BLACK WATER (2006)
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: MA
Duration: 89 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: David Nerlich & Andrew Traucki
Cast: Fiona Press, Ben Oxenbould, Andy Rodoreda, Diana Glenn, Maeve Dermody
While on vacation in Northern Australia Grace (Diana Glenn), her boyfriend, Adam (Andy Rodoreda, Cargo) and her younger sister, Lee (Maeve Dermody, Beautiful Kate)
Visit a touristy croc-farm, and the day after head on over to Back Water Barry's for an alternative fishing tour. They arrive a few minutes late and discover that the boat has already left, but a well-meaning employee named Jim (Ben Oxenbould) offers to take them on an impromptu fishing trip in a small aluminum boat. Leaving the main river they drift into a mangrove swamp and do a bit of fishing until their boat is violently capsized by a large crocodile. In the aftermath the fishing guide Jim is knocked unconscious and drowns, and a shocked Adam and Grace scramble to the relative safety of a mangrove tree, whilst Lee, who was temporarily caught up beneath the water on the anchor line, now clings to the top of the overturned boat.
The couple frantically try to maneuver Lee and the boat towards the tree, tugging on the tow-line, but it's caught up on something. Now stranded in the flooded mangrove swamp the three realize that no one even knows where they are, and that no one is coming to get them. As day turns to night things become increasing desperate as the croc is still very much a threat, and they cannot agree upon a course of action.
Black Water is an indie croc attack flick that still has a lot going for it. First off, I like the setting in a mangrove swamp with the trio trapped up a mangrove with a hungry croc hiding just below the surface of the water, ready to grip them in his jaws and death roll them. It's also very nicely
shot and it's executed quite nicely with an abundance of tension. It also plays to it's strengths, wisely choosing not to lean on digital effects, which is great because I have yet to see a digital-croc, particularly back in '08, that wasn't just terribly uncanny looking. Here they went for footage of real crocs cleverly digitally composited into the scenes with the actors. The process is not without fault though, you can see the editing process in action, hiding certain things, and it can draw your attention, particularly if you're aware of the mechanics of filmmaking. That said, there are some great moments of tension and suspense, one that got me again on re-watch was a scene of the croc propelling itself straight-up into the air with it's tail to take a bit at the character high up on a mangrove branch.
Where the film suffers a bit is its lack of character development. If there were more development of backstory
I might have been more inclined to care more about the peril of the characters, but its not ruinous. They do give one of the characters a condition that makes inclines you to feel more sympathetic for them, but the characters are immediately likable enough and the situation itself so precarious that you feel for them. The croc itself is actually seen all that often, which you might consider a negative, but they do good work making sure that it's presence and threat is palpable throughout the film, so it's forgivable, as long as the threat is there you don't need to actually see it, you feel it, and your imagination takes it from there.
Audio/Video: Black Water (2008) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The film looks solid in HD with attractive, well-saturated color; though its primarily a very green and brown presentation given the green canopy of mangrove trees, mud, and muddy water. The image has modest depth and clarity, but can be a bit murky in the darker scenes even during daylight under the canopy of the mangroves.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1. with no subtitles. The dialogue is clean and nuanced, and the surround audio is quite enveloping, be it the sounds of birds or a disturbance in the water.
No new extras here, but Umbrella do carry-over the same set of extras from my 2006 Sony DVD, we do get the audio commentary with co-directors Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich, four-minutes of deleted scenes, a three-minute theatrical trailer, and a 23-minute making of featurette with some cool behind-the-scenes footage and VFX shots mixed in with the interviews with the co-directors, the producer and the principal cast.
The single-disc release arrives in an oversized keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring the same image on both sides,, with one option discarding the unsightly rating badge..
Special Features:
- Audio commentary with Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich
- The Making of Black Water (23 min)
- Deleted scenes (4 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
Black Water (2006) still holds up, it's a well-crafted, sort of single-location, croc-attack film that is a real nail-biter. It also has a sense of realism that I think any "based on a true story" film needs, including characters making a few rather poor decision. Eventually it becomes a bit more outlandish
towards the end as the stakes are raised, but it never loses that palpable sense of tension and imminent threat, that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I also think that because the filmmakers did not rely on a clunky-looking CGI croc it holds up in that respect quite nicely.
Screenshots from the Umbrella Ent. Blu-ray:
