PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 8/5/04)


Inevitably, the critics are going to turn Open Water’s deafening buzz against it, crankily complaining about the Sundance shark-attack fave being a gimmicky Blair Witch rip-off or looking dreadful in its not–high-def–enough digital photography. To these humorless grumps, I say: Make like a hammerhead and bite me. Open Water may not be a pristine or complex suspense thriller, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anything else as terrifyingly potent in such a tiny package. Furthermore, husband-and-wife filmmakers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau shouldn’t be spanked for hosting a Blair Witch-style stunt simply because of a "based on true events" plug or their risk-taking decision to place uncaged actors next to live sharks (no CGI was used, partly due to the film’s puny budget and partly because real sharks are scary as hell).  If anything, its limitations in camera equipment, special effects, known stars, and crisp dialogue make this survival horror a satisfyingly realistic piece of verité.

Open Water opens not on water, but in the home of workaholic yuppie couple Susan and Daniel (Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis, holding credible chemistry). The two prepare to escape on a Club Med-esque holiday, where they can retreat from their e-mail, cell phones—and ominously enough—civilization.  Soon after, they’re on a dive boat with other vacationers for a morning scuba adventure, and when some asshole manages to get the head count thrown off, Susan and Daniel are left stranded in the middle of the ocean.  What follows for the rest of the film’s 79 minutes (or roughly the next 24 hours in the couple’s prune-fingered lives) is their physical and psychological breakdown as they realize that maybe nobody will know they’re missing!  Jellyfish, dehydration, menacing fins, seasickness, lightning storms, and anonymous leg nibbles all take their toll, but don’t look for love to save these potential victims of the food chain: when they aren’t talking each other down from hysteria, they’re blaming one another for their predicament.  Though we’re dreading what we can’t see under the surface, the drama above is what keeps this static locale from ever growing stagnant.  Whether that sinks or swims for you, don’t think of this as a wannabe Jaws—it’s more like what 1999’s Deep Blue Sea couldn’t come close to doing with a comparatively NASA-sized budget.

--Aaron Hillis