Black Water (aka our own krazykroc's movie!)

Movies
1

Hey, this was great! And I never would have gotten it if krazykroc hadn’t recommended it in this thread.

Okay, if you haven’t seen it, it’s a killer crocodile movie, but not what you’d expect. It has more in common with Open Water – hence the title, I’m guessing – than Primeval or Anaconda or any other various post-Jaws monster movies. So if you’re up for horror instead of gore, I’d recommend leaving this thread, dropping it in the Netflix queue, and coming back here after you’ve watched it.

On to the spoilery bits:

Man, is it nice to have a horror movie where you’re rooting for the victims instead of the monster. I get so accustomed to crappy US horror films that are about little else than setting up the next kill, which is often inconsequential except as a special effect sequence. Cloverfield, for example, which I really liked. But lordy, it’s nice to actually care about the characters sometimes.

Like Wolf Creek before it, Black Water first makes you care about the characters by casting good actors who have chemistry with each other, and then establishing them with some very human strokes. It’s minimal, but effective: little sister, pregnant wife, husband doesn’t know yet, everyone off for a vacation, okay, break!

So by the time the bad stuff starts going down, by the rules of conventional movie logic, none of the characters can die. Therefore, any one of the characters can die! The tension that introduces is tremendous. For all its indulgence, Alexander Aja’s Hills Have Eyes remake understood the same dynamic. And Black Water isn’t afraid to be almost as brutal as Hills Have Eyes.

Great work with the crocodile, too. I’d love to hear more from krazykrok about the actual wrangling. Was there ever a crocodile on the location outside Sydney? There wasn’t, was there, given that it was just a tidal flat in a suburb? So all that was composite work, right? Because it looked really good.

And they did a wonderful job slowly unfolding the crocodile. The full length jump was a great scene, because by that time you’ve been lulled into thinking you’re only going to get an implied crocodile for a while. And I loved the later appearances, where the idea seemed to be that the crocodile wasn’t hungry anymore, but was just keeping them around for when he got hungry later.

And I really liked the final sequence with Leigh, the most unlikely character of the four, smeared in blood and mud, standing on the feeding mound, holding a nearly useless a revolver in her broken right hand and swinging a severed limb with her left hand. That’s classic horror movie imagery and a great lead up the weirdly intimate finale.

So many thanks for the recommendation, Mr. Krok! Good job. Now get on in here and give us an anecdote or two.

-Tom
3

Great stuff, Adam. I can’t believe that jumping croc shot wasn’t CG! That was incredible. The thing looks like it gets almost entirely out of the water. The directors must have been delighted you got a crocodile to do that!

There’s a “making of” featurette on the DVD where they show the shot of the croc attacking the camera housing. They said at the time they were really bummed, but ultimately they were happy to get to use the shot. I think they also said the camera housing was patched up and put back into use, so no great loss.

But I was really surprised that the crocodiles were always separate elements from the actors. It sort of explains why the first two killings are strangely, well, sanitary. There’s no thrashing about or screaming. It’s just a bit of splashing and then a floating body. They fake it really well with the two girls during the later scenes, and particularly with Leigh’s ultimate encounter. But early on, it struck me as odd.

Also, ha ha, kids:

Nice comments in the interview about the dramatic purpose the animals serve and how no one’s watching these movies to learn about crocodiles. You seem to have a lot more perspective than I imagine most people who study the animals have. I can see why TV- and movie-makers would come to you!

BTW, I noticed the movie starts with one of those provocative “based on a true story” title cards, which I’m guessing is there more for shock value than any attempt at honoring some actual story. Is the “true story” title card just a bunch of malarky? I can’t imagine a crocodile attacked four people in a boat and did in three of them after a two-day stand-off.

-Tom

5

I would have loved to see a boa constrictor eat a croc, then the croc fighting its way out of the boa’s stomach.

6

There’s a rather infamous man-eating croc in Africa – don’t remember quite where, I want to say Sudan and not someplace along the Nile – that is said to have devoured dozens of people and recently a UN aid worker. I forget the name and place but the aid worker death was somewhat recent. Of course I dunno how they know it’s the same croc or not…

— Alan

8

A low budget film where some creature attacks people? Does it have really well written dialog like Shark Attack 3: Megalodon?

9

Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this in public, but… I liked Primeval. Sorry!

But Black Water sounds like I definitely need to check it out. Netflixed.

10

You know what? So did I. But that is probably because it got me wondering about Gustave and spending a whole night drinking while reading about man-eating crocs.

As for Black Water, I will be sure to check it out as soon as possible, sounds great.

11

I am delighted to find out that real life imitates dwarf fortress and assign names to animals that has killed sufficent number of humans .

12

I fully support any movie created in whole or partially by a Q23 regular.

13

Watched this the other night, fantastic stuff. This is coming from a guy who generally hates Australian films (still try to see them in the cinema, gotta support your local scene).

Spoiler-ish:

There were a few moments where I thought, “Yeah, I have seen this before. Guy jumps in water (danger); nice camere shot (of predator); think he is taken by croc (suspense); oh, there he is, he just tripped (me rolling eyes)”. Instead, they do the complete opposite which made it all the more brutal.

/Spoiler-ish

All of you that said you will Netflix it, bump this sucker to the top.

14

I suppose we should all be thankful you didn’t have enough time to finish that little trick.

16

I finally saw Black Water a few nights ago, thanks entirely to the mentions here and Dr. krok’s part in its filming. Animal horror isn’t usually my cup of tea (though I have seen the greats of the genre: Jaws, Lake Placid, and Anaconda), but I loved this short, little movie. Very intense, and some very good performances from the cast. The brunette pleading with the croc to “let him go” was heart-wrenching.

Still, I felt a bit bad for the croc at the very end. It’s as if he was thinking, “That wasn’t fair. I’m a crocodile!”

I second Tom’s recommendation. Watch it, or be eaten.

17

“greats of the genre…” Lake Placid?
Still trying to get ahold of Black Water.

18

I don’t know what’s more disturbing: the Enduro Man listed Anaconda and Lake Placid alongside Jaws, or that Juan Rayo only questioned the inclusion of Lake Placid. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask both of you to turn in your Discriminating Horror Movie Snob cards.

BTW, having now seen all three of the latest killer croc movies (Black Water, Rogue, and the one variously known as Primeval, Primal, Primordial, or simply, “The Worst of the Three”), I appreciate Black Water even more.

Rogue is probably the most inadvertently funny of the three. It’s like an Irwin Allen disaster movie complete with the introduction of all the passengers (the only stereotype missing is the obligatory nun) and the scene where they try to escape by crawling on a rope, which is like something straight out of Towering Inferno. That it all ends with an out-of-place “fight the dragon in its lair to save the damsel!” battle is just gravy.

-Tom
19

Surely Brendan Gleeson running after Oliver Platt ranks among the best on-foot chases in film history? Not since ‘Saboteur’ has a pursuit been so personal!

Seriously, Black Water’s worth seeing, and I’d place it head and shoulders above both LP and Anaconda. (Just Googling: Anaconda 3 has David Hasselhoff in it?)

20

LOL.
I figured he might have something for Jennifer Lopez and didn´t want to intrude in his tastes (bad as I found them).

For the record, and for “cred” :) I consider Jaws to be pretty much a PERFECT movie. Way above the others listed.

Edit: btw, just watched a pretty interesting little horror movie “Deatwatch”. Soldiers in the trenches during WWI have EVIL chasing them? win :). Not a classic by any standards, but a good show in a genre so full of shit.

21

Whoa, cool find, Juan! Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis? Netflixxed!

To return the favor, have you seen Dead Birds? A lot of cheap scares, but very creepy effects, a good cast of people you’ve seen even if you don’t know their names, and a cool premise. After a violent bank robbery, a bunch of criminals during the Civil War have to hide out in a plantation one night. They get a good night’s sleep.

Except that last part isn’t true!

 -Tom
22

You should probably have a Horrors Of War movie night, and watch Deathwatch, The Bunker and Outpost in the one night. Deathwatch is the best of the three, mainly thanks to Andy Serkis in his goatskin jerkin waving around his spiky mace, but Outpost has the creepiest nazi zombies yet (even if they’re wrapped in an unsatisfying movie). It also has Titus Pullo as the hero, for people that enjoyed him cracking heads in Rome.

Or you could follow up Deathwatch with Regeneration, which looks at the war from a different angle.

Sorry for the continuance of the derail. I’m looking forward to Black Water, but the forbidden movies take ages for me to get to as the missus can’t stand gore.

23

Yeah, watched it, liked it. Just like Deathwatch, it´s a pretty solid movie with an interesting setting for the same spooks, and while not espectacular films, they are both certainly worth the watch.

24

Netflixxed!

Although I don’t know about all in one night. In fact, I sprinkled among them a few romantic comedies and a couple of chick flicks. One thing to be careful of with Netflix is genre clotting!

-Tom