Review by John Delia
The film Black Water: Abyss has a pretty good suspense storyline, but that’s if you haven’t seen the original that spawned this sequel. The crocks are back and they are as mean as ever waiting to feed on new meat. This time they are looking to snag some unaware spelunkers. The film is available in some theaters and at home on VOD.
Jennifer (Jessica McNamee) and her husband Eric (Luke Mitchell) along with Viktor (Benjamin Hoetjes) and his companion Yolanda (Amali Golden) want to get away from everything and do something exciting. Their friend Cash (Anthony J. Sharpe) has come up with an idea to check out a cave that he heard about. Not just an ordinary one, but a remote cavern in the thick forest of Australia that has not become a tourist attraction.
On good authority from a friend, Cash leads the group to an underground work of nature and they find the going pretty easy. They even go as far as an open grotto with a shimmering low water lake. Resting there and unaware of torrential rains outside, the cave starts to flood trapping them inside with something now lurking in the water.
While the film does have very good production values including realistic locations, special visual and sound effects, make-up, prosthesis, and props, the scare factor is very low and the acting not quite up to snuff. Add to this that within the storyline, in order to try and make the film more shocking, one of the women are pregnant and there’s doubt cast on the father. But, it just doesn’t work.
Black Water: Abyss has not been rated by the MPAA, but contains language, predator violence, peril, and gore. Think PG-13 for mature teens. Search out a theater near you as it is playing in select movie houses. Or, catch in on VOD.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Not a film for my library, but the production value is good. (2 out of 5 Stars)
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Jessica McNamee, Luke Mitchell, Amali Golden, Benjamin Hoetjes and Anthony J. Sharpe
Directed and written by: Andrew Traucki
Genre: Horror, Action, Drama
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, language, predator violence, peril, gore
Running Time: 1 hr. 38 min.
Opening Date: August 7, 2020
Distributed by: Screen Media
Released in: Theaters and VOD