Black Water (2007)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Black water |
| Original title | Black water |
| Country of production | Australia |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2007 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
David Nerlich , Andrew Traucki |
| script | David Nerlich Andrew Traucki |
| production |
Michael Robertson Paul Cowan Chris Wheeldon |
| music | Rafael May |
| camera | John Biggins |
| cut | Rodrigo Balart |
| occupation | |
| |
Blackwater is an Australian animal horror film from the year 2007 with directing and screenplay by David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki .
With a conceivably limited and economical arrangement of time, space and action , the siege of three excursionists by one (or perhaps more) crocodiles and their struggle for survival is shown. The low-budget horror film is set almost exclusively in a not particularly high treetop of a mangrove in the swamps of Australia.
action
" The Saltwater Crocodile population in Northern Australia is expanding. So is the human population. "
The sisters Grace and Lee as well as Grace's friend Adam are out and about in northern Australia's wetlands. After visiting a crocodile farm , weather permitting, you can go on a leisurely fishing trip into the wild with local Jim . The motorboat capsizes due to a huge impact under the water surface . Grace and Adam immediately escape through the waist-deep or neck-deep water into a treetop, Lee finds refuge on the hull of the overturned boat within sight. Jim is floating lifeless in the water.
Together they try in vain to move the boat towards them with a rope that has got caught in the water and mud, which is impenetrable to the eye. Lee comes to them anyway. Grace tries to find a way over the trees, but only discovers a human ear floating in the brackish water. Apart from the faint splashing every now and then, everything is quiet. Adam has lost his glasses, the cell phone has failed and help is not expected. After a few hours, doubts arise as to whether there are any crocodiles in the water. Accordingly Adam wades over and tries to straighten the boat. But suddenly he is grabbed by a crocodile and torn to pieces.
In another high-altitude climbing action by Grace, the giant animal jumps full-length out of the water and snaps at her, making the carnivore, which weighs tons, visible for fractions of a second for the first time. Then there is an eerie silence again in the idyllic swamp and they have to sleep in the fragile branches. The next day, the bloated Adam drives upside down. During a thunderstorm on the following pitch-black night, you can hear the crocodile gnawing it away just a few meters below them. During the day, they venture to the boat using their remaining strength. The lizard appears in front of them, looks at them, and then chases them back into their tree. Grace is badly injured. An airboat traveling far away disappears despite calls for help. The situation seems hopeless.
Lee swims over and lets the emaciated Grace sleep. At the boat, the crocodile attacks, and when the reptile pulls her away, she passes out. Some time later she wakes up in the mud somewhere . In addition to abrasions and a few bite wounds, only one finger seems broken, which she barely splinted. Next to her lies Jim's male torso . She finds his revolver on it, dismantles and shakily cleans it and rinses the bullets, although it is unclear whether it will ever work again. Lee tries to bait the hungry beast with Jim's right arm. In the final duel , in which her whole arm is already stuck in the crocodile's throat, a shot is actually released from the weapon. They look each other in the eye and the dying animal perishes.
She goes to get Grace, who is no longer conscious - or dead - and paddles home with her in fear of death.
Backgrounds and miscellaneous
According to the opening credits, the film is based on real events, which is not documented. Likewise, in the opening credits of The Reef , another film by Andrew Traucki, it is shown that these were true events, but this has not been proven either.
The IMDb estimates the budget at $ 700,000.
The IMDb lists the directors David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki as Visual Effects Creator and Visual Effects Producer respectively . Dr. Adam Britton is named in the end credits as a zoologist and crocodilian specialist , Charlie Manolis as chief scientist of wildlife management , Nik Robinson as crocodile wrangler .
Most of the shooting was on the Georges River in the south of Sydney .
Andrew Traucki explained to the magazine Fangoria how a "big, bad, male 15- foot crocodile named Stumpy" (≈ 4.6 meters) already had a camera between his teeth, which survived the incident unscathed, and various others Incidents such as escaping from a 12-foot animal ( "luckily on land" ) and working in the water with a 14-foot specimen ( "luckily stunned" ). The use of real animals in comparison to the CGI was evidently given special value: “From the start, we knew we wanted to use real crocs […] If your croc doesn't rock, there goes the ball game” . He wanted the film "raw and real" ( "raw and real" ).
Opposite The Australian he was referring to Stephen King's theorem from Danse Macabre about showing and hiding horror.
Black Water was first shown at the Cannes Film Market on May 21, 2007. The film was shown in the 2007 Fantasy Film Festival program. The film was released on DVD on October 24, 2007 in the Federal Republic of Germany .
The saltwater crocodile is on the IUCN's 2007 Red List of Endangered Species .
Reviews
With the votes of 1835 viewers, Black Water is on September 14, 2008 in the IMDb with 6.1 out of 10 points and with 79 percent of 19 evaluated reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (63 percent of 8 top critics).
Various references were made to Open Water (D: Chris Kentis, 2003) or Long Weekend (D: Colin Eggleston , 1980).
- “The extremely exciting animal horror film, which is limited to a sparse scenario, relies entirely on the frightening effect of the real lizards. An effective suspense film […] with […] psychological [r] primer " - Lexicon of international film
- "Killer reptile films are currently hatching again in quick succession [...] looks much more expensive [...] a death roll from a film" - Michael Helms, Fangoria
- "The dwindling population of actors does a bombastic naturalistic job [...] the authors / directors portray nature as something wondrous and at the same time deadly" - Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
- "Short, hot and refreshingly nasty [...] crocoholics who are still hungry should still eat [...] rogue , which is similarly invested, but has significantly more money behind the camera." - Paul Arendt, BBC
- "No teenagers" - Phelim O'Neill, The Guardian
- "Traucki and Nerlich really put their teeth into the formula [...] a watertight script" - Anton Bitel, Eye For Film
- “Ultimately, there is something missing from the bite.” - Steve Watson, Channel 4 Film
- “I think: not good, not entertaining, like the screeching and howling in TCM tradition; more of a mournful lamentation without ceasing. Admittedly, maybe more realistic [...] these are just big wild creatures that want to eat like all of us. Maybe about time someone makes a horror film from the animal's point of view ” - Dread Central
- “The whole time one hopes they would be eaten […] towards the end of the film the sympathies are already very much with the crocodile” - Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Awards
Melbourne Underground Film Festival 2007
- Award in the Best Cinematography category for John Biggins
- Award in the Best Director category for David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki
Web links
- Blackwater in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Blackwater at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Black Water in the online film database
- Björn Eichstädt: Black Water in The Manifesto
- Tierhorror.de: Black Water
- Official site (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Barbara McMahon: The night of the hunter. In: The Guardian . January 19, 2008, accessed September 15, 2008 .
- ↑ a b c IMDb , see web links.
- ↑ End credits.
- ^ A b Sandy George: Same reptile, different scale. (No longer available online.) In: The Australian . February 21, 2007, archived from the original on February 22, 2007 ; accessed on September 15, 2008 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Bitel claims the recordings were used. Likewise Tim Evans: Tim Evans: Black Water. In: Sky Movies. Retrieved September 15, 2008 .
- ↑ Michael Gingold: May 17: Croc pic Black Water keeps on rollin '. (No longer available online.) In: Fangoria. Archived from the original on November 26, 2005 ; accessed on September 14, 2008 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Black Water. (No longer available online.) In: Fantasy Filmfest . Fantasy Filmfest , archived from the original on July 14, 2007 ; Retrieved September 15, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b Black Water in the Lexicon of International Films
- ↑ Michael Helms: Black Water. (No longer available online.) In: Fangoria. Archived from the original on April 2, 2008 ; Retrieved September 15, 2008 (English): “Killer-reptile movies have been spawning at a rapid rate lately […] A modest Australian horror-thriller of sparse economic means (not much more than $ 1 million Australian), BLACK WATER - which looks, acts and feels much bigger […] a death roll of a film “ Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Andrew L. Urban: Black Water. In: UrbanCinefile. Retrieved on September 14, 2008 (English): "The ever diminishing cast do a terrific job in naturalism, [...] the writer / directors portray nature as something wondrous and deadly all at once"
- ^ Paul Arendt: Black Water (2008). In: BBC . February 15, 2008, accessed on September 17, 2008 (English): “Short, sharp and refreshingly nasty […] Crocoholics who are hungry for more should also track down Rogue […] which has a similar premise but a lot more cash behind the camera "
- ↑ Phelim O'Neill: Black Water. In: The Guardian . February 22, 2008, accessed on September 18, 2008 (English): "For starters, the small cast contains no teens [...]"
- ^ Anton Bitel: Black Water. In: Eye For Film. Retrieved on September 14, 2008 (English): "Traucki and Nerlich really sink their teeth into the formula [...] a watertight script"
- ↑ Steve Watson: Black Water. In: Channel 4 Film. Retrieved September 18, 2008 : "ultimately Black Water lacks teeth"
- ^ Black Water (DVD). In: Dread Central. Dread Central, accessed on September 18, 2008 (English): “from my perspective, it's not good, entertaining crying or screaming in the old TCM tradition; it's more like mournful wailing and it goes on and on. Granted, this is probably […] more realistic […] are just big wild beasts that need to eat like all the rest of us. Maybe it's time someone made a horror film from the animal's point of view "
- ^ Matthew Turner: Black Water (15). In: ViewLondon. February 21, 2008, accessed on September 14, 2008 (English): "you keep hoping they'll get eaten [...] by the end of the film, you'll pretty much be rooting for the crocodile"
