Australian horror-thriller ‘Black Water: Abyss’ from the director Andrew Traucki is a standalone sequel to ‘Black Water’ (2007) with the same kind of horror drama in the presence of a bloodthirsty croc. With a much familiar premise, and in the absence of enough action, it is not as impressive as ‘The Descent’ (2006) or ‘The Shallows’ (2016).
The last decent killer-crocodile movie I had watched is director Alexandre Aja’s nail-biting horror thriller “Crawl” (2019).
Deepak Mohanty
Coming to the storyline, ‘Black Water: Abyss’ follows five friends exploring a remote underground cavern in Northern Australia who are pushed into the dark corner of the cave system as they not only find themselves threatened by the rising floodwater but also by the presence of a hungry crocodile.
The film seems to be only made for on-demand viewing as there is no specific attempt to dramatize things with too many special effects that are considered a must-have for the big-screen experience. Anyways, if not for the presentation of monstrous crocs, the lack of enough attack sequences further makes it uninteresting.
For a moment if we agree that the idea of not showing too much of the killer crocs is to make the whole experience realistic and more terrifying, the long waiting game to get a glimpse of the croc makes it even more boring.
Additionally, while much of the suspense and action around the crocodile gets going, the story brings in a few elements of drama to the onscreen relationships to add some depth to characterization. This may or may not work for all, as without having a clear path for the characters to develop further, it somehow distracts attention from the key action.
Other than a few decent performances by its cast, if anything is interesting about the film then it’s the storyline that very successfully keeps us guessing about the real survivors from the scare. On the whole, ‘Black Water: Abyss’ is a one-time watch, if not anything memorable, again for those who have not watched many of these horror thrillers.
The film was released in selected theaters and on-demand on August 7, 2020. It is now streaming on multiple platforms, including Amazon Prime Video. Here is a trailer:
Director: Andrew Traucki
Starring: Jessica McNamee, Luke Mitchell, Amali Golden
Genres: Suspense, Adventure, Horror
Release Date: August 7, 2020
Studio: Altitude Film Distribution
Where to watch "Black Water: Abyss" (2020)
