BLACK WATER

"This film is based upon true events" …

We first meet sisters Lee (Maeve Dermody, BREATHING UNDER WATER) and Grace (Diana Glenn, CRASHING) as they leave their mother's home with Grace's partner Adam (Andy Rodoreda, HOOKED), and embark on a 2-week road trip across the outback.

Their first stop is Ainsley Crocodile Adventure Park, where the trio get to frolic carefree in the sun and take plenty of jovial photographs for prosperity. More importantly, this jaunt gives the filmmakers the opportunity to throw in a reptile handler who advises the audience about how ferocious crocodiles are …

Come the evening our bronzed trio shelter from the pouring rain in a bar, and debate where they should visit the following day. Adam suggests fishing with Backwater Barry's Alternative River Tour. The girls are less than thrilled with the idea, but agree to it anyway. Adam promises, "it'll be fun" …

When morning arrives, they drive out to Barry's remote and run-down riverside shack, only to be told by guide Jim (Ben Oxenbould, GET RICH QUICK) that they've missed the tour by a matter of minutes. Jim offers to take the trio out fishing on his small motorized boat. While he and Adam go indoors to grab some fishing rods, Grace confides to Lee that she is pregnant.

Out on the open water, all goes swimmingly (sorry) for a while as the quartet enjoy a slow sail in the sun. The weather is gorgeous, the river is tranquil - what could possibly go wrong? How about a huge crocodile ramming into you, capsizing your boat and leaving all four bodies frantically trying to escape the water?

Grace and Adam make it onto a tree jutting out of the river. Jim is dead and Lee is trapped beneath the upside-down boat. After several hairy minutes where the surviving threesome must figure out how to get Lee across the water and onto the tree, she eventually joins the other two - and now their problem becomes how to make it back to safety.

The girls suggest waiting for a boat to come past, but Adam is convinced that won't happen - and that their best bet is to get to Jim's boat and try to get it working. The remainder of the film is devoted to how - and if - the three get out of this troublesome predicament, all the while extremely aware of the enormous crocodile lurking in the muddy waters around them.

BLACK WATER is hardly an original premise, with the film it most immediately recalls being OPEN WATER. But despite the similar titles and scenarios, and both films purporting to be based on true events, OPEN WATER outclasses it's predecessor in every way.

The three lead actors offer strong, convincing performances throughout. Glenn holds the early part of the film well, while Dermody comes into her own during the latter half - even though her sudden resourcefulness is stretching the believable, she carries it off with conviction.

The script is intelligent and low-key, eschewing too much bickering - which most films of this ilk tend to get bogged down in. The usual result is that the characters are not likeable - but it's not a problem here.

The economic setting, characters and storyline allows first-time writer-directors David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki to concentrate on tense set-pieces which are delivered with precision suspense.

Cinematically, the film makes great use of the lush outdoor scenery. It's as gorgeous to look at as WOLF CREEK's earlier, more sedate moments. More impressive though, is the brave ending …

BLACK WATER looks stunning in this uncut 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer. Pin-sharp presentation and incredible detail make this an exceptionally crisp and clear proposition - with vivid colours and good contrast control, it may not be a HD disc but the results aren't far off.

Audio is presented in a choice of English 2.0 and 5.1 mixes. Both options offer solid playback, with the stereo track being the more evenly balanced of the two. Optional English Hard-of-Hearing subtitles are easy to read and free from typing errors.

An attractive animated main menu gives access to static menu pages offering a scene-selection menu of 12 chapters and some interesting if meagre extra features.

The most substantial is a 22-minute featurette consisting of relatively insightful talking head-style interviews with cast and crew members. Most of the interviews appear to have been recorded post-production, but there are a few on-location chats to the screen and some interesting behind-the-scenes footage thrown in for good measure, along with clips from the completed film.

4 minutes of deleted scenes presented in anamorphic widescreen complete the bonus material.

You've no doubt seen it all before, but this one still manages to quietly compel. Worth investigating.

Review by Stuart Willis