Up to their necks..
‘‘ It’s a movie where the fun is all about guessing who is getting eaten next
BLACK WATER: ABYSS Cert 15 ★★★★ Cinema tomorrow
Cinemas reopen with a big bite of adventure as a killer crocodile goes on the rampage in this brisk, tense and claustrophobic action thriller which delivers a torrent of terror and nononsense popcorn thrills.
Featuring everything I find most terrifying in nature such as small spaces, deep water, hungry predators and angry Australian women, it sees five attractive young holidaymakers explore a remote cavern under the wild forests of Northern Australia.
But a tropical storm causes the cave system to flood and traps them beside a subterranean lake with a rising water level, and they soon realise they must play chicken with a crocodile if they want to survive.
Four of the cast have served time on Aussie TV in either Neighbours and Home and Away, and top-billed Jessica Mcnamee featured in Jason Statham’s giant shark thriller The Meg.
As well as experience of underwater on-screen peril, she brings a fierce determination to the movie.
All of the actors put in a shift, forced to spend most of their time in the dark, wet and cold, and dealing with a pregnancy subplot which is pure soap opera – but that’s all OK as this is a movie where the fun is all about guessing who gets eaten next.
“Don’t splash” is about the best of their limited survival knowledge, and they kindly make jokes about Paul Hogan’s Crocodile Dundee so I don’t have to.
Director Andrew Traucki was responsible for 2007’s Black Water which also featured a vicious croc, and 2010’s killer shark flick The Reef, so he’s definitely on solid ground when filming in the water.
And making a virtue of his lean concept, Traucki maintains a decent rate of knots and sensibly keeps the scaly predator at a menacing distance or up close and very personal, and this is a good fit with last year’s croc shocker Crawl, or 2016 shark thriller The Shallows.
Black Water: Abyss has preview screenings tomorrow and is on general release from next Friday.