HORROR; 1hr 28min
STARRING: Diana Glenn, Maeve Dermody, Andy Rodoreda
Waiting game: from left, Glenn and Dermondy
While vacationing in Northern Australia, sisters Grace (Glenn) and Lee (Dermody), and Grace’s boyfriend, Adam (Rodoreda), head out on a fishing expedition in a flimsy boat that may as well have ASKING FOR TROUBLE spray-painted all over it. Deep inside a mangrove swamp, their toothy crocodilian nemesis is lurking…
There are shades of Rogue, premise-wise, but Black Water is very much its own claustrophobic creation, with the keyed-up threesome tightly intent on sustaining the tension. Grace, Lee and Adam’s choices are dire: either risk being eaten while flipping their overturned tinnie, or sit tight in a tree and await an unlikely rescue. What in God’s name, the screenplay is obviously asking, would you do?
Compelled by an implacable, unreasoning hunger, a crocodile is the ultimate adversary. For the entrapped trio, the croc is also a catalyst, its brute malevolence spurring them to desperate measures. The suspense is fierce, the attacks horrific and the entire experience rooted in a terrible, uncompromising truth.
