Dead in the Water (2018 TV Movie) User Reviews

Not a bad ride

[omendata · 5/10 · 14 November 2019]

This had a fair amount of atmosphere for the first hour and was well crafted with the budget. Reviews are very skewed and unfair these days with people rating this a 1 which means it is the worst movie you have ever seen...really?

No to be fair this is at least a 5/10 as I always try and base my reviews on the acting and budget as well as all the other things that make up a movie and to be fair the acting was not that bad and the atmosphere, model ship and wave effects were pretty convincing apart from when they were actually on the ship and it was obvious someone was spraying with a hose lol but that is something one should be used to with low budget horror films and unlike most Scifi channel productions this one comes out on top of the usual dross.

The only part where it was let down was with the creature itself although i did like the use of THE STRAIN wispy tendril effects used on many other movies like THE SAND and other horrors as it does have a rather sinister and scary vibe going on. It fails mostly on the lack of tension towards the last half of the film and like most low budgeters these days it seems to run out of steam mid way to the end.

All in all a decent nights viewing and much better than most of the nonsense I have watched lately so gets a fair slightly above average 5.5/10 from me!

A crew of women stuck on the high seas with some... thing

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 28 October 2018]

An icebreaker vessel in the far Pacific with an all-female crew rescue a stranger from the ocean and are then forced to fight for their lives against an unknown enemy while a massive storm looms.

"Dead in the Water" (2018) is a TV thriller/horror that combines "Dead Calm" (1989) with "Alien/Aliens" (1979/1986) and maybe a little bit o' "Ghost Ship" (2002). While it's not as good as any of those flicks, it's not bad. The movie was shot on an actual vessel, a small one, but the surrounding sea is cartoonish CGI and it's too obvious.

If you can get past that, the actresses are all convincing and the script builds some suspense as the truth about what's really going on is slowly unveiled. I liked the tie-in to the Marianas Trench, the deepest natural point in the world located in the Western Pacific, and the F/X concerning the corresponding component (I'm trying to be vague) are quite good, unlike the fake-looking waters around the ship.

To be expected in a situation like this, none of the women are made out to be alluring sirens. It's a research vessel amidst a storm and they're all appareled with work clothes. Nevertheless, they're a diverse group with most of them being appealing, one way or another. My favorite is Sparks (Christia Visser).

The movie runs 1 hour, 30 minutes. REST OF CAST: Nikohl Boosheri (Dana), Nicole Fortuin (Kat), Bianca Simone Mannie (Gwen), Skye Russell (Rusty), Tanya van Graan (Erika), Amy Louise Wilson (Michelle) and Brandon Auret (Stranger).

GRADE: C+/B-

Was gripped by it...until I realized what it was

[udar55 · 5/10 · 30 October 2018]

A group of seven women are on a boat chasing a trawler that is illegally poaching fish. When they get lost in a fog bank, one of them spots a man in the water. They bring him aboard and, while checking his vitals, he goes nuts and whispers to one lady, "Kill me. Kill yourselves. End this." After one of them kills him (hey, he asked politely), they discover his body has small circular welts on it and they believe he has a deadly virus.

I tuned into this SyFy premiere last night because I have previously enjoyed the work of writer-director Sheldon Wilson. He made an impression with the film SHALLOW GROUND (2004) and has worked steadily since, delivering enjoyable low budget fare. I was with this one for the first 50 minutes as the mystery reveals intriguing new twists and the atmosphere builds well. Unfortunately, at that point the plot lays itself bare and you realize this is just Sheldon Wilson's John Carpenter's THE THING (1982). Once that revelation hits, everything else pops into place. Ah, an all female crew instead of an all male team. Ah, the team watches a video on the stranger's phone of his team uncovering something. Ah, the stranger's team ended up discovering an previously unknown "alien" life form in the deepest part of the Arctic ocean. Ah, this squid looking thing jumps from person to person to remain alive. Bummer. I was hoping a film with an all female cast - who are all good - would have done something more original.

Old time hysteria on the CGI seas

[Nyx_Selene · 3/10 · 29 January 2019]

An icebreaker with an all female crew tracks down ships doing illegal fishing, when they come across a man floating in the water. After rescuing him, they realize he's infested with a parasite not seen before. At the same time, the ship's engine has failed, and the two mechanics onboard only have hours to fix it before a major storm hits. But here the real problems of the ship are revealed: The crew members. It has zero medical staff, apart from a medical school flunky who breaks down under any kind of pressure. One of the mechanics breaks down into hysterics at the news of a storm coming and starts waving a rifle at her mates.

There's an abundance of sobbing, screaming and breakdowns, and a near complete lack of planning, discipline and rational thought. Apart from maybe three or four of the crew, these people are very far from the kind who belongs on a ship. On a three months long journey on the open seas, Joe and Jane "I crack under pressure! Better you all die than me! Wah, I want my mommy!" aren't just nuisances - they're a danger to everyone.

I see a lot of reviews saying that they really should have had some men on board. Not even half an hour into the movie, I was thinking the same thing, and as a woman, that upsets me. The movie has a bit TOO much of the old "poor fragile women need men to handle things" stereotype, with added bonus of "women aren't team players". Don't get me wrong - there are a fair share of male, equally ill-fitted characters in other movies, but they're usually better organised, and they don't scream, sob or break down so much. And there's usually not so many of them in the this type of movie.

The story otherwise is un-original and uninspired, I feel. The out-of-the-blue "parasite must be from the Mariana Trench" was just unnecessary. It's a tired cliché at this point. We know close to nil about the larger part of the oceans. We have no idea what sort of creatures we've yet to encounter anywhere, so this "anything unknown must be from the Trench" thing is rather cheap.

Girl Power

[doorsscorpywag · 3/10 · 28 January 2019]

Bunch of girls on a ship chasing naughty illegal Chinese fishermen get themselves into a tizzy when the engine claps out.

With no men on board to help they are left to scream and panic. Part Alien part Descent part lots of things.

Not very good. Acting just about passable. Story pretty pathetic. They should have known to take a man along. Bruce Willis would have solved their problems in the first act with his brute strength and intelligence but sadly he was not on board.

Had a couple of good ideas but in the end was not really much of anything. Passable if you are bored on a wet Sunday afternoon.

This film just reminded on why I dont watch the syfy channel.

[LordCommandar · 1/10 · 29 January 2019]

A crew brings aboard a guy who is infested with some unknown parasite and causes real havoc on the all female crew ship, and they all start being killed. This film just reminded me on why I don't watch the syfy channel.

A Good Try to A Good Die!

[grahammwiles · 5/10 · 26 February 2019]

This film wasn't so bad... Yeah Right!

A very strong start and not too bad acting considering it was a syfy film. Then all hell broke loose and the film flopped completely.

Not to give too much away. The all female cast was a refreshing take on an already done and dusted plot of setting up a story to believe in. Let's just not mention the scenes where the ladies are fixing the engine - tee hee hee!

Once the alien/monster/sea creature is revealed, complete bordom kicks in until when the film ends and a sigh of relief is given.

With all that said. Not a bad try and not a bad story. But that's all that allows this film to score a fantastic 5 out of 10 stars.

Back to the drawing board for syfy!

Kill me, kill yourself

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 3 February 2019]

The Amphritrite is a ship with an all female crew. They are out tagging illegal fishing boats, who don't want to be tagged. Out in the Pacific, their ship runs into engine trouble as they run into a storm. Oddly, they come across a man floating in the ocean not dead from hypothermia or eaten by predators. The drag him aboard and PLOT SPOILER, we get a low budget "Alien" type parasite film.

The technology doesn't exist for oil drilling at 35,000 feet and creatures from that depth simply can't live on the surface. Having gotten by that, the film lacked decent character build up and horrors. It was a bare bones script designed for a TV audience to watch, but not get too involved.

Alien creature terrorizes all woman crew!!

[lori-comidwife · 2/10 · 1 November 2018]

All women crew (we have to be P/C here!!), On a boat, in the middle of the ocean become "infected " by aquatic, alien creature! Think Alien with a "strong" female cast. Crew is picked off one by one, you get the picture. Predictable, and believe me, not any better just because there aren't any of those nasty men on board!🙄 Boring. At least it wasn't mostly women and one or two weak, wimpy men!😛

Bad deeds not going unpunished

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 12 March 2019]

Will reiterate this once again, as there are people accused of bias all the time and questioned why they watch things in the first place, there is no personal bias against films made on a modest or less budget. Also have a high appreciation for the horror genre, have liked a fair share of creature films and that 'Dead in the Water' had an all female cast was another interest point (that is not uncommon but haven't seen that a lot).

Unfortunately, 'Dead in the Water' was exactly like its very apt title, "dead in the water", very early on, never recovered and actually got worse. It is not irredeemable and not a complete and utter abomination, but it could have made something much more interesting and original with a concept that was far from new but still semi-intriguing, because it fails to do either. All of this is not being said with malice, have never felt or talked that way about any film, regardless of how angry it made me feel, actually did want to like it because it was not as if it didn't have potential. The potential wasn't enormous as such but it was there somewhat.

There are a few good things. It does look reasonably good and atmospheric mostly, in particularly it is a long way from being amateurishly shot and the editing is at least coherent.

Music is ominous enough and does fit, not feeling discordant with the action while never enhancing it as such.

Not much going for 'Dead in the Water' otherwise. Not all of the film looks great, the water is so obviously CGI-rendered and it looks incredibly fake. As do the creature effects, that would have been slightly acceptable 50 plus years ago but when you see how far technology and visuals generally have advanced over-time it is sad that it looks like they were made as an afterthought with no effect. Just as bad is that the enemy is not interesting or menacing at all, more unintentionally if anything else. The complete lack of suspense and thrills also severely hurt the film, replaced instead by interminably sluggish pacing, unnecessary padding, no attempt to do anything fresh or interesting with the numerous cliches and the increasingly over-the-top ridiculousness. Found myself not caring at all, having long lost interest, for any explanations offered, even then they felt very vague and pretty silly.

'Dead in the Water's' script flows very awkwardly and has very little life, some of the lines are difficult to take seriously and one has to refrain from laughing at times. The characters have no development to them and their stereotypical and over-the-top behaviours and personalities grate fast, there is nothing to make one engage with them when they are so bored and irritated by them from the very start. The acting is a painful mix of overdone and robotic.

Summing up, not completely awful but fell dead in the water too early and never recovered. 3/10

A lot better than most of the reviews

[brooke-140 · 9/10 · 22 November 2019]

I have to say I saw this on iTunes as a new title. About half of the stuff iTunes recommends is good and half is crap (cough cough The Void). Anyhoo I love creature features and I have to say it's like a cross between the descent and deep rising and life? I can usually spot a B movie because the editing is weird and the dialogue is terrible and the acting isn't great and the story is boring. This took off quickly and I was never bored. I thought the acting and writing and story was too notch. This is one of the few B movies I've thought was watchable and fun. If you like creature horror/thriller you'll love this!

This is made for Television Greatness

[lorddrewsus · 6/10 · 23 March 2019]

Before you go any further, make sure you read all the other reviews, because it's all true. This movie was made for people like me. It's friday evening, open some beers, eat some cheesy poofs, and BANG! This makes for entertainment, either way, too. Weather or not it's good or bad. I watch movies to be entertained, and this entertains. Sy Fy makes watching television entertaining sometimes I guess.

Why not start at the beginning

[canyongirl60 · 2/10 · 2 January 2020]

The movie starts with a bunch of women in a boat in trouble. Why not start with how they came to be that way. We're not invested in who they are or what they're trying to do.

A female crew who knew how to stand their ground, but I wasn't impressed.

[peterp-450-298716 · 4/10 · 1 April 2019]

Kill me. Kill yourselves. End this.

Although the opening scene with the "Amphitrite" (a kind of fishing boat) traveling across the ocean looked really cheap in terms of "special effects", the rest of the film wasn't so bad. The ocean scene really looked as if it was a toy boat filmed in a bathtub. But besides this, don't expect extraordinary things. The acting was sometimes disappointing and felt amateurish. And the story itself is sort of "Alien" on the ocean instead of somewhere on a planet in a galaxy far, far away. Especially the fact that it's a "SyFy Original" made me shudder a bit. I like low-budget and indie films, but "SyFy" films don't excel when it comes to originality. And even though it had a real low budget feeling at certain moments, there were also a number of positive things to be found.

The most striking thing about the film is that the crew only consists of women. Maybe this fits in with the "MeToo" atmosphere of today, but a little male support on this ship would have been welcome. Even if it was just to tighten a bolt here and there, or force a steel door. But I have to admit that this club of Greenpeace militants could stand their ground. Their determination is admirable. That was noticeable during the pursuit of a fishing boat, fishing illegally in these parts of the world. The brash way Gwen (Bianca Simone Mannie) whips the old sloop across the ocean, isn't only bad for Michelle's stomach (Amy Louise Wilson), but it's also not so good for the coughing engine. The result is a failing engine while a storm front is coming their way. And a ship without a motor in the center of a storm is doomed to disappear to the seabed. And as icing on the cake, Michelle thinks she has seen a drowning man. And that man appears to be a kind of Trojan horse. Because, before they fully realize it, there's a parasitic creature that slithers over the ship through all possible escape routes.

As I said before, the movie isn't really original and borrows a lot from other well-known films such as "The Thing" or "Life". But it's mainly the film "Alien" you think about while watching certain scenes. If you know the "facehugger" phenomenon, you understand what I mean. The main problem of this film is the quality fluctuations. There are excellent special effects and next, you'll see effects that are completely worthless. And it alternates regularly. For example, I found the autopsy scene extremely successful. And the next moment the organism looks like withered seaweed that glides around and sticks to windows. But fortunately, it wasn't of the same level as those ocean waves.

The same for the acting. The seven female crew members really convinced me at certain moments. At other times it came across as implausible. Maybe it was due to the limited freedom of movement. At a certain moment, it seemed as if they were constantly running from the control cabin to the engine room. On the other hand, this limitation makes it fairly claustrophobic. It's certainly exciting enough at certain times. Such a creepy atmosphere where people know that danger can strike from every corner. So if you like movies with murderous organisms, then you will like this SyFy movie. However, don't be fooled by the film poster. It is not a huge blubbery creature like I thought from the beginning. The illustration is cleverly put together.

MAN IN THE WATER

[giuliodamicone · 5/10 · 20 June 2022]

I don't know if there are crews made up of only women, but certainly this is the most original element of the film: moreover the girls are cute and nice.

That this atmosphere is destroyed by a male body could perhaps be a feminist suggestion, almost like saying "we were better off alone".

And the nocturnal atmosphere is well rendered.

But in the initial part there is a heavy ellipse (not seen when the three girls return to the ship and carry the body) and the special effects are sometimes repulsive.

Furthermore, the director interrupts too often with shots of the boat in the storm.

Borefest Inc. - Skip this one!!

[drama59 · 3/10 · 14 April 2019]

Spending most of the movie looking for your other crew members and calling their names - Kat, Rusty, Kat, Rusty - they did not work hard on the dialogue for this film. The best part of the movie comes in the last 10 minutes of the film. The creature was interesting and worth watching. Performances were ok at best. I find it hard in this day and age that none of the characters were gay on an all woman crew at sea. (refreshing) I would not even recommend this if you were bored out of your mind and had nothing else to watch. I think the Weather Channel would be more interesting. As usual with horror movies only "1" makes it out alive - oh does that include the creature - then make it two. ZZZZZZZZZZZ The End.

Nothing new to see here

[dan-bgb · 4/10 · 29 May 2021]

There are great creature/alien movies: Everything from Alien to The Thing. And then there's this. But, I like Sci-Fi's movies...they are just the thing when I just want to veg or otherwise occupy my time while doing other things, with something on in the background. Nothing new here except an all-female crew. Basically clueless crew gets into trouble of their own making, an alien/creature attacks, the make bad decisions and turn on each other. Regular cast of characters playing the roles we know so well, weakling, survivalist, martyr. Completely formulaic. On the plus side, there was very minimal CGI; most of it was 'live action'.

Very entertaining syfy channel movie

[kyleallencole9 · 7/10 · 11 November 2018]

I caught this one in October on the syfy channel. I enjoyed it and found the acting to be above average. The effects were decent as well. It involves a female sailing crew who rescue a survivor from the sea and find themselves under attack by an unknown force.

Ocean darkness thriller !

[saptesh786 · 7/10 · 3 September 2019]

Creature from sea who eats the human. Firstly the best thing is the atmosphere of darkness of night in the middle of the sea where from lands are far away. Darkness and fearful water everywhere. Very scary situation. This creates a different mood of horror for the movie. Then next comes the crew of female. There is no man on that ship , so female have to fight only themselves on. Enemy is unknown, weapons are limited and power is shut down. How they survive? Answer is the seeing this title. Well attempt on such subject. However direction is not so perfect but it is watchable for thrill. Only one plot and story goes straight from start to finish. One better thing is story is sticking with reality and not showing any overwhelming scene or not any hyping. Watchable at once for ocean darkness thriller.

It lacks the punch to stand out, but it's decent enough

[I_Ailurophile · 7/10 · 19 September 2022]

On one hand, SyFy is hardly known for high quality TV movies, and while I'm generally all for casts emphasizing women, here it feels like a contrivance. On the other hand, the premise caught my eye enough to warrant a view, and I greatly enjoyed filmmaker Sheldon Wilson's previous outing for the network, 'Neverknock.' I feel like I entered 'Dead in the water' with as much of an open mind as I could. At length I don't think this is anything near an essential watch, but it's decent enough to be a small bit of fun.

This movie is in no rush to go places. A fair portion of the length progresses without major eventfulness, but rather an accumulation of incidences to cement the urgency of the scenario, build tension, and lay the groundwork for the remainder. It's not until around the halfway mark that we first get a glimpse of something especially extraordinary, and even after that the picture measures out plot development, becoming a story more of desperation on the high seas than an abject sci-fi horror flick. For what it's worth I think the production design is solid, and the cast - the setting for the story, and the actors brought "on board" to help tell it, are excellent in my opinion; I wouldn't mind seeing these players in other films. If not the absolute best example in the industry, I think the creature effects and other post-production visuals are pretty good, not least for being digital creations.

Wilson is a capable director, I believe, and a capable writer. There are a lot of swell ideas in 'Dead in the water,' and while the pace languishes, the bones of the narrative are sturdy. It sadly falls short of perfect, though. Again, I do like the cast, but filling the fictional ship's crew with women feels more like a Movie Logic gimmick than an earnest point of interest, not least as there's no particular import in the plot to the fact that they are all women. The various elements of the story assembled together here are suitable despite being familiar and broadly unremarkable, yet also aren't shaped into a form that helps the feature to readily stand out. Good, duly engaging, baseline satisfying - but there's also no specific reason why it should earn your attention.

I think what it comes down to is that, true or not, the best sci-fi horror value feels like it's been toned down and softened for the television production. It's not as charged, bloody, hard-hitting, or visceral as it could have been; the proverbial colors are muted. All the appropriate pieces are in place for a fun genre romp except for strong thrills. That in itself may be enough to scuttle this film in the eyes of many viewers, let alone its other shortcomings. I do rather wonder if I'm not being too kind in my assessment as it is. Nonetheless, while it doesn't meet its full potential, I enjoyed this more than not, and I'm glad I checked it out. There are other movies that are more important to watch first - but if you happen to come across 'Dead in the water,' it's a modestly entertaining way to spend 90 minutes.