Black Water: Critic Reviews

While the when-animals-attack genre has been a staple of direct-to-retail movies for decades now, this tries for a more realistic approach than the usual rubber or CGI reptile's buffet.

A lack of incisive action takes the teeth out of croc pic...offering too few scares and insufficient tension for audiences to take the bait.

Splendid in its economy, Black Water gets a grip on our senses and never lets go %u2026 the writer/directors portray nature as something wondrous and deadly all at once, which is what it is of course, without guilt, without an agenda %u2013 except surviva

...an uneven yet sporadically tense thriller...

Short, sharp and refreshingly nasty, it's a light antidote to all those heavy Oscar hopefuls clogging up the multiplex.

Packs enough shocks to keep you gripped, not to mention a conclusion that refreshingly refutes the genre rulebook.

Tapping into the primeval fear generated by these perfectly evolved killing machines, the filmmakers ratchet up the tension, while sustaining our interest in the fate of the trio.

Well acted and all the more engaging for having been based on a true story, ultimately Black Water lacks teeth.

Writer-directors David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki calibrate the tension with creditable skill.

Lean and mean, this basically does for crocodiles what Open Water did for sharks, Snap it up.

Australian film-makers Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich have done a great job in making the world's most deadly reptile as scary as a shark.

Nasty, brutish and at 89 minutes just the right length.

There are some nice creepy chills to be had from the directors David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki's low waterlevel camera work, but ultimately the outlandishness of their real-life adventure deadens the visceral impact.

A wasted opportunity.

A barely disguised B-movie - but one that bites deep.

Watchable crocky horror flick that makes the most of its low budget and simple set-up, though the characters aren't especially engaging and you keep hoping they'll get eaten.

"Black Water" is the scariest film of its type since "Jaws" - you'll wanna strap in for this one ... otherwise you'll be continuously jumping out of your seat. One of the most genuinely scary films I've seen in a long time.

Black Water may be derivative, but it ain't no crock

There's something to be said for a chomp-em-up tale that exhibits some class, intensity, and restraint.