‘Don’t you believe me?’
Australian horror has a long and proud tradition going back to the Ozploitation movies of the ’70s and ’80s, right through to modern-day classics The Loved Ones and Wolf Creek. Despite being very much an Australian picture (from Aussie director and producer combo Phillip Noyce and George Miller), Dead Calm has more in common with the erotic thrillers and yuppie nightmare films being churned out of Hollywood in the ’80s than with anything related to Australian cinema…
The premise is simple. Married couple Rae (Kidman) and John Ingram (Neill) decide to take a trip into the Pacific Ocean to try and recover from the death of their son in a car crash. As Ingram is an officer in the Royal Australian Navy, he captains a small ship and the two head off into the sunset. Very quickly, however, they find Hughie (Billy Zane), a seemingly personable man, marooned on a sinking ship and they take him aboard. Turns out he’s an absolute shit.
While the plot is indeed fairly rudimentary, and the grief element is barely explored at all, the sparseness of Terry Hayes’ screenplay (adapted from Charles Williams’ novel) is exploited by the talented cast who use the blank canvas afforded by the plot and the claustrophobic setting to paint a vivid picture of murder on the high seas. Noyce explored similar territory in 1993’s Sliver, and as with that film, Dead Calm feels like a bit of an anachronism now. Having said that, the cat-and-mouse erotic thriller has made something of a comeback in recent years so perhaps the world is ready for a bit of trash again.
Dead Calm is a film that knows exactly what it is and at 95 minutes, Noyce keeps the action moving along at a fair old clip. It is also a testament to Neill and Kidman that their relationship feels totally natural despite their age difference. This really is a film that is elevated by the cast.
