Other Titles • Dead Calm • Dead Calm: A Voyage Into Fear (1989) • Todesstille (1989)
Synopses for Dead Calm (1989)
1.
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 small 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 has 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, 10 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. --Jeff Shannon
(29 votes)
2.
Returning from duty with the Australian navy, John Ingram (Sam Neill) is surprised to be met by two policemen, who inform him of a car accident that has left his son dead and his wife, Rae (Nicole Kidman), injured. The grieving couple seeks refuge on their yacht, the Saracen. Out on the boat, the skies are sunny, the sea calm--but on the horizon is another vessel, the Orpheus. As John and Rae approach the ship, they find a lone survivor, Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), who tells them that the other crew members have died of food poisoning. Leaving Rae behind with the sleeping Hughie, the suspicious John boards the Orpheus--only to be confronted with a horrifying situation.
Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce directs the film, based on a novel by Charles Williams, with great inventiveness--whether focusing on the tranquil water, the violent Hughie, the resourceful Sam, or the determined Rae with her luminous, translucent blue eyes. A suspenseful thriller reminiscent of Roman Polanski's KNIFE IN THE WATER, DEAD CALM is a chilling tale of trouble on the high seas.
(29 votes)
3.
In the middle of nowhere, there is nowhere to hide.
Take an ocean voyage of full-masted fright with Dead Calm, "a spare, smart, seductive piece of moviemaking with enough tension to keep us all hyperventilating for hours" (Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times).
Thriller specialist Philip Noyce (Patriot Games, The Saint) directs three splendid actors- Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Nicole Kidman (Eyes Wide Shut) and Billy Zane (Titanic) - in riveting performances. Joe and Rae Ingram (Neill and Kidman) do the right thing and rescue the half-delirious sole survivor (Zane) of a crippled Schooner. But soon the stranger will plunge the unwary pair into an intense battle of cat and mouse. And life or death.
(28 votes)
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