Dead Calm (1989)

Greetings again from the darkness. For years, I considered this one of my favorite guilty pleasures; however, I now realize just how unfair that label is. After nearly 30 years, this arm-rest-gripping thriller from director Phillip Noyce (CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, RABBIT-PROOF FENCE, THE QUIET American) deserves respect as a well made (except for the ending), well written and well acted film. It proves that two boats may not be enough for three people.Terry Hayes adapted the screenplay from the 1963 Charles Williams novel, and the production team, including George Miller, is behind the Mad Max franchise. Cinematographer Dean Semler won an Oscar a couple of years later with DANCES WITH WOLVES, and his eye brings us some terrific shots … none better than an early view of both boats and an expanse of sea.Of course the film is best known for showcasing a young up-and- coming actress named Nicole Kidman. She began her career at age 16 and was 21 when this one was filmed. Her youthful features have yet to make way for the mature and stunning woman we know today. The following year she appeared in DAYS OF THUNDER, kicking off her Tom Cruise era. In the quarter century since, Ms. Kidman has reached the pinnacle of the acting profession and is a four time Oscar nominee, winning for THE HOURS. She has never shied away from tough or controversial roles, and has recently excelled in THE BEGUILED and THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER. Earlier this year she won an Emmy for her challenging role in "Big Little Lies". Ms. Kidman's role here is as Rae, a mother entertaining her young son by singing "Eensy Weensy Spider" as she drives through a torrential storm that would eventually cause the accident that tragically kills the boy. Soon Rae and her military officer husband John (Sam Neill) are off on a rehabilitation trip aboard their sailing yacht . Their peaceful time together is interrupted as they spot a stalled schooner off in the distance, and a man frantically rowing a skiff towards them. They help a dazed and profusely sweating Hughie (Billy Zane) on board as he explains how the other passengers on The Orpheus all died from botulism. When John goes to check out The Orpheus, Hughie commandeers the yacht from Rae and heads off leaving John seemingly helpless on the sinking vessel. What follows is some extraordinary tension and psychological gamesmanship that keeps us enthralled with the three characters. The juxtaposition between the two boats is fascinating. As John's resourcefulness meticulously brings the dying Orpheus back to life, Rae and Hughie are involved in a mental chess match of life and death between a sociopath and a mother in mourning. There is also a creative manner in which John (and viewers) picks up some of the bleak backstory casting doubt on Hughie's tale.Sam Neill was in his early 40's, and this was four years before his Dr. Grant took the tour of JURASSIC PARK. In 1988 he had portrayed Meryl Streep's husband in A CRY IN THE DARK, and recently his strong, silent persona has been key to the success of HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE (one of last year's best) and TV's "Peaky Blinders". Billy Zane, age 22 at the time of filming, makes a wonderfully frenetic entrance in the film. He met his wife Lisa Collins on this shoot - she's one of the unfortunate Orpheus passengers. He has also enjoyed a long and consistent career, with his most recognizable roles being from TOMBSTONE (1993) and of course as Rose's jealous fiancé in TITANIC (1997). His cameos in the ZOOLANDER movies are legendary in comedy, and now in his 50's, Mr. Zane remains extremely busy as an actor. The tagline for the movie: "When you are in the middle of nowhere, there's nowhere to hide" is terrific, and the confines of a boat at sea set the stage for a life lesson – sometimes you just have to fight. Orson Welles worked on his version of the film for years, but the project was never finished. Instead, director Phillip Noyce and three excellent actors deliver a taut thriller that keeps our palms sweaty … at least right up until that ghastly ending that somehow leaves me annoyed and laughing in frustration.

After a family tragedy Rae Ingram and her husband John, a captain in the Royal Australian Navy, sail their yacht though the peaceful waters of the South Pacific. One day, while becalmed, they sight a black schooner that appears to be heavily damaged. A man from the boat is rowing towards them. They help him aboard and he tells them that they were sailing from Tahiti to Fiji when the other people on board were struck down by food poisoning and died leaving them alone. John is sceptical so while the man sleeps he rows over to the boat and discovers that something violent has occurred there. As he rows back the man wakes up and takes control of the Ingram's yacht leaving Rae unconscious and John struggling to get the schooner working again. When Rae recovers she is all alone with the man and he refuses to return for John; he is clearly unhinged and any attempt to go against him could be very dangerous.This is a very taut thriller with a great setting. Having all of the main action aboard a small boat on an empty sea creates a very claustrophobic atmosphere; there is nowhere to run to and no prospect of outside help. Nicole Kidman shines as Rae; it is easy to believe in her fear and desperation as well as in the choices she makes to keep herself safe. Billy Zane is terrifying as the stranger; there is no doubting how dangerous he is. Sam Neill also impresses as John even though he spends most of the film alone on the schooner trying to get back to his wife. The action isn't overly gruesome but it is gruelling at times. Inevitably it does get a bit melodramatic at times Rae is rather slow in going for various weapons aboard the yacht but that can be put down to dramatic licence; after all it wouldn't have been much of a film if she had defeated her attacker early on. Overall I'd definitely recommend to this to anybody wanting lots of tension and some genuinely scary moments.

There's a great amount of tension in this, which is mainly attributable to the inventive direction, interesting cinematography, and great editing. The writing is where the film falters for me. Kidman is great in this, but the character she plays seems pretty stupid. It takes over an hour for her to even consider using a weapon on this stranger, which she knew she had since the beginning of the film. She is given numerous chances to sneak up behind Hughie, injure him, and throw him overboard - which would be justifiable in this scenario. However, she never does anything close. At the very end she knocks him out and throws him on a blow up raft. It makes me a bit angry that she didn't do that sooner, as she had ample opportunity to. We never actually learn Hughie's motivation for going crazy or reason all the people in his ship died, (or why he possibly killed them). His character was severely underdeveloped. Additionally, his death was really cartoonish and didn't really fit.Since I'm an animal lover, anytime I watch a film with a dog in it, I always check to see if it dies on doesthedogdie.com so I can be prepared. So I knew from the beginning that the dog would die, and I was anticipating it for a while. Once it happened, I found it to be the most fake thing I've seen in a film in recent memory that I actually started laughing.Overall, the tension and acting worked really well in this, but there were too many distracting plot holes to be enjoyable.

I always include this cinematic landfill on the list of my top 10 horrible movies I've had to endure. Finding this turd thrilling is equal to believing Adam Sandler movies are actually funny. Corny acting, horrible script, predictable in every way. My wife was getting irritated with me because I was doing the lines before the actors. The scene set ups were so obvious. You could predict every outcome, every scenario and every word. Actors cannot save a mess like this. Everyone is.............dead. And.....don't open that door! Come to mind. Talk about dead in the water. This is an insult to the classic thrillers. It always puzzles when I see words like excellent thriller and fantastic used in reviews of this kind of formulated device. It's like their frame of reference is The Three Stooges meet Godzilla. Now that's a thriller.