Dead Calm (1989)

Orson Welles developed the project in the 1960s but never completed it. George Miller and Terry Hayes company, Kennedy-Miller,  bought the rights out from Welles’ estate.

Shot near Hamilton Island. Australia.

Dead Calm is a nifty little thriller that reduces its thrills and chills to its rawest forms. No elaborate plot, no brainy twists and turns.  This is pure tension, pitting a married man and woman in the fight for their lives against an unstable enemy they invited aboard their ocean vessel.

Dead Calm is worth seeking out for two types of people:  Nicole Kidman fans interested in some of her early pre-Hollywood work and thriller fans bored with the current crop of routine thrillers.  Kidman shows here some of her terrific acting abilities, playing terror, fright, and strength all at the same time in a realistic way.  Billy Zane gives his character a scary appeal, seeming scary and seductive, terrifying, and likable.

The story and going-on are nothing that would seem to be of much interest as a movie, but Dead Calm just always seems to work.  The reason?  Excellent acting from all three stars with high amounts of believability.  This makes what occurs seem all the more terrifying for the viewer.  The only real weakness is with an ending that seems too unrealistic and not really in harmony with the rest of the film. 

Want tension?  Dead Calm delivers.

Qwipster’s rating: A-

MPAA Rated: R for strong violence, nudity, and language
Running Time: 96 min.

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, Billy Zane
Director: Phillip Noyce
Screenplay: Terry Hayes (based on the novel by Charles Williams)