Just saw OPEN WATER

This movie reminds me of a Magnum P.I. episode. Magnum fell or got knocked off of his board miles from shore. He spent the entire hour treading water and talking to a shark that was terrorizing him. Thanks for the review, Wetbones. I'll check it out.

Fantasy Filmfest ?

Overhyped? Yes...
A little bit of false advertising in relating it to Jaws? Yup!
Went beyond my expectations for this film...VERY MUCH SO!

Being a major shark fan as well as having an irrational fear of alone-ness- I was pretty tense though out the last 45 minutes of this film...

There were shots that seemed to happen by accident that were some of the most frightening ones of the film....

The med shot of her leaning back in the water and about 4 feet below her -was the sillouette of a large shark swimming by...Chilling!!!!

the night time shots kept you on the edge of your seat (think the "black" teaser for the Texas Chainsaw 2003)

I can see how people would be upset by the shaky cam.. But I think that it added to it as theywere bobbing in the waves (her sea sickness) WE were TOO! basically seeing what they saw...Just another wave coming towards them - Nothing else.

I felt that the leads were very Joe Neighbor...The kind of characters that anyone can relate to...the ARE very average and thatis why it worked for me.. They were not characatures or stereotypes that we are used to - Just regular people trying to have a regular vacation...And I liked that about them...

I loved this movie and will leave it at that for fear of contributing to the over hype machine as I fear that is what will be the down fall of this film.. People are expecting another Jaws or a total scarefest... And if you have a fear of sharks, isolation, and the unknown..I think that this will work for you...

Later
Tony D

Wow that's a blast from the past. That was actually a very good episode of "Magnum," considering it had nada to do with solving a crime or teasing the butler.

movies like this are right up my alley


I haven't see a good water horror in some time

I still can't decide whether I liked this film or hated it. It was entertaining and kept me absorbed in what was going on, but at the same time it annoyed me. The main characters really really annoyed the fuck out of me, their actions annoyed me, their bickering annoyed me, by the middle of the movie I was praying they would die gruesomely.

However, there were a few really great moments, particularly towards the end. And it had a nice real feeling to it, the characters (while annoying) were very believable, and the things that happened and the way the story progressed seemed very real as well.

*Spoiler*

My favorite part was the very last scene, as she is watching her husbands body be eaten by sharks. The look on her face is just perfect. She is so terrified and yet so sick of fear and so incredibly tired that she has just become numb, she had seen so much horror that she simply had to give up, her mind snapped. I didn't think the part where her head went under water was as effective as it could have been though, it just didn't have an emotional impact on me. It just seemed a bit too smooth and clean, and I couldn't help but wonder how she kept herself down without floating back to the surface.

*End spoiler*

All in all, I'd say it was effective. Whether I liked it or not isn't really relevant, what is important is that it got the job done, and did it well, on a very low budget. And it did it better than any Hollywood horror flick that has come out recently.

Personally, I don't think a good horror movie--or really any good movie for that matter--that is released to as many theaters as it is (around a thou?) nowadays can be overhyped. If one refers to it as a "classic," they're most likely in shock that they actually saw something worth paying to see in a theater.

I thought this was really good. The night-time scene during the thunderstorm was one of the most intense scenes in a recent movie. It really creeped the hell out of me. Movies usually don't scare me much, but this did. I really liked the whole atmosphere of the movie, You know their's someting out there but you can't see. It makes for some really suspensful scenes, and some great jump scares.

Finally saw this one last night.
I was really looking forward to this movie, but I was a little disappointed by the two leads; the characterizations were weak--I think their generic blandness was probably intentional, but I just did not connect with those two people at all and I think the severity of their situation was weakened by that disconnect.
However, when this bad boy worked, it worked fucking well. As others have mentioned, the thunderstorm at night scene was fantastically squirm inducing and the sequence SPOILERS where the lady let go of her dead husband only to see his body ravaged by a shark awhile later was exquisitely horrific.
For whatever it's worth: I give it a B-

I just saw it and thought that it was great. I really liked that it was not a very "Hollywood" type of movie. There was some really amazing footage and I totally bought into the story. I do think that it will be one of those films that does not appeal to everyone, but for me, I really dug it.

*****SPOILERS*******

I don't usually like the shot on dv look, but OPEN WATER might forever change my opinion.

First let me tackle the character issues.

I didn't personally identify with them on certain levels, but I understood the distractions of modern life that the couple were hastily fighting to get away from.

The fact that they were so consumed by their careers and making a "better" life for themselves was the sole reason for their badly planned expedition to the Bahamas.

"I hope it's not a cattle boat." sold me that the couple could easily find themselves in the situation that was to occur. And when the wrong head count was taken it seemed like the most believable thing in the world.

From there on out my suspension of disbelief was in Kentis's formadable hands and boy did he have me squirming.

Cinema Verite has never worked this well in the genre. Where BLAIR WITCH PROJECT proved to be a gimmicky use of the form, only confirmed by the fact that the purveyors of the hoax - Sanchez and Myrick, are content to rest on their laurels, showing no real passion to continue. Kentis shows great promise and skill not only for realism, but as a auteur of suspense craftmanship, and if comparisions abound it's with Deodato's unnerving CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST.

I love the way he handled the transition of supposed actual time, showing some stylish flair. From the tranquil blue ripple close ups in the late morning, to the choppy overcast conditions of the afternoon where I couldn't help but be reminded of Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT, to the bloodred seas at sunset that would be a ominous harbinger of the night and the incredibly tense tunderstorm scene discussed earlier.

Comparsions of course to JAWS will be made and why not? JAWS is the standard for which every shark movie in the genre should be judged. And while the two films are polar opposite in approach, they seek to do the same thing. Scare the shit out of the audience, and to me OPEN WATER does this more affectively than JAWS.

Now with all that said, if there ever was a film to be seen on the big screen it's OPEN WATER (unless you've got one of those wall sized behemouths).

Watching OPEN WATER on a small screen just want capture the immense granduer of the ocean, and the feeling of isolation, where even a boat on the horizon seems like a shadow drifting another world away.

I totally disagree. If I didn't know this was based on a true story, i wouldn't have believed it for one second. All the divers were using equipment that was given to them by the boat. Now would they have noticed that 2 of their tanks were missing. Also, wouldn't they clean the boat up after every trip.


With that said, I did enjoy the movie. Every scene with a shark involved was great. My favorite was when the camera was behind the wife, and it pulled back a little, and had this angle where you can see in the water. There were about 5 sharks just swimming around. The night scenes were amazing as well.

The ending was ok. I think the hype that movie was getting hurt it a little. When I first heard about the movie, i was interested. At first they were just playing up the being alone in the water and how scary that is. Then all of a sudden, they decided "this is a shark movie. hey everyone come see our shark movie." Then it become, the best shark movie since Jaws (I disagree, these people didn't see Shark Attack 3!!), and it become the scariest movie since Blair Witch (I enjoyed that movie, but it wasn't anything great). I know their goal is to sell tickets, and adding the hype about the uber scary shark movie helped sell a lot (My showing, and the one before and after was sold out, on a thursday night)

I just felt a little disappointed, as did others leaving the showing, I normally don't hype myself up for movie because then it never lives up. But I am a huge shark fan, and of course a fan or scary movies. I think this is one of those movies where you can't really take someones word, you just have to see it for yourself.

You're missing the point. Of course the boat crews actions were negligent and unbeliveably dumb. People do things that are hard to fathom all the time though.

In lue of the couple being unprepared because of their stressful life and not being able to do any research, added to the believabilty that the boat crew could be capable of such a mistake.

I yes I understand that it was the "perfect" mistake to happen to this couple.