OPEN WATER
Directed, Written & Edited by: Chris Kentis.
Produced by: Laura Lau.
Director of Photography: Chris Kentis & Laura Lau.
Music by: Graeme Revell.
Released by: Lions Gate.
Country of Origin: USA. 79 min. Rated: R.
With: Blanchard Ryan & Daniel Travis.

While vacationing in the Bahamas, married couple Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) go scuba diving and find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean when they resurface. At first, they view their situation as a story they'll be telling their friends and future children for the rest of their lives. But as the hours pass, and they catch their first glimpse of the surrounding sharks, the couple tries to deal with the possibility that they may not make it out of the water alive.

Open Water aims to literally suck the breath out of you. It is unrelenting in its display of primordial terror, creating a disturbingly surreal theatergoing experience. And yet, this is a film that never once cheats its audience. The mistake that lands Susan and Daniel in this situation is so horrifyingly simple that we fear it as much as we do any shark fin. By anchoring itself to realism, Open Water does what countless slasher films fail to do - scare the hell out of you.

This is especially impressive considering the budget was less than a half-million dollars. The sharks are not of the smooth-moving remote control kind in Jaws. These are the real deal man-eaters that flap their tails and jump in circles, creating a stalker-like unpredictability that leaves both the characters and the audience uneasy.

Director Chris Kentis shot the movie 20 miles off shore amidst real sea creatures, with only a layer of chain mail to protect his actors. Kentis goes to such extremes to establish authenticity that you can't help but applaud what you are seeing even as your heart is pounding.

Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis deserve enormous praise for their portrayals of Susan and Daniel. In a lesser movie, these characters would be over privileged Wasps with no appreciation for the simplicities of life. While Kentis definitely hints at this to throw us off, he instead allows Ryan and Travis to turn their characters into an adorably believable couple that never forgets they are in this ordeal together. We grow to care for these two, and Ryan and Travis are perfect in their delivery of what turns out to be a surprisingly tight script. Their banter is as humorous as their panic is unsettling. With all elements combined, Open Water achieves what few films even attempt to do. It is heart-pounding and heartbreaking. When the lights go up, you'll never be more thankful to be sitting in a movie theater. Michael Belkewitch
August 6, 2004