Blair Witch was a low budget movie that scared the crap out of me for days. Although not everyone shared the same feeling, I found it generally creepy.
Another low budget film is due out in August that I am almost scared to watch. Based on true facts, about a couple that get ‘left behind’ while diving, I am filled with a sense of dread just seeing the trailer for it http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/open_water/.
I really don’t get the whole connection to Blair Witch. BW was a psudo-documentary horror story shot first-person. Open Water is unique in that its mostly shot with just two people in the middle of the ocean, no other scenery or actors for the most part. At least that’s what I get from the trailer.
Still it looks pretty good. Ought to suck you in. But it’s not like I’m going to be lying in bed thinking I’m hearing some crying out in the woods behind my apartment.
Watching the trailer the girl says something along the lines of, “Where’s the boat?”
My first thought was, “Right in front of you, lady, the damn cameraman’s standing on it!”
It looks like a great idea for a movie, I will probably enjoy when I see it, but it’s not a Blair Witch, and I’m not exactly gonna be scared out of the water like Jaws did to people in it’s day.
I should have been more clear on the Blair Witch/Open Water connection. What I meant was that both were independent, relatively low-budget ‘horror’ films that garnered rave reviews at Sundance. With so many BAD horror movies out there (I’m looking at you Ghost Ship and Thirteen Ghosts), it is refreshing to see new ones coming out of small studios.
I don’t know. The premiss looks interesting but what little I saw wasn’t really a blow away. I can’t put my finger on it but the dialogue seems a little off. A little too banal and usless (Which puts it into blair witch territory in where the actors felt like a second of silence would lose the audience so they had to say anything to prevent dead air)
Also would anyone keep the heavy scuba gear on that long? Looks at least a day and over night.
Seems to me if you are going to tread water you’d wear out pretty damned quick with those tanks.
Isn’t it just a knock-off of Lifeboat?
No, it’s apparently based on a true incident from a few years back in which an Australian dive operator got back to dock and only then discovered he was two divers short. They tried to find the two divers but never did. (IIRC some of the gear belonging to one of them washed ashore not too long ago but I didn’t hear much about it.)
And there would be no reason not to leave your scuba gear on. All of it is attached to your BC (Bouyancy Compensator; think of it as an inflatable life vest) so it is floating along with you; and the heaviest part of your gear is your tank, and it floats at the end of a dive. (I assume they did drop their weigh belts but I don’t think that is what you are talking about.)
kingpengvin: There’s good reason to keep that scuba gear on - it helps you float. Divers wear an inflatable vest called a Bouyancy Compensator (BC) which can be thought of as an inflatable life jacket on the surface. And those “heavy” tanks also become positivily bouyant when they’re empty (if they’re standard aluminum 80 tanks - which are the most common around). Even if they were steel tanks, they only go neutrally bouyant when empty, so you wouldn’t feel that they were “heavy” at all (in the water).
The scenario of being left behind by the dive boat happens. Maybe not all that often, but more often than divers would like. It will be interesting what effect this movie has on the dive industry.
Hm, back when we lived in Va Beach I dove becayse swimming is one of the few exercises I can do…just is a bit tricky moving with that much weight and my back=]
But, wouldn’t have changed too much, I always had a navy issue [though out of date and rescued from the garbage, but they *still work=)] dye packet-and-light stick pouch on my BCV. Tended to keep a spare tucked away. IIRC the dye was also supposed to be a shark repellent. Might have gotten pretty hungry and thirsty, but I suppose one could try to figure out something to do a solar distillation out of. But I think just the dye packet and cyalume alone would remedy the lost diver problem pretty well, that dye packet covers a lot of water, and any light at night is better than none=) I also frequently took a waterproof cased disc camera so I could get good rescue pictures and sell my story to the tabloids and get a few sheckles for the pictures as well=)
HOW does it happen??? Yeesssshhhhhhh…!!!1
Did you ever see the movie Captain Ron? Well, I’ve seen some dive boat captains who make Captain Ron look like Ken Jennings! :eek:
But seriously, this sort of things should never happen. NEVER!
I see your point, but I think all the best horror movies are low budget films.
Friday the 13th is the perfect example. The first movie is dark, scratchy and frightening, mostly because of it’s low budget, not necessarily by design. As the sequels got more popular, thew movies got ‘bigger’ and sillier.
Ditto for Nightmare on Elm Street.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre is another.
In fact, off the top of my head (and someone will be along to point around what a moron I am any minute now) I can’t remember a big studio blockbuster scary movie that was actually scary apart from maybe Jaws, The Exorcist & Poltergiest.
Rube (cute user name, BTW):
Within the past two months, this happened to a father and son (I think) after diving Catalina Island (a very popular dive spot off LA). They weren’t out over night, but they did spend a good amount of time waiting. They were finally rescued by some boy scouts in a passing sailing boat.
It really is inexcusable, but if you take a couple of factors, you will see how it can happen.
So off they go. And often it’s not until they realize there are a couple unclaimed dive bags that they realize that some people were left behind.
As for the possible effects on the dive industry, I can see it being both good and bad. Bad in that it may (further) scare potential divers from getting certified. Good in that it may spook enough divers to really harass dive boat operators to keep their act together. It will be interesting.
Thanks for the responses – fascinating information — but scary.
Come to think of it, in this month’s Esquire there’s an article about very serious divers on a boat with a legendary dive captain — and he’s a drunk who can only keep his hands from shaking with superhuman effort. Must be an “interesting” field of endeavour.
Is that the story in which it later was revealed that one of the couple was planning on committing suicide and taking the other with him… possibly on a dive trip?
They were recently returned American Peace Corps volunteered, spending the last few days after leaving the Corps vacationing in Queensland. Them?
I have seen this movie: it played the Seattle film fest a few weeks ago. It is indeed (a) low-budget and (b) scary as hell. I walked out of it feeling like I’d been punched in the stomach. Very, very intense, and it’ll put you off diving for a while, or possibly for good. This is a terrifying psychological horror film for the true aficionado; it isn’t designed to give you cheap startle-shocks that can be shrugged off by the casual viewer, like most modern “horror” flicks, the ones that make you jump and then giggle at yourself. Open Water, once it gets going, is absolutely unrelenting.
Actually, it would be more accurate to say it’s a fictionalized synthesis of several incidents. Note the tag line: “Based on true events.” Plural. For example, the means by which the dive operators miscount their participants and leave the two divers behind is presented very clearly, and it’s extremely plausible, because (according to the filmmaker) it’s happened that way at least once. But overall it would be incorrect to think of the movie the ordinary way you would when you hear “based on a true story.”
Since I’ve seen the movie, let me know if you have more questions. I’ll be happy to share what I know (not counting spoilers: go see it if you’re interested).
Don’t get me started on Blair Witch. I’m still pissed off about that!
I plan on living forever. So far, so good.