Sea of Fear

The college athlete Lance (Burgess Jenkins) and his friend Tom (Kieren Hutchison) meet Tom's girlfriend Kate (Katherine Bailess) and her friend Ashley (Caroline Walker) in a marina to travel in a rented boat in a leisure trip. The Captain (Edward Albert) brings his navigator and first mate Joel (Adam Mayfield) and another unexpected passenger, Derek (Christopher Showerman), in the trip. Sooner the boat is stranded and one by one is murdered on board. Who is the killer?

The awful "Sea of Fear" is a boring film and I regret that I had spent my time watching this despite the warnings in IMDb. Why didn't I believe in IMDb rating and reviews? My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Mar do Medo" ("Sea of the Fear")

I love film, even bad film, but this one was just too filled with technical mistakes, bad dialogue and, for a movie about a sailboat, contained more sailboat related inaccuracies than Wiley Coyote has relative to physics. There was one scene, in particular, where someone wrapped a line around a self tailing winch, in a way that would have jammed and taken a long time to fix.

Other major problems, a 50 foot boat is just too small for 7 people, let alone, an official captain and navigator. Captains of boat under 100 feet do not normally bark orders like "everyone on deck", and never have their own navigator. I am not sure where this is all supposed to have taken place, but the tropical fish that they showed could be found in an aquarium, or in India or Australia. They showed giant kelp beds, like you would find in California, and then stock footage of fish that could not be found anywhere near California.

Had the plot been interesting, maybe I would not have focused in on these details, but I can tell you that this master director/producer/writer must have very little experience with sailboats. Cute girls, nice boat, and lots of pretty backdrops, but crazy inane dialogue and a plot as thin as consume'.

I normally like to recommend bad movies, this one I cannot.

Despite the fact that I have been a fan of Edward Albert's since a teenager, this film is hardly worth mentioning in his filmography. Albert plays a captain of a sailboat for hire, catering to what looks like rejects from the Laguna Beach set. The movie is pointless, and irritatingly confusing but just silly enough for you to get a chuckle from the fun you are going to be making of it. Of course there is the clichéd scenes dear to every post Jaws rip off that include sharks, and islands. But in this film, these features were especially badly done. One wonders why animal activists didn't applaud the makers of Sea of Fear for making the fish more agreeable than the people. Oh, let me also mention that there is a preposterous "pirate" song rendition added as "atmosphere". I could not understand the words, nor could I possible believe Mr. Albert was at all serious when he gruffs his way through a couple of stanzas. I am not so sure the actor who played "Tom", singing it at the end of the film felt quite the same way. Anyhow, the actors, aside from Mr. Albert are unknown and unknowable, and I hope they did something creative and perhaps compassionate with the money they earned from this stinker. Goodness knows,the producers had no mercy on us.

The acting in this film, while not great, is solid throughout and visually there are many instances that look wonderful. The problems start and end with the plot itself. Watching this film you need to totally suspend belief to the level you would expect from watching anime featuring giant robots versus demon swordsman. This is rarely a good thing when watching horror where a touch of realism is almost always required to keep the mood. So much in this film is either totally impossible or just tossed in with no hint of explanation as to why it is even in the movie. The ending helps explain somethings while being unexplainable itself. This movie pushes the limit of being a waste of time and it would be difficult to even list it as mindless horror entertainment. There is very little that is horrific about this movie. Even for a PG-13 movie, there is better horror being shown on basic cable television daily.

I have watched a lot of movies in my time but, i would have to say this movie bombs with the worst of them. Horrible characters, acting, and storyline (or lack there of). I will give credit on the actual look and feel of the movie. It didn't look like a typical turd movie. It still is though. This kind of movie makes me wonder, what does it take to get a movie made? Obviously you do not need a decent actor/actress. You do not need a plot. I assume that all you need is a bunch of idiots and a camera. Well Sea of Fear delivers a talentless cesspool of cinema. In closing, STAY AWAY FROM THIS STINKER! Or you will wonder why you have just wasted a small chunk of your life.