Don't believe the hype. Yes, Chris Kentis and Laura Lau's independently produced debut "Open Water" features real sharks, but so does your local aquarium and Animal Planet. The press kit asks, in bold type, that journalists don't reveal what they euphemistically call "the final circumstances of the characters." They know that if I told you, there wouldn't be much reason to see the film. I'll be polite, then, and won't try to spoil the film's box office take or your suspense.
Most movies aren't ruined when you give away the ending. "Open Water" has to keenly guard its characters' "final circumstances" because there isn't much else to sustain interest: The characters in question are Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis), a perennially bickering, obnoxiously self-absorbed couple who find themselves left behind by their dive boat. With their vests inflated, they bob on the surface as shadows glide below: the sharks are circling in....
Unfortunately, there isn't anywhere the plot can go from here. There simply aren't many dramatic possibilities in the scenario. First Susan freaks out, than David loses his composure. They fight. Somebody falls asleep, somebody gets seasick, somebody gets nipped at by a fish. Boats pass by on the horizon, undisturbed. The sun goes down, the sun comes up. David and Susan float--until they meet their "final circumstances."
A couple of years ago, a similar spooky little movie, shot on location with handheld cameras and unknown actors for hardly any money at all, became a high-grossing independent sensation,riding on intense wave of hype. If you substitute the Pennsylvania woods with the Caribbean and sharks for an unseen murderer, the "Blair Witch" formula becomes "Open Water."
The strengths and weaknesses of both films are similar: the cheap production gives the film a documentary feel, which increases the scariness, and parts of "Open Water" are very effective. On the downside, nothing much ever happens. The thrill of seeing real sharks has to substitute for plot, character, and real drama. Just as in "Blair Witch," the horror itself remains unseen: there are sharks, but there are no gory shark bites. We are not allowed to face our fear in order to pass through it. The audience is cheated out of the catharsis, the essential function of a good scare. "Open Water" is bad drama, bad cinema, and worst of all, bad horror.
