Australia/US | 2020 | Directed by Andrew Traucki
Logline: Five friends exploring a remote cave system in Northern Australia find themselves threatened by a large crocodile.
Aussie genre director Traucki returns to the murky waters where he made his name. We’re back in the Top End. Northern Australia to the rest of the world. Croc country. Where Traucki pitted a hapless few against some particularly ferocious mangrove swamp reptiles in Black Water (2007). Co-directed by Andrew Nerlich, who hasn’t gone on to direct another feature, his background in visual effects. Traucki, on the other hand, continued on his nature attacks journey with The Reef (shark), The Jungle (leopard), and now has come full circle with this loose sequel, tied together only by name, location, and beast.
Eric (Luke Mitchell) and his girlfriend Jennifer (Jessica McNamee), and their friends Yolanda (Amali Golden) and partner Viktor (Benjamin Hoetjes) have arranged to go caving. They’ve enlisted the help of local guide Cash (Anthony J. Sharpe), who takes them deep into the bush to an unlisted cave entrance. Along the way he’s quizzed whether the two missing tourists have been found. They’re the ones we see in the movie’s prologue falling foul of the local crocodilian fauna.
No cave map, missing tourists, and there’s a fast approaching storm, does little to deter the gung-ho crew. Red flags? Fuggeddaboudit. It’s down the hole they go, in search of elusive treasures, or maybe just a cool, exotic place to swim in. Well, they get some of what they bargained for. But Murphy’s Law lives down there too. In fact, everything you can think of that could go wrong, does. It’s that kind of bad hair day.
Deadly croc flicks are a dime a dozen, and for every chomper there’s a gobbler. Black Water: Abyss doesn’t pull any punches, doesn’t hold any surprises, you’ve seen everything before, right down to the tawdry relationship subplot revealed in order to bolster survival mode. But what Traucki brings to the table is taut pacing and good camerawork, and he elicits solid performances from his good-looking cast. He also utilises the same excellent effect he featured in Black Water and The Reef: real footage of his deadly creatures in action, superbly edited with the actors, which heightens the realism, and gives the movie real kudos.
The underground cave system is impressive too, and in particular the underwater footage, which not only tightens the sense of claustrophobia - and for those that are triggered by enclosed spaces, be warned! - but also creates a palpable sense of fear. Indeed, it is our intrepid, oh so foolish, cavers struggling with their rapidly deteriorating predicament that ramps up the anxiety levels.
After his impressive croc debut, and a solid great white followup, Traucki dropped the ball with his entirely disappointing jungle threat, and his confusing and underwhelming segment for The ABCs Of Death, but he’s returned with some bite, and it’s great to see. Black Water: Abyss is very much a movie to see on the big screen, so if you can, make the effort.
Hell, I was hankering for more blood and gore, since Alexandre Aja’s Crawl gave me the taste for it, while fellow Oz Greg Mclean’s Rogue opted for more chomp and you miss it thrills and spills. Traucki’s approach is more like Rogue in that respect, it’s aiming for a broader demographic. I hope it does well, so maybe one day the director, still on his creature feature odyssey, might consider remaking Razorback. That’s my wish.