Not to be confused with any of the various horror movies called DARK WATER, this is a tidy, pared-down revenge-of-nature flick from Australia, a country whose relatively sparse horror output often impresses. Largely a three hander and sporting a “based on a true story” tag, it admirably avoids the kind of genre excesses that would prevent it from feeling authentic, with minimal effects shots and the use of real crocodiles wherever possible.
The script offers a variation of scenarios featured in the recent OPEN WATER and ADRIFT, while echoing a memorable Australian genre film from the 70’s, LONG WEEKEND. In each of these, a small group of people (three here, just two in OPEN WATER and LONG WEEKEND) are trapped and helpless over a short period of time, at the mercy of nature at its most hostile and unforgiving. Like those movies, it makes for an effective survivalist horror story with a fairly downbeat resolution and a strong sense of sustained menace.
The straight-forward set-up is swiftly established : the movie is barely 10/15 minute sold when the threat has been conveyed and the characters plunged into the situation they will spend the rest of the film desperately trying to escape. Newly pregnant Diana Glen, her husband (Andy Rodoreda) and her sexy younger sister (Maeve Dermody) take a low-rent river tour of Northern Australia’s mangrove swamps. A Bloody Great Croc capsizes the boat and eats their guide, sending the trio of outsiders scampering to take refuge in some nearby trees. They subsequently face the painful decision of how to cross the river in the overturned boat, knowing that the crocodile lurks somewhere beneath the murky waters.
By restricting the crocodile’s on-screen appearances and maintaining a sense of unpredictability about when it will strike (and who it will chow down on), BLACK WATER has a palpable tension and keeps us scared of the formidable beast especially when it’s out of sight. Co-directors Andrew Trauchi and David Nerlich mostly keep it credible by resisting the urge to get their croc to act like a horror movie monster : its most elaborate maneuver is just about believable and the jolts created by its sporadic appearances are startlingly effective.
The restraint in the gore department pays off nicely. In the absence of overt splatter, the occasional close-ups of grim flesh wounds, broken fingers and semi-devoured corpses pack a stronger punch. The filmmakers realize the impact of implied nastiness : one harrowing sequence involves a character forced to listen to the sound of their loved one being slowly, gruesomely consumed off-screen. This off-camera unpleasantness, and an intense nocturnal set piece lit only by intermittent lightning strikes, are stand-out moments in a simple but suspenseful low-budget chiller from Down Under.
-Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
