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Andy Rodoreda, Ben Oxenbould, Diana Glenn

In northern Australia, Grace, her boyfriend Adam, and her younger sister Lee take a fishing tour on a flooding river with a local guide. Their boat is attacked by a crocodile. The guide is killed an...( read more  read more... )d the three holiday-makers are stranded in a tree in a flooded mangrove swamp. To survive they must elude the man-eater and reclaim their overturned boat.

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35% liked it

2,586 ratings

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Andrew Traucki, David Nerlich

Release Date: February 19, 2008

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DVD Release Date: February 19, 2008

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Flixster Reviews (470)

  • Deano78
    July 19, 2009
    Deano78
    A decent enough tale of survival based on true events as 3 people are stranded when attacked by a crocodile. It's ok but a lil too long and the interest starts to go after a while. Only so much tension you can build about people stuck in a tree avoiding a crocodile!
  • EarthlyAlien
    September 19, 2008
    EarthlyAlien
    "What's that song that kids sing? The three... three cheeky monkeys sitting in a tree, teasing Mr. Crocodile. 'Can't catch me!' Along comes Mr. Crocodile, quiet as can be... Snap!"

    ...( read more)3629_lee_croc_1.jpg" target="_blank">Photobucket

    It's ironic that 2007 produced two Australian crocodile-creature films with similar stories. But the premise is where the similarity ends. While Greg McLean's $30 million Rogue was a more traditional genre film, this $1.2 million directing debut from its writers Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich is more reminiscent of a psychological thriller. Superb cinematography, a great sense of place and an eerie sound score are the pillars of this horror story set in the mangroves of Northern Australia and whatever the film lacks in budget, it makes up for it in atmosphere and ends up a surprisingly decent and well-crafted film.

    Black Water opens with a camera slowly prowling over a dark swampy river as a block of text reveals that both the human and saltwater-crocodile populations of Northern Australia are expanding. Another line states that the film is based on true events. Enter a trio of twentysomethings kissing Mum goodbye before leaving for two casual weeks up north. Grace (Diana Glenn) and Lee (Maeve Dermody) are sisters, and Adam (Andy Rodoreda) is Grace's boyfriend. As they drive off, a female voice says excitedly, "I want to see that crocodile place." "Sounds good to me," responds Adam. Little do they know that they're motoring off on a date with destiny that's bound to involve death by reptile.

    After spending time at a crocodile adventure park, our tourist trio decide to check out Blackwater Barry's Alternative River Tour. They arrive too late to catch Barry at his "office" and, faced with a long wait in the middle of nowhere, readily accept the offer of Barry's eager assistant Jim (Ben Oxenbould) to provide the same service. Just before they board a tiny tin boat, Lee spots Jim slipping a handgun into his back pocket - and it's not long after they're out on the water when something hits their boat. The rest of Black Water becomes a psychological and physical battle between our hapless heroes and the toothy predator that's stalking them.

    Traucki and Nerlich are keen to get to the crocodile fun and, thankfully, waste no time in getting to the action. The first crocodile attack is actually one of the highlights of the film. It's fast, unexpected and brutal but, most importantly, it establishes our scaly villain and the terrain it stalks. Though only very briefly seen, the crocodile instantly becomes an all-powerful and absolutely malevolent force of nature at its most destructive. The humans stand no chance against it whatsoever and literally their one and only chance of survival is to perch in a tree. The directors wisely follow up this cataclysmic introduction to their demon-reptile with a long period of its complete absence in which we, along with the main characters, are left to guess where the crocodile is and when it will strike again.

    The obvious problem with a premise as slight as this is that the film treads a very dangerous line between tense and tedious. There's a limit to what three people can get up to whilst stuck up a tree after all. Fortunately, strong performances from all three principles (but particularly Maeve Dermody) ensure that the film generally stays on the right side of this line. It does in places get bogged down with repetition and melodrama but these are, for the most part, counterbalanced by some awesomely tense sequences. There's a hellish nightmare sequence lit only by flashes of lightning illuminating the crocodile thrashing around below as it feasts and also a wonderful moment when our heroes come unexpectedly face to face with the croc (do crocodiles have faces?) on its own ground.

    Those who sit down with Black Water expecting some sort of high-carnage, ultra-kinetic gorefest will walk away disappointed, but I'm of the opinion that Traucki and Nerlich earn points for their more... sedate approach. The croc itself is a rather horrifying character (and, for the most part, an actual crocodile, practically no CGI involved), and the directors borrow a page or two from Spielberg by showing only the slightest glimpses of the predator. At least, until the big finale, anyway. Much of the action takes place atop the tree while the characters mull through their options, but that's fine 'cause the flick only runs about 80-something minutes and the directors ratchet up the tension whenever possible. And of course, the bleak-yet-beautiful Australian natural settings add a lot to the equation.

    For a killer croc film, Black Water is a surprisingly tense and taut picture. It has good production values (considering its budget), great direction, likable enough characters, stunning locations, and a scary crocodile. Nothing in this sub-genre has ever quite eclipsed Lewis Teague's 1980 Alligator, but it's good to know that some filmmakers are still willing to give it a try. And apparently they're all Australian. If you're confused by all these new alligator/crocodile flicks, here's an easy answer: Rogue and Black Water are the two you want. The rest are barely worthy of a rental fee.
  • briandeguelle
    August 9, 2008
    briandeguelle
    A lot better then Rogue.
    It's a must!!
  • ceWEBrity
    June 10, 2008
    ceWEBrity
    Ultimately, the first thing you should know about Black Water is that in its ninety minute running time, there are MAYBE seven crocodile attacks. None of them last longer than a minute. That means we are left with 83 minutes to fill with other substance. You can stop right here i...( read more)f you've heard enough, or read the rest of my breakdown.

    The first fifteen minutes establish the characters and the setting before we actually see any of Mister Croc. Fair enough - you need that. So that's 68 minutes we have left. What do they put in this hour-long span?

    Arguments about rope. Vain attempts at flipping their capsized boat over. Discussions of the river's length. Incredibly long, unsuspenseful scenes of wandering through trees. Minute upon minute of worthless, colorless dead air. This is not a horror movie; it's a fucking National Geographic highlights reel with a few dismembered limbs thrown in. This is absolutely not worth a minute of your time, unless you want to slog through some overblown pretender to Open Water's (dubious) throne.
  • kiriyamakazou
    May 29, 2008
    kiriyamakazou
    I found Open Water to be a tense and terrifying example of the simplicity of cinema. Black Water on the other hand is an annoying journey into pure tedium. Essentially the film is people in a tree argueing about what they should/could do. They do this for ages before eventually d...( read more)oing something. The man tries to take on some kind of control and the women scream A LOT. They reach frequencies I didn't know existed and could barely hear. They are simply irritating, which gets me cheering on the Croc. The third act sees one of the women suddenly become bad ass and is a cross between Sarah Connor in T2 and the late Steve Irwin. The acting is great, and very real, I could imagine this to be how people act in such a situation, but as we all know people can be very stupid and very annoying.
  • itsmagical
    October 3, 2009
    itsmagical
    This film was better than I thought it would be. Boring in parts but still some good jumps and scares!

    Fans of horror/monster movies worth a watch!
  • JigsawsCute
    August 16, 2009
    JigsawsCute
    More holes in the action/story than a pair of pantyhose...
  • kaabooom
    July 27, 2009
    kaabooom
    don't really remember it.. thats gotta say something right??
  • Sezin
    July 8, 2009
    Sezin
    Terrifying. Not for the faint of heart or those deathly afraid of crocodiles.
  • NicoleiloveRoss
    July 5, 2009
    NicoleiloveRoss
    Good film, made me scream so many times lol

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