Dead Calm

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	1989
Country of origin:	Australia
Director:	Phillip Noyce
Genre:	Sea bound thriller
Starring:	Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, Billy Zane
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097162/
Tagline:	A Voyage Into Fear.
Favourite line:	"They tried to kill me Rae. They tried to suck the light out of me, if you can possibly grasp that concept."

John and Rae Ingram are a wealthy couple who are unfortunate enough to experience the trauma of losing their only child in a car accident.
Rae (Kidman) was driving, but survived, though badly injured. As a therapeutic measure they decide to set sail for several calming weeks in the Pacific onboard their own yacht, as you do.
John (Neill) is an experienced sailor, and is called into action when an apparently stricken schooner hoves into view, and Billy Zane's frantic Hughie Warriner paddles across from the vessel, recounting a tale of death on the high seas due to botulism.
His fellow crew mates are all dead, and his ship is sinking.
But something doesn't sit right for John, and his twenty five years at sea are telling him that Warriner is not at all that he appears to be.

A tense thriller here, with more than a dash of the macabre.
Neill is excellent, as ever, but the real stars are Kidman and Zane. Kidman is a kick ass heroine. Truly, I can't think of any other film where the female lead is so strong, with the possible exception of the Alien movies. Zane is just great, a manic maniac, always on the move, dementedly likeable and yet utterly, ruthlessly insane.
As thrillers go, this is right up there, aided somewhat by the excellent location. Think about it. Something goes wrong at sea, there is nowhere to go, which cranks up the claustrophobic tension rather nicely.
Efficient, proficient, and totally absorbing, this is a very good movie indeed.