After spending the Christmas holiday at home, Australian sisters Grace and Lee along with Grace's husband Adam take their time traveling back to their jobs in Sydney, stopping off at
various off-the-beaten-path locales, quaint remote lodges and assorted regional attractions. Yet terror finds them during a guided tour of a mangrove swamp when a vicious attack by a man-eating crocodile capsizes their boat, the beast killing the tour guide and leaving the trio trapped up a tree with the crocodile still lurking in the shallow water. Attempts to contact the outside world, gain access to the drifting boat and navigate the tree limbs in pursuit of a path out of the swamp prove futile, even fatal when Adam's efforts to retrieve the boat go awry and he too is taken under (and eaten) by the croc. Isolated, preyed upon and utterly alone, the stranded sisters await their fate with little hope of escape, rescue or survival.
various off-the-beaten-path locales, quaint remote lodges and assorted regional attractions. Yet terror finds them during a guided tour of a mangrove swamp when a vicious attack by a man-eating crocodile capsizes their boat, the beast killing the tour guide and leaving the trio trapped up a tree with the crocodile still lurking in the shallow water. Attempts to contact the outside world, gain access to the drifting boat and navigate the tree limbs in pursuit of a path out of the swamp prove futile, even fatal when Adam's efforts to retrieve the boat go awry and he too is taken under (and eaten) by the croc. Isolated, preyed upon and utterly alone, the stranded sisters await their fate with little hope of escape, rescue or survival..
What may suggest another generic creature feature from the outer casing, not to mention any preconceptions based on movies like Jaws, Cujo, King Kong or Jurassic Park, is actually an intriguingly gratifying film. The story, based on true accounts of crocodile attacks in this particular region of Australia, is less focused on the savagery of nature or man vs. beast battles and more concerned with the psychology of fear, the reactionary immobilization (both literally and figuratively) of an individual amidst stunningly perilous circumstances. A low-budget indie picture with little-to-no adapted or CGI effects (real crocodiles were used), Black Water transcends any limitations and emerges as an intense, moving experience.
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