Deadwater (2008)

Both OUTPOST and DEADWATER (aka BLACK OPS on US d.v.d. box) debuted as direct-to-video releases in the US within 70 days last spring. Both low-budget flicks feature heavily-armed squads of U.S.-led special forces veterans battling super-human Nazi ghost officers in exotic locales and being slaughtered to the last man. (The only DEADWATER "survivor" is a demon-possessed woman.) But while OUTPOST's Balkan forest bunker is semi-realistic, the stripped-down S.S. Lane Victory does not give DEADWATER's crew much to work with (check out the "making of" to see how pedestrian the set actually was before some lame-ass CGI was added). To compensate for this obvious budget shortcoming, the DEADWATER group make a couple ghost-busters a ludicrous encumbrance to the SEAL squad led by Capt. John Willets (Lance Henriksen). The ghost-busters' equipment--especially the soon-to-be-possessed female's backpack--look like the kind of crap the video store clerks used as props for their 20-minute shorts in BE KIND REWIND. There is not a plausible moment in this movie, the attempt at a "scientific" explanation falls flat on its face, and Henriksen phones in his effort (which is not helped AT ALL by the coincidence of his only child being a crew member on the torture-brig he's sent to rescue). I mean, c'mon, instead of trying to provide a reasonable explanation for how a WWII Nazi's ectoplasm got bonded to the hull of a ship, try instead to explain WHY the Navy brass decided the best way to investigate this odd phenomenon would be to inexplicably do nothing for 60 years, then pretend to reactivate the never-named vessel as a floating Abu Gharib (a phrase the script uses twice), bring an impostor posing as "the Ace of Spades" super-terrorist to be tortured with teeth-pulling, etc. by unsuspecting U.S. torture contractors, and then--after 80% of the crew is slaughtered, send in even more expensively-trained warriors to get THEM massacred as well (topping it off by towing the demon hulk into a U.S. port and allowing the only survivor to mingle with civilians prior to debriefing or quarantine). If DEADWATER is used as a measuring stick, OUTPOST is 100% believable and its doomed mercenary squad leader D.C. (Ray Stevenson) should get an Oscar.

Its so bad its ridiculousness. Super Nazi from the 40s on a ship sailing around for 60 years? Everything is just badly done. The whole movie was shot in the dark as if they couldn't afford lighting. It starts off as a terrorist movie and if they stuck to that agenda for the whole flick it would have been better. But no, lets put those evil German Nazi's into the movie, no wait, super Nazi's. Sigh' its always the Germans.Its an insult to the American Navy, the Nazis's (if you can insult those idiots) and the Arabs alike.I'm glad I watched this at work while I was meant to be working.

Well, to say that BLACK OPS (a.k.a DEAD WATER) is Oscar gold would probably anger a lot of people who have seen it, but for me as a horror fan, it was like watching a movie with my TV turned off, everything that mainly took place in dark areas you couldn't see and the places that were supposed to be well lit, seemed like the light was cast by using very cheap bed lamps, honestly the lighting effects in this film are so poor adjusting your TV's contrast makes it look like your watching a fog bank, the storyline is uninteresting, plainly put, the acting seems decent but the dialog was poor so the acting is more shallow Overall, If you don't like a movie that mainly takes place in the dark and don't have an interesting storyline, well try something else of course.

Oh when oh when will I learn not to let my absolute adoration of Lance Henrikson make me sit through even extremely bad films Ie. pretty much anything post-"Millennium". This brain-dead little number is no different. Attempting to tie a Iraq war film with a supernatural ghost story may work on paper, but this is not paper and the result is an absolute mess that's nearly unwatchable. Bad acting, bad special effects, incoherent storyline. One can go right down the list of bad film-making 101 and put checks down it. The sad thing is I KNOW this won't be the last movie I watch from Henrikson, i still believe the guy rocks. But it will be the last Roel Reine flick that I watch.My Grade: D-DVD Extras: Director's commentary; One night on the set; Alternate opening; deleted scenes; Trailer for this movie; and trailers for "War, Inc.", "Player 5150", "Day of the Dead", "Three Days to Vegas", "Jack & Jill Vs. the World", "the Amateurs", & "Rockaway"