 | |
List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 16672
Released: December 14, 1999 |
| Our Price: $2.91 |
| Used Price: $1.84 |
|
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
A suspense thriller about a husband and wife, recovering from a personal tragedy, who encounter a stranger while cruising their boat in the Pacific and become ensnared in a drama of mystery, high emotions and extreme danger.
Description of Dead Calm:
There are several occasions when this rousing Australian thriller from 1987 should have ended with a well-placed shot from a speargun or a stronger knot of rope, but you don't think about these nit-picky details when you're being scared out of your wits. In a role that catapulted her to international stardom, Nicole Kidman plays a young wife who's joined her husband (Sam Neill) on a yachting trip to recover from the tragic death of their son. Far out to sea, they encounter a sinking ship with one survivor (Billy Zane, ten years before Titanic), but inviting him aboard turns out to be a very bad mistake. While Neill attempts to salvage the sinking boat, Kidman is fighting for her life against the psychotic Zane--a villain so creepy that you eagerly look forward to his demise. By the time that moment arrives director Phillip Noyce has resorted to a typical slasher-movie climax (proving that no boat should be without a flare gun), but until then Dead Calm is a nail-biting thriller that's guaranteed to keep you in a state of nail-biting suspense. --Jeff Shannon
Dead Calm Reviews:
Enjoy it in Blu-ray 
2009-11-11 - Superb. for $14 this is amazing prize for the experience. Best theme (ocean and sail boat), best actor (bill zane and Kidman).
Dead Calm 
2009-10-21 -
This is a classic thriller, well directed, well acted and well written.NICOLE KIDMAN'S first film.
Anyone who liked this movie is stupid.. 
2009-07-20 - That's right. Anyone who liked this movie is stupid. This is just another slasher movie where the main characters are complete morons, and are required to do the dumbest things conceivable in order for the plot to progress. "Oh yeah, we just picked up a sketchy guy who says everyone on his boat is dead - how about I leave him alone with my wife on this boat while I go check it out." -- Or "Oh yeah, I've got a shotgun, but I think I'll have sex with the bad guy instead of shooting him." Or "Now that I've drugged him and he's knocked out, I'll tie him and leave him below by himself so he can wake up and easily escape." Guys - THIS IS STUPID CRAP - IT IS NOT A GOOD MOVIE. Oh yeah, how about the gratuitous dead baby scene in the beginning? I just can't believe 25 Amazon reviewers gave this movie 4 or 5 stars.
Really - I mean, are you other reviewers serious? Do you own shares in the movie? Do you just think Kidman was hot or something? Seriously - check out the New York Times review of this - it's pretty accurate.
Dead Calm
2009-05-29 - Dead Calm is a great movie, and what makes it even better in my mind is that the bulk of the film is supported by three actors who never let it get dull. Billy Zane and Sam Neil are really amazing in this movie, while I felt Nicole Kidman played her role out in a painfully average kind of way. I like that the director didn't pull any punches and showed you everything including a fairly graphic child death and a very uncomfortable quasi-rape scene. The movie moves along very nicely which surprises me because I didn't expect it to paced so well with such a small cast and locale. I also have to speak of the soundtrack composed by Graeme Revell, because it is just so incredibly well done and fits perfectly with the movie. Graeme comes from an industrial music background, which I am pretty well versed in, and some of that background leaks into his score, making it a very haunting and just extra special for me. Really my only complaint is Nicole Kidman, I feel she was miscast, but I must tell you, I am not a big fan of hers to begin with, so if you are a fan, you'll probably love her in this. And she also gets naked in this movie, if that's your thing. Overall, Dead Calm is a stellar thriller.
the big yuck
2009-02-11 - It is a well made movie with very good acting, both Kidman and Zane are in excellent form etc etc etc.
However, somehow it manages to stink from the very beginning to the very end.
It is not a crime and I suppose it was designed to be this way and there is a big market out there for all things stinky, but I am not a part of this market.
