OPEN WATER (2003)

Written, Edited & Directed By: Chris Kentis
Cinematography By: Chris Kentis & Laura Lau

Cast: Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis, Saul Stein

A couple on a holiday in the Caribbean decide to spend the day on a scuba diving trip. But was it the wrong decision? When a mis-count happens on the boat, Susan and Daniel are left behind in the middle of the ocean, the boat long gone. With all their hopes set on the boat coming back to rescue them, they try to keep themselves safe, especially when sharks start to appear.

Filmed over two and a half years. Filmed on weekends and holidays with a crew that usually consisted of two or three people.

This film is a living nightmare come to life. It relies more on your imagination for scares but at least gives you hints to help when you should be scared. Then what is happening on screen where as on screen. You see and feel the panic of the characters and a glimpse of the terror of the Actual sharks. What they might be doing. It is a film based purely on tension. As you watch you are imagining much worse then what is actually happening. Just like the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE though a bit more subtle then that film. It's also not as gory as you may remember or think it was. The scariest part is that this film feels like a more realistic scenerio that could actually happen.

This is a film that is more interesting in theory and hearing about the making of then it is to watch and in execution. It is suspenseful and smart at least before the horror happens we get to meet and knowthe characters so we feel something a little more when they are stranded. We even get to see the mistake that leaves then stuck and forgotten. So it covers there bases there.

The actors were tethered to the boat so they did not drift off into the strong currents.

It's not as gory as you may remember or think it was.

The film wisely in the opening minutes let's us get to know the characters, not completely but enough to get a general sense of who they are. the problem is that if you re interested in this film you know what they are going to go through. So you may have already made up your mind not to be manipulated and wait for the dilemena to happen to see how they characters deal with it.

The film manages to keep the tension up throughout. It is suspenseful and smart at least before the horror happens. We get to meet and know the characters do we feel something a little more when they are stranded. We even see the mistake that leads to them being stuck and forgotten so it covers it's basic there.


It is a short film that has a twenty minute build up until the horror then barely let's up from there. it's good it is so short because if it had been longer it would have either had to had gotten more and more tedious or amp up the action and story like maybe the authorities realizing the mistake and coming to try and rescue them and will they get there on time or a cover-up ensue once the workers realize the mistake. or it would have just annoyed the audience had it been longer with it's repepetitiveness.

Part of the fascination of the film is it's filming as it uses hand held camera. Giving you the feeling that you are there, but also the fact that the actors are swimming with actual sharks around them. They have chain Mesh on to protect them from the sharks. They wore it under their diving suits. The actors were also tied to the boat to keep them from drifting. The filmmakers definiately have a good eye and i can't wait to see there next feature.

Producers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau spent nearly half of the budget to get Stuart Cove and his shark wranglers for two days, and to make sure the two actors would be completely safe around the sharks.

The two main actors spent over 120 hours in the water over the course of production.

The sharks used in this film were Caribbean Reef Sharks. The cast wore chain mesh under their diving suits for protection and though none of them was bitten by the sharks, Blanchard Ryan (Susan) was nipped by a barracuda on the first day of filming. In the movie, after Susan is bitten, her boyfriend says, "It was probably a barracuda seeing what you taste like."

I wish I could say that this is a good time at the movies, it is in it’s own way as it feels full though the film is mostly bleak.

This movie was financed by director Chris Kentis and his wife, producer Laura Lau, both avid scuba divers. The movie cost $130,000 to make and was later bought by Lion's Gate for $2.5 million after its screening at Sundance.

I admire what is achieved by the filmmakers here. They manage to do so much with so little. Which works perfectly for the film.

This film is inspired by a true story about an American couple, Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who in 1998 went with a scuba group (Outer Edge Dive Company) to an area off the coast of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. They were accidentally left behind due to a faulty head count taken by the dive boat crew. There were 26 other divers and 5 crew members who failed to notice that the couple was not on the boat. It was not until two days later on January 27, 1998, that the pair was found to be missing after a bag containing their passports and belongings was found in the dive boat. A massive air and sea search took place over the following three days, but failed to find them. The couple was never found.

This is a film that it think would be a excellent addition to the film library.

Buy it

GRADE: B