Posted: 08/24/2004

Open Water

(2004)

by Gary Schultz

Open Water is the new indie thriller by Director Chris Kentis that’s making a splash in theatres claiming to be the most terrifying shark movie since Jaws. Terrifying, well not quite. Startling? No, not really more like disturbing and a bit awkward. Open Water is an independent film supposedly made on a production budget of about $130,000.00. After making some waves on the festival circuit Open Water was bought by Lions Gate Films for something like 2.5 million. As of the past few years I really like Lions Gate Films. They are the Hollywood answer to independent horror films breaking into the mainstream.

Open Water is packaged to be about a husband and wife, in this case played by Blanchard Ryan and newcomer Saul Stein who both are avid scuba divers and go on a crappy vacation some where south of the equator. They drone on about their upper-working class lives and boring relationship and then go on a scuba tour boat that departs with twenty passengers and returns with eighteen. Yep, you guessed it; they are left behind in the middle of the ocean with nothing but salt water and their air tanks for over twenty-four hours.

They float around the ocean for a long time and argue. The film is shot on DV, and transferred to a 35mm print. The underwater photography is beautiful and the skylines are amazing. The premise is excellent, the script is okay by formula standards but that characters are boring and the acting is awkward and stiff at times. The film fails to build enough suspense to satisfy the audience. There are not many scares here, mostly just the feeling of being human bait floating in the middle of the ocean. When the sharks do come, well that’s pretty cool, no spoilers here but I will say that the audience I saw it with did not like the “f*ck you” ending, including Stefanie and Melvin. I thought the “f*ck you” ending was a nice way to take the unpredictable road. This film is not quite what people are going to expect. It’s not gory and doesn’t have many scares but it’s also not without it’s charm. This little indie film was made with a tiny crew on DV and is definitely worth a watch; just don’t expect a slasher flick.

So here’s what we’ve learned so far: if I were ruler of the world I would re-title this film… Human Bait: Go for a Swim, Stay for a Bite! Hooray for nudity continuing down the comeback trail in modern horror and thriller films. Jellyfish sting. And yes if you haven’t learned anything from these movies, sharks DO attack humans, and make sure you stay for the films credit sequence. It’s gross.

Gary Schultz is an indie filmmaker in Chicago.

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