Open Water (2004)

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… Here comes another scary shark flick. Open Water is much less "sensational" than Jaws or Deep Blue Sea, but that doesn't mean it isn't a sensational movie just the same.

For some reason Open Water, which has been circling the festival circuit for a little while now, is often compared to The Blair Witch Project. It is a laid-bare indie with just a handful of actors with little or no prior experience. It is a labor of love written, directed and produced by two people who sacrificed a lot more than just money to put their vision on the big screen. It is a horror movie of sorts. There, the similarities end. Open Water does not go for the bait-and-switch cheap thrill and shaky camera effects to jar the audience -- Open Water is a real achievement in the terrifying answers that might lie buried in the question, "What if?"

What if you were a tourist, out for a nice day of scuba diving? And what if your chartered boat inadvertently left you behind, miles from civilization, alone in shark-infested waters? Loosely based on a true story (actually a series of true stores that ran in Dive magazine), that's exactly what happened to married couple Daniel and Susan (Daniel Travis and Blanchard Ryan), who only wanted to temporarily flee the stress of their urban work-a-day lives and spend some quality time together on vacation at a beach resort. When they pop up from below the water's surface at the appointed meeting time, Daniel and Susan are shocked to find that the boat is gone. It is nowhere in sight. They can't believe it. Like the five stages of grief, the couple goes through a gamut of emotions ranging from anger to panic, from hysteria to bargaining, and finally, to acceptance.

What to do now? Try and swim? Wait there for the boat? While these life-or-death decisions demand to be made, the couple are subjected to nausea, thirst, leg cramps and exhaustion. While suffering through those inner ordeals, outer forces -- which include strong tides, jellyfish, barracuda, and hungry sharks -- distract them from just focusing on living through the night. Then a lightning storm hits, only serving to illuminate too briefly the ever-closer shark fins breaking the waves around them as they're pulled further into the dark unknown. The only thing worse than seeing the sharks is not seeing them…Then, things really go downhill. (It should be noted here that both actors were required to be scuba-dive certified and that they did act in close proximity with real sharks and barracuda.)

The low-budget appearance of the film may put some people off. I'm generally not a fan of the digital video look, unless it's incredibly well done (ala Robert Rodriguez, a director and D.V. advocate). In this case, the home-movie feel adds to the realism and lets you get lost in the sea of suspense as if you're really a part of the proceedings and not just watching some slick Hollywood affair from afar.

While the ads bill Open Water as a terrifying movie with one scare after another, it's really more about escalating anxiety and inescapable primal fear. This is the sort of grass-roots thriller that, if it finds its audience, has the potential to become a real cult favorite.

Review by Staci Layne Wilson for Horror.com