What Do The Critics Say?

"Co–directors Andrew Trauchi and David Nerlich mostly keep it credible by resisting the urge to get their croc to act like a horror movie monster : its most elaborate maneuver is just about believable and the jolts created by its sporadic appearances are startlingly effective. The restraint in the gore department pays off nicely. In the absence of overt splatter, the occasional close–ups of grim flesh wounds, broken fingers and semi–devoured corpses pack a stronger punch. The filmmakers realize the impact of implied nastiness : one harrowing sequence involves a character forced to listen to the sound of someone being slowly, gruesomely consumed off–screen." MYMOVIES.NET "Working from a budget that would just about cover the laundry bill on Anaconda, directors David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki have fashioned a nifty thriller. Lean and mean, this basically does for crocodiles what Open Water did for sharks, Snap it up." Tim Evans SKY MOVIES "Australian film-makers Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich have done a great job in making the world’s most deadly reptile as scary as a shark." SUN ONLINE "In a remote Australian swamp, three terrified holidaymakers confront a primeval predator. Trapped up a flimsy tree, the three bicker, shiver and weigh their options, while a crocodile that has capsized their boat and eaten their guide prowls below. Tapping into the primeval fear generated by these perfectly evolved killing machines, the filmmakers ratchet up the tension, while sustaining our interest in the fate of the trio." Derek Adams TIME OUT LONDON

"Splendid in its economy, Black Water gets a grip on our senses and never lets go, rather like a crocodile with its victims. Quickly into the action, the film sinks its teeth into the meat of the exercise with serious intent - to give us a scary hour that ends in tears ... and blood. Among the highlights of the film are the many instances of restraint, making the audience do the dirty work of imagining the terror lurking and stalking our human characters." Andrew L Urban URBANCINEFILE "A sweat-inducing psychological-thriller disguised as a monster flick, "Black Water" centres on a threesome (Maeve Dermody, Andy Rodoreda and "Satisfaction" star Diana Glenn) who head off on a boat-trip down the pitch-black rivers of the northern territory. The film blows every other blockbuster on release at the time out of the water! And yes, it’s that scary! One of the most genuinely scary films I’ve seen in a long time, "Black Water" reaffirms the belief that money can’t buy everything." Clint Morris MOVIE HOLE "Relying more on suggestion than special effects, co-directors David Nerlich and Andrew Trauki are adept at wringing tension from a stream of bubbles or a carelessly dangling foot. Short, sharp and refreshingly nasty, it's a light antidote to all those heavy Oscar hopefuls clogging up the multiplex." Paul Arendt BBC MOVIES " Superb cinematography, a great sense of place and an eerie sound score are the mainstay of this horror story set in the mangroves of Northern Australia and whatever the film lacks in budget, more than makes up for it in atmosphere. No doubt driven by the small budget, the decision to use images of real crocodiles, rather than computer-generated ones is effective and it is credit to the filmmakers that these are used so well." Louise Keller URBANCINEFILE

The Inside Story Most film makers would shy away from trying to make an exciting crocodile thriller on the smell of an oily rag. To take on this challenge the makers of "Black Water", Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich had to think out of the square. They had to go back to basics and turn limitation into advantage, and that quite often meant going against the conventional wisdom. So how did they go about making this one million, two hundred thousand dollar(AU) production looks like a film that cost ten times more? There were several major challenges. The first challenge and probably the most important was coming up with the right story. Australia is home to the largest and most dangerous reptile in the world, the Salt Water crocodile. It is also home to many crocodile stories, some quite gruesome. Andrew came across a story about two teenagers who were stranded up a tree in a flooded river, whilst below them the crocodile that had just killed their friend lay waiting. It was an idea that was perfect for a low budget film treatment. One location, that was both eerie and beautiful. A small cast, a great 'villain' and a hell of a lot at stake. This simple idea became the premise around which the tense tale of "Black Water" was woven. With a limited budget, choosing a location in which to shoot the film was of prime importance. Traucki and Nerlich are to be commended for sticking to their ideal that realism was of paramount importance. The obvious thing to do was to go up to Northern Australia and use those swamps. But that would have meant transporting and accommodating crew and cast. That meant finding somewhere within twenty kilometres of the central business district of Sydney so that no accommodation or travel expenses needed to be paid. The search went on for months, the perfect location was proving to be very elusive. Using Google Earth to locate patches of mangroves in the Sydney region, Traucki and Nerlich extended the search to the south of Sydney and on one miraculous day stumbled across Gungah Bay, the perfect swamp location and only twenty minutes south of Sydney. The next item on their list was the villian of the film, the crocodile. In all the crocodile films that Traucki and Nerlich watched whilst researching their film, the crocodiles had either been animatronics or computer graphics. In all these films the crocodiles stank. They came to the descision that the answer lay with using real crocs. This was obviously a new idea, one that hadn’t been done before and needed to be tested. Luckily they understood digital effects and how to composite together footage of actors, crocodiles and locations. The big question was, would the crocs co-operate? Renowned crocodile zoologist Adam Britton assured them that crocodiles could be made to do all sorts of things. Traucki, Nerlich, Britton and DOP John Biggins headed off to Darwin to film crocodiles for a week. The week spent in thirty eight degree heat resulted in seven hours of footage and some exciting encounters. One of the cameras got eaten by a fifteen foot croc called 'Stumpy'. Luckily he decided not to swallow, so the camera (and some amazing footage) was retrieved. And, before being caught by wranglers, Andrew was chased by a twelve foot crocodile. They also learnt that trying to get a crocodile to jump into a boat is almost impossible; that retrieving a small dinghy from a lagoon filled with big crocs is treacherous business, and that as soon as you turn on the camera a crocodile will slowly sink under the water and disappear. What they managed to achieve with that footage is a testimony to their talents. Like all films in this genre, "Black Water" is designed to frighten and scare, create dread and alarm, and invoke our worst hidden fears: in this case a fear heavily imprinted in our genes, the fear of being eaten alive by a vicious, unreasoning predator. It works extremely well. It's almost like watching a reality show in 'real time'. The directors used three principles in the construction of their film: Suspense and Psychological Horror; Realism and, Characters. The main principal of good horror and suspense is that the audience’s imagination is a much more potent tool than special effects and 'monster' shots. In other words, the best way to build fear and dread is by focussing on small events and leaving 'space' for the audience’s imagination to run wild. Rather than be heavily theatrical, "Black Water" has been written to be as realistic as possible, sticking to its simple and raw premise without being burdened by artificial themes. The filmmakers want the audience to believe that this event really happened. The three main characters in this tale are all real characters with natural vulnerabilities that the audience can relate to and will empathise with. Traucki and Nerlich believe that the horror genre is a perfect tool with which to examine human nature, especially that ever-present aspect of our conscious mind, fear. Done well, the horror-thriller opens doors in our psyche that let us to look into forbidden areas and ask: Am I like that? What would I do? How would I face these fears? The film makers want to give the audience a tense, thrilling adrenalin ride. They strongly believed that the best way to achieve this is by using suggestion rather than revelation. That the real fear in this story isn’t menacing crocodile jaws but wondering where the hell those jaws might be lurking. In other words, like in life, the fear and tension in "Black Water" comes from the unknown and uncertainty, what you can’t see rather than what you can. The mangrove location used in the film is both beautiful, realistic and yet at the same time capable of being eerie and menacing; a wonderful mix of the mysterious and the threatening, a place where humans clearly do not belong, a visual puzzle, a maze of reflected branches, nothing is solid, the water warps shapes and the light dances, then as night falls the mangrove closes like a ghostly web. Cinemagoers, like the characters in the film, are tested by the little things that make you question what is happening. Are they high enough up the tree to escape the snapping jaws? Can they afford to sleep and risk falling out of the tree? And the obvious question: is it safe to enter the water? The biggest catalyst for our fears is the menacing 'dragon face' and rows of large yellow teeth that rip deep into the flesh as those giant jaws lock onto our soft frail body. These are mesmerising and immediately compelling factors. As an outsider looking in, we are aware that the crocodile has the upper hand. This is its domain and we are disadvantaged aliens once we enter into it. The cast are superb especially newcomer Maeve Dermody who plays Lee. Dermody is yet another young actress who will show the cinema world how talented our young women are. Maeve’s first performance was at the age of five when she was cast in the feature film, "Breathing Underwater". Since then she has gone on to appear in "White Collar Blue", "Out There" and "All Saints". Her appearance as Zoe in the Griffin Theatre’s production of "The Peach Season", garned rave reviews including this one from Philippa Wherrett: "“Dermody’s performance as Zoe is just stunning. Totally convincing and engrossing. Dermody is one talented actor. She’s one to watch out for in future. An absolutely stellar performance." Andy Rodoreda who plays Adam, is a graduate from Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic art and has been in seen regularly in film, television and theatre productions. His impressive list of TV work includes: "Blue Heelers", "White Collar Blue", "Young Lions", "Stingers", "All Saints", "Water Rats", "Wildside", "Police Rescue", "Home and Away" and "Tale of the South Seas." Diana Glenn, who was cast as Lee's older sister Grace, is a familiar face to those who were fans of the TV series "The Secret Life Of Us". "Oyster Farmer" (for which she received the Best Actress award at the 2006 St Tropez Film Festival in France) was her first lead role in a feature film. Her other film roles include "Somersault" with AFI Award winner Abbie Cornish and "Crashing" with Lizzy Caplan. Her recent television appearances include: "Pizza", "Carla Cametti PD", "Satisfaction" and "Canal Road". Another familiar face in this all-aussie cast is actor Ben Oxenbould who was cast as Jim. He's well known for his role in "Comedy Inc.", having appeared in fifty two episodes between 2003 and 2006. Fiona Press, who played Dr Ainslie Forsythe in "A Country Practice" appears as the girl's mother, Pat. Her film credits include appearing with Thandie Newton and Nicole Kidman in "Flirting", "Lillian's Story" with Ruth Cracknell and Toni Collette and "Oscar and Lucinda" with Ralph Fiennes, Cate Blanchett, Ciarán Hinds and Tom Wilkinson. Her role as Therese in "Waiting" (1991) was rewarded with an AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the San Sebastián International Film Festival Silver Seashell Best Actress Award which she shared with Deborra-Lee Furness, Noni Hazlehurst and Helen Jones. "Black Water" has been described as "a compelling story, a page-turner. It is a clever, low budget idea, a taut beautifully simple story that deftly uses its limitations to overwhelming advantage." I assure cinemagoers they can believe that apt description. "Black Water" will have you holding your breath in fearfull anticipation. Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich (Best Director Award 2007 Melbourne Underground Film Festival), DOP John Biggins (Best Cinematography Award 2007 Melbourne Underground Film Festival), the cast and everyone involved in the production have done a sterling job. Synopsis

Grace, boyfriend Adam and her younger sister Lee, on holiday in Northern Australia, after visiting a Crocodile Farm, decide to take a river tour with Jim as their guide. Drifting into a mangrove swamp their dinghy is suddenly capsized and Jim disappears. Realising they’ve been attacked by a large crocodile, Adam drags Grace to the safety of a tree whilst Lee clings on top of the overturned craft. Adam and Grace frantically try to manoeuvre Lee and the dinghy to the tree but it is stuck firmly. Eventually Lee is forced to make a daring escape. With no other options, Grace decides to explore the swamp by climbing from tree to tree, and discovers they are surrounded by water. By now Adam is restless and having decided that the overturned dingy is the key to their escape, heads for the dinghy. Entering the dark, murky water, he manages to turn it right side up. Then the croc strikes again. Shocked at his brutal death the two women are forced to remain in the tree overnight. But their terrifying ordeal is far from over.

The Verdict "Any attempt to make a comparison between "Black Water" and "Rogue" is like comparing Pineapples with Peaches. While both productions featured hapless, stranded tourists and a fiercesome salt water crocodile, that's all they have in common. "Black Water" is a wonderful example of how Australian ingenuity, dedication and talent when put to the test, can overcome a minuscual budget and produce a highly entertaining cinema experience that really does have the look and feel of a big budget production. The lead cast (Glenn, Rodoreda and Dermody) are solid. Maeve Dermody is outstanding. The editing is seemless. The sparingly used 'croc' shots will scare the crap out of the audience. The mangrove location used to film this terrifying experience is eerily superb. The film evokes all the dread that goes hand in hand with the fear of falling into the bone crunching, flesh ripping jaws of the worlds largest reptiles. If you thought "Jaws" was scary, wait until you see this cleverly conceived and constructed film. Highly recommended. 4 1/2 STARS." Crew Bytes "BLACK WATER" was .......
directed and written by Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich ["Black Water"]; costume design by Justine Seymour ["You Can't Stop the Murders", "Monster" and "West"]; production design by Aaron Crothers ["Cactus"]; edited by Rodrigo Balart ["Somersault", "Candy" and "Clubland"]; director of photography John Biggins ["Occasional Coarse Language", "Oops!" and "Social Work"]; original music by Rafael May ["Sample People"]. Who's Who?

Diana Glenn Maeve Dermody Andy Rodoreda Ben Oxenbould Fiona Press

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Grace Lee Adam Jim Pat

Run Time 85 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2008 - All Interactive Entertainment - All Rights Reserved ©2008 All Rights Reserved - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - Protected by Australian, International, Copyright & Trademark Laws.