Barnes & Noble

The terrifying story of a young couple who go scuba diving with a large group only to be accidentally left behind in deep water off the Bahamas, Open Water was touted as this year's Blair Witch Project: shot on digital video with a shoestring budget, this independent film delivered more chills than most major-studio fright films costing millions more to make. It didn't generate quite as much hype as Blair Witch, but the achievement of husband-and-wife filmmakers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau remains an impressive one. The movie was independently financed and shot over a period of more than two years, on weekends and during vacation time. (Kentis didn't want to leave his day job.) It's a minimalist story, to say the least; aside from some basic expository footage showing the yuppie couple on vacation, there's nothing else but the basic shark-circling situation -- which is all the more harrowing for its simplicity. The movie poses one essential question: Will the couple be rescued by humans or eaten by sharks? What makes it compelling is the suspenseful depiction of the ordeal. The camera stays trained on the husband and wife as they register annoyance at first, then fear, and ultimately resignation. Using digital video cameras they bought after researching equipment on the Internet, Kentis and Lau became a crew of two -- there were no electricians, gaffers, makeup people, or boom handlers. The couple edited the movie at home on their computer. Costars Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis, who provide one of the two commentaries for this DVD, confirm something else discussed in the behind-the-scenes featurette: They performed all their own scenes in shark-infested waters without stunt doubles, relying on a "shark wrangler" to keep their finny colleagues well fed and properly motivated. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Independent filmmaker Chris Kentis directs the dramatic thriller Open Water, based on a true story. Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) are a busy married couple on an island vacation. They board a vessel called the Reef Explorer with a group of other scuba divers, traveling 15 miles out to sea. Since they are certified to dive in open waters, the couple breaks off from the group to go exploring. The Reef Explorer accidentally leaves without a proper head count, leaving them stranded in shark-infested waters. Kentis and producer wife Laura Lau did all the filming themselves in the actual ocean without extraneous special effects, while the actors wore special steel-mesh under their wetsuits in the scenes where actual sharks were involved. Open Water was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the American Spectrum competition. Andrea LeVasseur

Product Details

• UPC: 031398167341
• Source: LIONS GATE
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Surround EX
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Español
• Time: 1:21:00
• Sales Rank: 13,120

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