Black Water
March 2008 Reviewed by: Josh Barber Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

To look at the cover of Black Water, you'd think it was the sort of schlocky "when giant animals attack" horror movie you might see on the Sci Fi Channel some weekend -- like a low-rent version of Lake Placid without the big-name actors. And as you begin watching, the shoestring production values seem to back up that assessment. But once things start moving, Black Water reveals itself to be much more.

Black Water is about killer crocodiles in much the same way that 2002's Open Water was about shark attacks, which is to say, not very much at all. Grace (Diana Glenn), her boyfriend Adam (Andy Rodoreda) and her younger sister Lee (Maeve Dermody) are on vacation in northern Australia, and they decide to take a river tour. Their guide, Jim (Ben Oxenbould), mistakenly takes them into a mangrove swamp, where their boat suddenly capsizes. When Jim fails to resurface, the other three realize two things: Their boat had been attacked by a crocodile, and they have no idea how to get out of the swamp. Adam pulls Grace up a tree to safety, but Lee is still stuck on top of the overturned boat.

The film starts somewhat slowly, but directors Nerlich and Traucki do their best to get things moving quickly -- it only takes about 15 minutes until we're up in the tree and the tension starts building. Part of the appeal of Black Water is the realistic presentation of the situation -- we're drawn in to the story because we can imagine ourselves there and because of the realistic stakes. The characters behave like real people, not like action stars.

Black Water was shot with HD cameras, so we know the source material was crisp and detailed. The disc does a decent job of presenting that image, but the quality isn't quite as high as it could be. The movie was shot just half an hour from downtown Sydney, but the cinematography does a fine job of making this look like the remote northern half of the country, and there are no major problems to mention.

The sound is decent as well. The film's score is sparse, and rather than a lot of dialogue, the actors’ roles basically amount to a lot of shouting and crying -- it's a tense situation, after all. This isn't a speaker-rattling presentation, but it does the job it needs to.

For bonus features, we get a few deleted scenes, a brief making-of documentary, and a commentary from the directors. It's really nothing unusual, nothing that especially stands out in the crowd of DVD bonus features, but it's a solid presentation of extras for a low-budget film. Everything here is worth watching at least once.

Ultimately, "worth watching at least once" really sums up Black Water. It's not quite a horror movie, but it's not quite horror-free either. Once you know what happens between our three heroes and the crocodile stalking them, you may not have the desire to watch this one again. Give it a rent before you decide to bring it home permanently.

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