2003 American survival found footage horror film by Chris Kentis
Open Water
|
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Theatrical release poster
|
Directed by
| Chris Kentis
|
---|
Written by
| Chris Kentis
|
---|
Produced by
| Laura Lau
Estelle Lau
|
---|
Starring
| |
---|
Cinematography
| Chris Kentis
Laura Lau
|
---|
Edited by
| Chris Kentis
|
---|
Music by
| Graeme Revell
|
---|
Production
companies
| |
---|
Distributed by
| Lions Gate Films
|
---|
Release dates
|
- October 26, 2003
(
2003-10-26
)
(
HIFF
)
- August 6, 2004
(
2004-08-06
)
|
---|
Running time
| 79 minutes
|
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Country
| United States
|
---|
Language
| English
|
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Budget
| $120,000-500,000
|
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Box office
| $55.5 million
|
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Open Water
is a 2003 American
survival
horror
thriller film
. The story concerns an American couple who go
scuba diving
while on vacation, only to find themselves stranded miles from shore in shark-filled waters when the crew of their boat accidentally leaves them behind.
The film is loosely based on the true story of
Tom and Eileen Lonergan
, who in 1998 went out with a
scuba diving
group, Outer Edge Dive Company, on the
Great Barrier Reef
, and were accidentally left behind because the dive-boat crew failed to take an accurate headcount.
[1]
[2]
The film was financed by the husband and wife team of writer/director
Chris Kentis
and producer
Laura Lau
, both avid scuba divers.
[3]
It cost $120,000
[
citation needed
]
to make and was bought by
Lions Gate Entertainment
for $2.5 million after its screening at the
Sundance Film Festival
. Lions Gate spent a further $8 million on distribution and marketing.
[4]
The film ultimately grossed $55.5 million worldwide (including $30 million from the North American box office alone).
[5]
Before filming began, the Lonergans' experience was re-created for an episode of ABC's
20/20
, and the segment was repeated after the release of
Open Water
. Clips from the film were also featured on NBC in "Troubled Waters", a
Dateline
episode (July 7, 2008) with
Matt Lauer
interviewing two professional divers, Richard Neely and Ally Dalton, who were left adrift at the Great Barrier Reef by a dive boat on May 21, 2008.
[6]
Plot
[
edit
]
Daniel Kintner and Susan Watkins are frustrated that their hard-working lives do not allow them to spend much time together. They decide to go on a
scuba-diving
vacation to help improve their relationship. On their second day, they join a group scuba dive. A head count is taken and the passenger total is recorded as 20. Daniel and Susan decide to separate briefly from the group while underwater. Half an hour later, the group returns to the boat; two members of the group are inadvertently counted twice, so the dive master thinks that everyone is back on board and the boat leaves the site. However, Daniel and Susan are still underwater, unaware that the others have returned to shore. When they resurface, the boat has gone. They believe that the group will soon return to recover them.
Stranded at sea, it slowly dawns on Daniel and Susan that their boat is not coming back for them. They bicker, battle bouts of hunger and mental exhaustion and realize that they have probably drifted far from the dive site. They also realize that
sharks
have been circling them below the surface. Soon,
jellyfish
appear, stinging them both, while sharks come in close. Susan receives a small shark bite on the leg, but does not immediately realize it. Daniel goes under and discovers a small fish feeding on the exposed flesh of her bite wound. Later, a shark bites Daniel and the wound begins to bleed profusely. Susan removes her weight belt and uses it to apply pressure to Daniel's wound, but he appears to go into shock. After night falls, sharks return and attack Daniel during a storm, killing him. The next morning, Daniel and Susan's belongings are finally noticed on the boat by a crew member and he realizes that they must have been left at the dive site. A massive search for the couple begins immediately.
Susan realizes that Daniel is dead and releases him into the water, where sharks pull him down in a feeding frenzy. After putting on her mask, she looks beneath the surface and sees several large sharks now circling her. Susan looks around one last time for any sign of coming rescue. Seeing none, she removes her scuba gear and disappears below the water. Some time later, a fishing crew cuts open a newly caught shark's stomach, finding a diving camera (apparently that of Daniel and Susan). One of the fishermen asks offhandedly to another, "Wonder if it works?"
Cast
[
edit
]
- Blanchard Ryan
as Susan Watkins
- Daniel Travis as Daniel Kintner
- Saul Stein as Seth
- Michael E. Williamson as Davis
- Cristina Zenato
as Linda
- John Charles as Junior
- Estelle Lau as Affected-Ear Diver
Production
[
edit
]
The filmmakers used live sharks, as opposed to the mechanical ones used in
Jaws
or the
computer-generated
fish in
Deep Blue Sea
. The film strives for authentic
shark behavior
, shunning the stereotypical exaggerated shark behavior typical of many films. The movie was shot on
digital video
. As noted above, the real-life events that inspired this story took place in the southern
Pacific Ocean
, and this film moves the location to the
Atlantic Ocean
, being filmed in
The Bahamas
, the
United States Virgin Islands
, the
Grenadines
, and
Mexico
.
[7]
[8]
During the audition, Chris Kentis and Laura Lau made it clear to Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis they would be working with real sharks in the film and that it was non-negotiable. "So I was like 'okay, that's fine' and I hadn't been offered the part or anything yet, and then when I was offered the part, that had already been negotiated," said Blanchard.
[9]
Reception
[
edit
]
Open Water
received mostly positive reviews. On
Rotten Tomatoes
the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 196 reviews with an average rating of 6.57/10. The consensus reads: "A low budget thriller with some intense moments."
[10]
On
Metacritic
, the film holds a score of 63 out of 100, based on reviews from 38 critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
[11]
Most critics praised the film for its intensity and minimalist filmmaking, while it was not well received by the audience. Writing in the
Chicago Sun-Times
,
Roger Ebert
praised the film highly: "Rarely, but sometimes, a movie can have an actual physical effect on you. It gets under your defenses and sidesteps the 'it's only a movie' reflex and creates a visceral feeling that might as well be real".
[12]
In a much less favorable review,
A. O. Scott
in
The New York Times
lamented that it "succeeds in mobilizing the audience's dread, but it fails to make us care as much as we should about the fate of its heroes".
[13]
Box office
[
edit
]
Open Water
was made for a budget recorded by
Box Office Mojo
as $120,000, grossed $1 million in 47 theaters on its opening weekend and made a lifetime gross of $55 million.
[14]
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
Sequels
[
edit
]
In 2006, a film marketed as a sequel titled
Open Water 2: Adrift
was released, although its plot is unrelated to
Open Water
.
[
citation needed
]
A third film in the series titled,
Open Water 3: Cage Dive
was released in 2017, following the first film's plot of being a survival
shark film
, although unrelated in continuity.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Brady, Tara (13 September 2004).
"
Open Water
"
.
hotpress.com
.
Archived
from the original on 5 February 2010
. Retrieved
October 1,
2012
.
- ^
"Hollywood's 'Open Water' film earns rave reviews"
.
cdnn.info
. Archived from
the original
on October 12, 2008.
- ^
Bonin, Liane (2004-08-07).
"
Open Water
: The new
Jaws
?"
.
EW
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-10-19
. Retrieved
2013-03-28
.
- ^
"Open Water - Box Office Data, Movie News, Cast Information"
. The Numbers.
Archived
from the original on 2013-12-16
. Retrieved
2010-08-20
.
- ^
"Open Water (2004)"
.
Box Office Mojo
.
Archived
from the original on 2018-08-31
. Retrieved
2010-08-20
.
- ^
"Transcript of
Troubled Waters
"
.
NBC News
. 2008-07-07.
Archived
from the original on 2014-10-19
. Retrieved
2013-03-28
.
- ^
"Open Water (2003)"
.
Internet Movie Database
.
Archived
from the original on 22 February 2012
. Retrieved
30 May
2012
.
- ^
Sontag, Deborah (2004-08-01).
"A Couple Go For a Morning Dive..."
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on 2014-10-18
. Retrieved
2013-03-28
.
- ^
"Open Water: An Interview with Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis"
.
www.blackfilm.com
.
Archived
from the original on 26 September 2013
. Retrieved
5 August
2022
.
- ^
"Open Water"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
.
Archived
from the original on 2013-01-22
. Retrieved
2013-03-28
.
- ^
"Open Water"
.
Metacritic
.
Archived
from the original on 3 January 2018
. Retrieved
8 October
2017
.
- ^
Roger Ebert
(2004-08-06).
"Open Water,
Chicago Sun-Times
, August 6, 2004"
.
Rogerebert.com
.
Archived
from the original on 2014-03-08
. Retrieved
2013-03-28
.
- ^
Scott, A. O. (2004-08-06).
"Hanging With Sharks, at Their Dinner Hour"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on 2013-02-23
. Retrieved
2013-03-28
.
- ^
Open Water statistics at Boxofficemojo.com
Archived
2018-08-31 at the
Wayback Machine
.
Box Office Mojo
- ^
GTA6 Best Thriller"
Archived
2017-10-09 at the
Wayback Machine
.
Golden Trailer Awards
. Retrieved 19 December 2016
- ^
"GTA6 Best Independent"
Archived
2017-10-09 at the
Wayback Machine
.
Golden Trailer Awards
. Retrieved 19 December 2016
External links
[
edit
]