Horror movies seem to have hit a peak in this period dominated by VOD content, so maybe viewers can find comfort in it being a little better than it seems. Australia’s ‘Black Water: Abyss’ is something I like to term as one of those ‘Do not leave your couch’ films focused on how you should be careful during vacations, and is a sequel to the cult phenomenon ‘Black Water’ that came out in 2007. The premise of a killer crocodile and claustrophobic cave systems is unforgettably captivating. Having a fondness for monster films helped me find comfort in this B-movie, albeit the direction had a few issues I found problematic. People aren’t going to ‘Black Water: Abyss’ for its great story, rather for its extravagant underwater cinematography paired with a killer crocodile that had more slasher attributes than animalistic traits. It’s a given that ‘Black Water: Abyss’ is not a great film, but at times all you need is for a film to be suitable for your mood.
One Australian vacation for a deeper look into the earth, two couples bring a lot of non-physical issues with them. As these characters are introduced, Eric Luke Mitchell seems to be in a troubled relationship with Jennifer Jessica McNamee. And judging by her mannerisms, we can see that these people are on the verge of self-destructing which is exactly the kind of circumstance that policemen fear. Viktor Benjamin Hoetjes on the other hand is well acquainted with the issue of death owing to the recent victory over cancer. And, although he would rather stay in bed, his girlfriend, who just found out that she is expecting, is advocating for a caving excursion. With a cheating boyfriend, a pregnant girlfriend and a recovering cancer patient, one must give merit to Andrew Traucki, the director, for attempting to differentiate his croc food from the rest.
Cash (Anthony J. Sharpe), their friend, joins the couples and reveals that he found a cave system while searching for some tourists who had gone missing. While the only rational solution would be to wonder who is taking tourists missing, it is often disregarded. Nonetheless, there is no movie without such premise. Not only do Cash and the others overlook the issue of missing humans, but they are also rather casual around the tropical storm warning. Cash guides the couples through tunnels in the cave system, and they find a beautiful cave that is beneath the surface when suddenly the storm breaks which causes the water to rise and makes it impossible for them to escape. Strangely enough, they eventually realize that they are not the only ones after all. A massive crocodile is likely to kill them if the water doesn’t drown them.
“Black Water: Abyss” doesn’t do a great job with its siimplistic features. When it’s not dissecting shallow relationship drama, it has a self-assured, claustrophobic darkness, Yeah, there are suggestions about how they could escape which on the surface suggests there might be signs of hope, but it feels like a film where audiences should simply be wagering on not whether these people are going to die, but how. Unfortunately, a final plot twist is so uncontrolled that it makes one wish either the rest of the movie was as silly as this “Anaconda”-esque moment, or the film figured out a way to end in a more realistic fashion. Choose a Killer Croc road.
The melodrama last minute reveal is overused and isn’t needed in the film, while Traucki has diastrously used Michael Lira’s score in which every music piece sounds like it’s trying to cover “Jaws” during an attack. The film “Black Water: Abyss” can only be so polished without sacrificing substance, and it does seem like Traucki has his hands tied a little here. However, when his movie is sharp and exceptionally focused, it’s just good enough that followers of this sort of B-movie style are going to be fine.
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