OPEN WATER
2004
Written, Directed and Edited by Chris Kentis
Rated R
87 minutes.
OEPN WATER is a scary movie that believes in the idea that what you don’t see is much scarier than what you do. The sense and anticipation of the event is often much scarier than seeing a mad man kill sex-crazed teenagers in the woods. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is another film that followed that creed. Both films have been praised for using this technique that so few scary movies attempt.
The story of OPEN WATER is simple. A couple goes on a beach vacation. They go scuba diving. They get left behind. Before too long they drift out to sea and the sharks find them. This is a very simple story, told in a very simple way. The film was shot on digital video, with a regular camcorder. This gives the feeling that you are watching the worst home movie ever. The grainy look and less than stellar sound only add to the realism of what is happening.
We watch as the couple either waits for rescue or for death, whichever comes first. Their conversation is typical of what people might actually talk about in that situation. We watch as they go on an emotional roller coaster; they’re scared, they blame each other, they make up, they try to rationalize the situation. The simplicity is what makes the realism bleed through.
OPEN WATER scares its audience by affecting the most primal fear of being left alone. When watching the film it is almost as if you are suddenly a two year old without your mother. Since you are only two, you have no idea if she’s coming back and that triggers the some of the deepest fears in the human psyche. OPEN WATER achieves this by actually placing its characters in the middle of a realistic nowhere.
The film is based on a true story of two divers who were left behind and only their scuba grew was found. There are no big name actors. There are no big name production people. And since this was a low budget film they used real sharks. Every shark, in every scene of the film is real. On set “shark wranglers” used chucks of bloody tuna to make the sharks do what the filmmakers needed. At any given time there were 45-50 sharks in the waters during the shoot. Luckily, no one was injured.
OPEN WATER is the kind of film that when it’s finished you want to go and talk a walk on a sunny day. You want to call your friends, your family, anyone, just to get in touch with people. Anything to feel like you are not alone. There are many who have seen the film and thought it wasn’t scary. That is because the stigma of what a scary movie has changed over the years, and if bloody limbs and hacked teenagers aren’t involved then it isn’t scary. I think OPEN WATER is the scariest film released this year, and one of the best overall. Don’t expect a flashy Hollywood flick, and don’t expect a JAWS rip off either. Just imagine yourself in their place. Let your primal feelings take over, and you’ll be in for one hell of a good ride.
GRADE: A
Written by Dave Bohnert