The Reef: Stalked (2022)

I remember The Reef, but only vaguely. It was another one of many killer shark movies that decided to try and make things more exciting by having the cast in the water with at least one real shark. Written and directed by Andrew Traucki, The Reef was one of those films that you watch once, enjoy or don't enjoy, and then never really think about rewatching. It managed to be just above average, it is out there in the world, job done. It certainly wasn't a film that I expected to see a sequel to over a decade after it was initially released. Yet here we are.

Traucki returns to the writing and directing duties, and seems to have a habit of waiting thirteen years in between his original films and any sequels that he helms (that same timespan lies between his Black Water and Black Water: Abyss). Unlike his killer croc movies, however, there's no improvement shown here, and nothing to really draw viewers in. Apart from the fact that there's a shark onscreen.

Nic (Teressa Liane), Jodie (Ann Truong), Lisa (Kate Lister), and Annie (Saskia Archer) are four friends who set out to enjoy a kayaking adventure around some gorgeous island waters when a pesky shark starts to view them as a potential snack. That's all you need to know. There's a prologue/framing device that attempts to add some more weight to everything, and one or two extra characters end up getting too close to the shark, but the only thing worth mentioning here is the shark. And maybe Truong, who is generally better onscreen than anyone else.

Not only is the extraneous material in The Reef: Stalked bad, it's quite an insultingly lazy way to try and create more emotional impact for the main section of the movie. It's an unnecessarily dark extra part of the film that will only serve to unsettle those who have been, or are, in that kind of situation. Which wouldn't seem so bad, because films can certainly tackle difficult and uncomfortable subject matter, if it wasn't just used as a cheap way to pad things out, in terms of both runtime and layering scenes with extra meaning. 

Nobody does well enough onscreen, Truong aside, to detract from the weakness of Traucki's script, although it's hard to think of what they could have done to overcome the material they had to work with, and there's a disappointing lack of any real tension when you start to see how the killer shark gets into the habit of biting into people and then letting them go, making you suspect that the characters would be more in danger if they accidentally stood on a deadly jellyfish.

Some of the shark footage is decent, that's all I'm going to say as a positive. I have no urge to be kind to Traucki, considering how ill-considered and clumsy the film is. It's lazy and thoughtless, at best, and insensitive and outright cruel, at worst. And it's also a slog, feeling as if it runs for much longer than the relatively brief runtime of just over 90 minutes.

At least it may be another 10+ years before Traucki tries to make another instalment in this film series.

3/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Netflix And Chill: Black Water: Abyss (2020)

There's a difference between trying to generally avoid reviews about a movie you're going to watch and being completely ignorant of the majority opinion. I like to try and stick with the former, which is why I sometimes know when my own opinion of a movie is likely to be contrary to the opinion of so many others. But it's all subjective, so we should all be able to agree or disagree on various art subjects and still get along, right? Well, unless we're talking about Home Alone 4: Taking Back The House or The Amityville Haunting, both of which rank among the worst movies I have ever seen.

Let me start with a reminder that I didn't really like Black Water, a killer croc movie that decided to use the "based on a true story" line to make up for the majority of it being a bit dull. Lots of people liked it more than I did, and I would already direct you to my first paragraph at this point. Re-read that paragraph before you continue, please. It's only going to become more obvious why I started with those words.

Black Water: Abyss gives us the premise of five friends who decide to explore a cave system, and who then get stuck when some rocks fall and trap them. It's dark, there may be no way out, and the water is rising. And there's a big hungry crocodile somewhere in the water. Part killer croc film and part The Descent, this is a much more satisfying, and simplistically entertaining, movie than its predecessor.

Andrew Traucki returns to the directing duties, flying solo this time around, and the script is by John Ridley and Sarah Smith. Everyone involved knows exactly what kind of movie they want to create, and there are plenty of familiar beats, including a third act that has a preposterous way of placing any survivors back in danger. I know this may have some people hating me, but sometimes there's comfort in the familiar, especially when compared to a film that promised so much and delivered very little. And that's why I was pleasantly surprised by this sequel.

The cast are a selection of decent disposable faces, with identities and relationships becoming a lot clearer in the second half, while everyone tries to avoid the crocodile, plan attempted escapes, and take moments to consider one or two big revelations. Jessica McNamee and Amali Golden are Jennifer and Yolanda, the female leads, and they get some decent moments together. Luke Mitchell is Eric, Benjamin Hoetjes is Viktor, and Anthony J. Sharpe is Cash. Hoetjes is the one character injured early on, which means he has to sit around and wince in pain for most of his screentime, but both Mitchell and Sharpe get involved with some impressively tense moments.

It's maybe about 5-10 minutes too long, and certainly could have done without the irritating final sequence that feels like one contrivance too far, but Black Water: Abyss is pretty perfect fare for those wanting a simple and entertaining creature feature. It's not bringing anything new to the table, but it does everything it sets out to do well enough. I wouldn't rush to revisit it, but I'm glad I checked it out.

6/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Prime Time: Black Water (2007)

"Based on a true story" is a phrase that I, and many other horror fans, got used to dismissing a long time ago. Because it's not any sign of quality. It's not even any sign of authenticity. Many film-makers, sadly, end up using it as some kind of excuse to make up for anything that they want to put onscreen, be it ridiculous or crushingly dull.

In the case of Black Water it ends up being the latter. Three people take a boat ride into the mangrove swamp, which leads to them encountering a dangerous and hungry crocodile. There's Grace (Diana Glenn), her husband, Adam (Andy Rodoreda), and Grace's sister, Lee (Maeve Dermody). Grace is pregnant, which makes her survival here all the more important because you also have to think of the unborn child. And if you start to forget, don't worry, the film will remind you.

Written and directed by David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki, Black Water is a potentially interesting premise that doesn't do enough to keep it tense and entertaining for the runtime. The film-makers obviously think that "based on a true story" will make up for any other failings, which includes a weak script, poor selection of main characters (but you're not supposed to dislike them because they band together around a pregnant woman, in order to protect her and her unborn child), and a third act that weaves between the ridiculous and the surprisingly boring.

The thing to bear in mind is that anything that really happened can also be ridiculous or boring, so perhaps Nerlich and Traucki are sticking closely to the truth that they've based the story on. But that doesn't make the movie itself more satisfying.

Dermody is the best of the leads, giving you someone actually likeable and worth rooting for. Glenn is stuck with the thankless task of just trying to emotionally manipulate viewers by occasionally rubbing her belly, and Rodoreda is sidelined at times for moments that allow the sisters to be sisterly and have sisterly conversations. None of the conversations are particularly revealing or interesting, which means the time spent with the leads, when the crocodile isn't onscreen, isn't all that  enjoyable.

Don't worry though, because most of the crocodile footage is real. Very little CGI was used. So that should help you to appreciate the movie as it plods from one moment to the next. It doesn't. Of course it doesn't. It's just a gimmick, used in conjunction with the "based on a true story" line, that people again mistakenly throw out there as some kind of critic-proof value added to the film. I've seen a number of killer croc movies from the past couple of decades and I can safely say that Black Water is the worst of the lot. I am sure that some will enjoy it more than I did, and there are fleeting moments of decent tension when the croc remains underwater and you sense the characters being stalked, but it really didn't work for me. Part of that comes from the elements that feel cynically incorporated as pre-emptive defence moves, part of it stems from the end result just not being good enough.

Bonus points for how good the croc footage is though.

4/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews