Sea Fever

If you're going into 'Sea Fever' expecting to see monsters or gore, you will be disappointed. If you're hoping to find a clever horror thriller with substance, this is a good choice.

'Sea Fever' is actually such a well made movie and incredibly relevant with today's Covid-19 pandemic. A young scientist, Siobhan (well portrayed by Hermione Corfield) goes with a fishing trawler to analyze their catch for research. On their way, they are informed the area they are going to is an exclusion zone. However, their boat runs into an unknown object, where it becomes stuck - in the exclusion zone.

What follows is a claustrophobic nightmare episode for the fishermen, and Siobhan, as they discover parasites in their water supply, infecting those who come in contact with the water.

The film features all-round good performances and effective suspense and scares thanks to a clever script and good set-up. The visual effects are subtle, yet highly effective. This is so much more than a horror film. This is a disaster drama set in the confines of a boat. 'Sea Fever' is not what I expected, but surprised me with a thoroughly entertaining movie on a different level. I enjoyed it!

Would I watch it again? Yes.

Horror at sea - it's a theme that I always crave, as well as creature features, eco horrors and lovecraftian vibes. Luckily, "Sea Fever" happens to be a bit of all that. There's no denying I had high hopes and some certain expectations which resulted in a bonus side dish of underwhelment, well, whether because of that or the actual flawed nature of "Sea Fever", for it might be a bit better in concept than execution.

A quiet, shy but clever science student Siobhan (Hermione Corfield) is put on a fishing boat to do a marine research assignment, and takes a turn in journey to becoming a heroine as the crew encounter a mysterious and threating sea creature. Very quickly into the movie the viewer can rest assured he's in for a good-looking sea adventure, for it is aesthetically well executed via solid cinematography and subtly beautiful production design and cgi. The boat carries 7 passengers, all of which are painted neatly and realistically, albeit typically. As time passes, a wish for more innovative characters inside such a situation surfaces, eventually the fates of some miss the emotional hit it intends to have. Nevertheless, the cast certainly does a good job, my personal favorite being Ardalan Esmaili.

The first act is the one that, near the end of it, delivers some lovecraftian vibes, as the gooey, tentacly creature comes up from the depths of the sea. From here on, "Sea Fever" makes it known it's not exactly a classic creature feature & becomes more of an eco horror, with some key themes coincidentally very relevant to the current time of an pandemic - our main heroine has to fight for the right decisions in an event of infection and a need for quarantine. The underwhelment distills from the fact that "Sea Fever", during the better part of the second and third acts, struggles to maintain tension and frequently loses the effect of its atmosphere, in process making the pacing uneven and punches - lesser. As far as a fever goes, it doesn't quite manage to rise your temperature that high.

"Sea Fever" doesn't hide its influences & John Carpenter would probably be pretty happy, because, despite all, it stands very much on its own, a smart and handsome thriller that couldn't escape the fate of some bugging flaws. My rating: 6/10

If you like horror/thrillers, which I do and have seen too many to count, you should give this movie a shot. Above average for the genre and fairly original/creative compared the usual predictable movies churned out. Without any spoilers I would describe it as a 2nd rate "The Thing" except set on a boat/ocean. I only say 2nd rate because The Thing is one of the best horror/thrillers ever made and remains an absolute classic must watch. While this movie is entertaining and fast moving, it's not mind blowing or best of breed so go in with proper expectations and don't get too excited - enjoy!!

Greetings from Lithuania.

I thought from a premise and small budget that "Sea Fever" (2019) is going to be a very small little B horror flick set in one location and with some monster running around which you can't actually see because of how small the budget is. After seeing a movie I was glad that I was wrong. This movie was actually way much better then I thought it will be. It had something more to say then just of being a horror flick. Acting by a young lead was very good - i really liked her character. Also two veterans were very solid. We need heroes like main character of this movie in a real life, when unfortunately now in a real situation with infection in our world you see every day people that act oppositely and take no responsibility in their actions.

Overall, "Sea Fever" is a really good little movie which isn't much of a horror flick but uses that situation to say something more.

The creators obviously set out to make a movie similar to Alien or The Thing, but centered around a thoughtful scientist instead of an action hero. The result is a slow burn that stands far above similar sci-fi movies but the pacing may not be for everyone. Ultimately I enjoyed the movie but have mixed feeling about the ending. A spoiler free way to put it would be this: not how I would have done it, but true to the character and I'll give points for consistency.