Open Water

[WestCoastChins]

Has anybody seen it? I really liked this movie. They made it really suspenseful and interesting, even though they had a really low budget and no special effects.

[TashaR]

I didn't like this movie...they didn't make me care enough about the characters, i thought, to really worry about them...do you know what I mean? I wonder about the true story behind this movie...did they die in real life? The only part of the movie that created emtion was when the man freaked out and started screaming. THAT seemed more realistic than the girl's acting.

[WestCoastChins]

I read somewhere that the director got the idea from a dive magazine, and then wrote the script. So, "based on true events" doesn't mean that there were actually real people that the movie was based on.

[Love4Hedgies]

So you want the true story huh?? I have yet to see the movie but I do know the true story. About a week or so before I went to Australia and got on the same tour boat they were there. They were lost and they really did die. They had the same captain as me (Jack) and everything. Diving is very safe but sometimes accidents happen and there is nothing anyone can do. So yes the story is very true. I am waiting to go and see the movie.

[Ginger]

I saw it yesterday...

I was very surprised by the end...

(it's sad cause I want to talk about it but I don't want to give puch lines....).

Yes, it is based on true events. Just like The Terminal (the guy really exist !)

[PrettyHate]

I hated the movie. I actually think it was one of the worst I have ever seen.
I have the feeling they added the bit of the wife laying naked on the bed to add something to the otherwise lacking plot.

I however was quite pleased with the ended. I dont believe either of the main characters deserved to live after that horrible attempt at acting.

Yes, the story is loosely based on a "true story".
The movie is loosely based on a real event: the 1998 stranding of two Americans off Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The filmmakers, both New Yorkers, are divers and learned of the incident from a scuba newsletter. They borrowed the premise of an abandoned couple but fictionalized the rest, in part because the true story had too many twists to seem credible on screen

Go Here (http://www.startribune.com/stories/1553/4951122.html) to read the rest of that article.

All in all, I thought It was HORRIBLE. Im sorry that my boyfriend wasted $17 for us to see it, and that I cant have that 79 minutes (was it only that long? Gosh it seemed LONGER!) of my life back!

1 out of 5 stars.

The End.

[Ginger]

I hated the movie. I actually think it was one of the worst I have ever seen.
I have the feeling they added the bit of the wife laying naked on the bed to add something to the otherwise lacking plot.

I however was quite pleased with the ended. I dont believe either of the main characters deserved to live after that horrible attempt at acting.

Yes, the story is loosely based on a "true story".
The movie is loosely based on a real event: the 1998 stranding of two Americans off Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The filmmakers, both New Yorkers, are divers and learned of the incident from a scuba newsletter. They borrowed the premise of an abandoned couple but fictionalized the rest, in part because the true story had too many twists to seem credible on screen

Go Here (http://www.startribune.com/stories/1553/4951122.html) to read the rest of that article.

At the end of the movie, after the credits, something to this effect was written: "The events depicted in this movie are fictitious. Any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental."

Interesting...No?

Thanks, I will read that article (I'm curious!)

[TheChinClique]

So you want the true story huh?? I have yet to see the movie but I do know the true story. About a week or so before I went to Australia and got on the same tour boat they were there. They were lost and they really did die. They had the same captain as me (Jack) and everything. Diving is very safe but sometimes accidents happen and there is nothing anyone can do. So yes the story is very true. I am waiting to go and see the movie.

Actually, no one knows if the couple actually died. Bodies were never found, however, their dive gear was found on an island in near perfect condition. It is likely that they died, obviously, but there is speculation. I saw the movie with my parents and a group of scuba divers (my dad is a scuba instructer, my mom is a dive master, and we own our own scuba diving business and travel business), and to be honest, I thought a lot of it was VERY unrealistic. First of all, if you had been left in the middle of the ocean, I find it hard to believe that you would just let the tide take you wherever. I mean, don't people know that the deeper out you get the more chance you have of dying? Of course, you wouldn't make much headway trying to swim to shore, but staying in the shallower water is ALWAYS the smarter thing to do! Also, what the heck were they doing taking a nap in the middle of the ocean? I know that if I was left in the ocean that I would not be like "Time for a nap!" And, it's also VERY unlikely that they would not be counted for a head count in this day and age. It does happen, but it never takes that long for the dive crew to realize you are missing because they will realize that some of their dive tanks are missing. It took the dive crew in the movie over a day to realize anything! Totally unlikely. I also thought that the actress playing the woman who gets left in open water was a horrible actress. You would never be that composed. All in all, I thought the idea for the movie was good, but the whole thing was a little hard to follow and believe. There were some parts where there were awkward moments of silence, and I started to get seasick from the bad camerawork and waves. I would not suggest seeing this movie, it's a horrible portrayal of "true events".

-Andrea

[karynnd]

I read somewhere that the director got the idea from a dive magazine, and then wrote the script. So, "based on true events" doesn't mean that there were actually real people that the movie was based on.

I actually read this article on line off MSN in July. They took the article out of Outside Magazine, October 2003. The article was called, "A Watery Grave" and talked about Eileen and Tom Lonergan. The couple were in a charger boat on January 25, 1998, at St. Crispin's Reef; which is a popular dive site on the Great Barrier Reed. They were 25 miles off the coast of Queensland, Australia and had gone out with the Port Douglas, Queensland-based scuba boat 'Outer Edge'.

About a week or so before I went to Australia and got on the same tour boat they were there. They were lost and they really did die. They had the same captain as me (Jack) and everything. Diving is very safe but sometimes accidents happen and there is nothing anyone can do. So yes the story is very true. I am waiting to go and see the movie.

I'm not sure when you went to Australia, but if wasn't before 2000, I doubt it was on the same boat since the article says he went out of business about that time. Also, the captain's name WASN'T Jack, it was Geoffrey.

According to the article, stories vary, but at the end of the day the crew did a head count and came up with only 24 of their 26 clients. Someone pointed out that the 2 young divers had jumped in to swim off the bow and then the crew readjusted their count to 26. The Outer Edge then headed back to port. The article also says two days later, Geoffrey Nairn, the boat's skipper discovered the couple's personal belongings in the lost-property bin. He was concerned enough to call the owner of the place where the couple was staying to see if they had arrived. A five-day search began, which turned up no trace of either Eileen or Tom.

Incidentally, Geoffrey Nairn was tried and acquitted of manslaughter charges in November 1999. The jury felt he shouldn't be held liable for the crew's mistake. His company, Outer Edge Dive, was tried by a civil court in Queensland, pled guilty to negligence, and was fined. Nairn closed down the Outer Edge Diver shortly thereafter. He said he believe the Lonergans died on the reef and that it was a tragedy and he would never get over it.

It is highly thought the couple died. After spending 48 hours in the middle of the ocean the couple probably drowned or was eaten by sharks. Eileen's father, John Hains, also believes the couple drowned after being accidentally left behind. The couple was said to be devout Catholics and had just come off a three-year tour of duty with the Peace Corps in Tuvalu and Fiji and were heading to Hawaii, where they hoped to settle down. There wasn't any indication they were having marital troubles or any other reason that they would want to fake their own deaths.

Sorry if that is a lot more information than anyone wants to know, but I thought it was interesting they made this into a movie. I found this article interesting enough in July that I printed it out and kept it. Here is the link if anyone wants to read the story http://msn.away.com/outside/features/200310/200310_mysteries_2.html

There is also a lot of other creepy stories in the same section. I wasn't planning on seeing the movie since I thought it would just make me sad. :(

[ChinTN]

I was disappointed with this movie.. It was just not interesting enough and too predictable.