Dead Calm

Dead Calm

There are several occasions when this rousing Australian thriller from 1987 should have ended with a well-placed shot from a speargun or a stronger knot of rope, but you don't think about these nit-picky details when you're being scared out of your wits. In a role that catapulted her to international stardom, Nicole Kidman plays a young wife who's joined her husband (Sam Neill) on a yachting trip to recover from the tragic death of their son. Far out to sea, they encounter a sinking ship with one survivor (Billy Zane, ten years before Titanic), but inviting him aboard turns out to be a very bad mistake. While Neill attempts to salvage the sinking boat, Kidman is fighting for her life against the psychotic Zane--a villain so creepy that you eagerly look forward to his demise. By the time that moment arrives director Phillip Noyce has resorted to a typical slasher-movie climax (proving that no boat should be without a flare gun), but until then Dead Calm is a nail-biting thriller that's guaranteed to keep you in a state of nail-biting suspense. To accommodate the widescreen compositions on the open ocean, the DVD offers the film in its original 2. 35:1 aspect ratio. --Jeff Shannon

Genre: Thriller
Director(s): Phillip Noyce
Production: Warner Home Video
  5 wins & 6 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.8
Metacritic:
70
Rotten Tomatoes:
82%
R (Restricted)
Year:
1989
96
977 Views

Rae:
Where's John?

Hughie:
Now, what?

Rae:
John, my husband. Where is he?

Hughie:
He's gone.

Rae:
Oh, sh*t. What have you done to him?

Hughie:
Nothing. He went onboard her.

Rae:
We've gotta go back.

Hughie:
Look, he's only got himself to blame, right? I mean, he should've trusted me. But that's always been my problem.

Rae:
Don't you understand?

Hughie:
Please don't shout. That's always been one of my problems. I can never tell people's real motives until it's too late.

Rae:
Okay. Let's just, uh, turn the boat around.

Hughie:
Where shall we go?

Rae:
Turn around!

Hughie:
Hey, look. You're being very aggressive, Rae. That could be a problem on this small boat. I've seen it happen. It doesn't work. You know, I was watching you when you were sleeping. And I gotta tell you that your face fascinates me. Yeah. Even when you're 80, Rae, you'll still be a beautiful woman. I, uh, studied art for, um.... for a time... and something I found is that painters, when they approach their subjects... ...they always look at the face from, like, behind, you know? From the back, like, to see what's holding it up. And, uh... ...you've got magnificent bone structure. God. "Magnificent." Sh*t, that sounds like... f***ing something you'd say at a cocktail party. Should have given you my card, for chrissake. I just knew we'd get along, didn't you, Rae? Hey. What's wrong?

Rae:
Would you just tell me one thing?

Hughie:
Sure.

Rae:
I just need to know if that boat is sinking.

Hughie:
Sinking? Well, past tense would do, but--

Rae:
Oh, God.

Hughie:
But, uh, yeah. Yes, it is. Why? Uh, don't you believe me?

Rae:
Yeah. Yeah, I believe you. Of course I do. That's why we've gotta go back.

Hughie:
Back?

Rae:
Uh-huh. To get John.

Hughie:
What, you mean back there?

Rae:
Yeah. Right now.

Hughie:
Uh-huh. No, Rae, no. Okay? That's over. That's all over. So why don't we just erase that one from memory and start again, please? There's no going back, Rae.

Rae:
No. No, don't say that. He's gonna drown, Hughie.

Hughie:
There you go. Now you're ruining it again. That boat is sinking. That's not my fault.

Rae:
What about those people, huh? There wasn't any food poisoning, was there?

Hughie:
You wanna do this now? All right. They tried to kill me, Rae. They tried to suck the life out of me, if you can possibly grasp that concept.

Rae:
Who were?

Hughie:
All of them.

Rae:
Look.... Nobody wants to kill you, Hughie--

Hughie:
What? Repeat that.

Rae:
I said, nobody--

Hughie:
Say the words, Rae. Come on. You mean I just imagined it.

Rae:
No.

Hughie:
No?

Rae:
No. I just meant that it must be a mistake.

Hughie:
A mistake? Lady... the mistake is that you think I'm making this up.

Rae:
No! No. No, I don't.

Hughie:
You sound so much like them, Rae, it's scary. Now, they were trying to kill me. Do you understand?

Rae:
Yeah. Yeah, I understand.

Hughie:
Come on, turn around. Don't look at the bloody boat. Look at me. Okay, I'm sorry.


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