water and far away from land, their boat comes under attack by a large croc and soon the guide is dead and the three friends are stuck in a tree without much hope for survival. This film was clearly influenced by Open Water even though this film too is based on true events. I enjoyed Open Water but thought it had several problems, which could have been fixed and the problems I had with that film aren't in this one and I must say I think this film is the best horror movie I've seen in many, many years. off the top of my head I can't think of another movie that had my blood ice cold throughout it. There are at least five long scenes in this film where my blood was cold, the hair was standing up on my neck and I was curled up on the couch in actually terror. I've never had a movie effect me this much as I've seen so many that very few are able to get to me but this one actually did and boy was it a great feeling. I must say this film is a real joy as this genre has forgotten about scares and now basically goes for mindless gore. That's not the case here because each minute of this movie is meant to make you feel worried and put you in suspense. The execution is top-notch and the direction is downright flawless and never hits a bad note. The film runs just over 90-minute and there isn't much time given to the viewer to let them breathe because the film builds suspense every minute from start to finish. The film has a simple but very effective music score and the cinematography is great as well. Another big plus are the performances, which are excellent by the three leads. We don't get to spend too much time with them before the attack starts but it doesn't take long to really fall in love with all three characters and you can't help but want to see them make it out alive. Caring for them so much is another reason the suspense works because we don't want to see anything bad happen to them. Dermody really sticks out and I hope to see her in future movies. I really went into this film not knowing what to expect but it turned out to be one of the most memorable films I've seen in recent memory.

So the positives for this are quite numerous, its a very realistically shot and gritty story which is scare not least of which because it could really happen. The feeling throughout the movie is pretty visceral and really puts you in the position of understanding the fear this situation would evoke.

The problem is with the character writing. The characters are pretty inconsistent, its like the script writer kept forgetting which characters were supposed to be reacting to this stress by getting panicked etc and kept jumping between one character reacting by thinking things through to suddenly being the one being negative about all the options and another character being the thoughtful one. At the start of the movie one of the women is constantly panicking (understandable) and the other is a forceful character and then half way through its like they switch personalities. This is pretty jarring every time it happens which spoils an otherwise very good movie. Still a pretty decent film though.