Dead Calm (1989)

[The Great Owl]

I could not find an existing thread for this fine Blu-ray, so here we go...



After the tragic death of their son in an automobile accident, John, a Royal Australian Navy officer played by Sam Neill, and his wife, Rae, played by Nicole Kidman, embark alone on a sailing trip in the Pacific, in hopes that the vacation will help them to move on with their lives. Their tranquil isolation comes to an end when they encounter a damaged schooner that is hopelessly adrift at sea and welcome its sole survivor, played by Billy Zane, aboard their own boat, unaware that this psychotic guest has a terrifying secret.

The 1989 horror-edged Australian survival thriller, Dead Calm, first came to my attention when its distinctive poster art graced the back cover of several DC Comics (Swamp Thing, The Sandman, Hellblazer, etc.) that I collected at the time during my high school days. When it was subsequently released on VHS, it became a frequent rental choice under my roof, since my brother, who was attending the U.S. Naval Academy at the time, and me were both instant fans. The fact that this film was our introduction to Nicole Kidman factored into our enthusiasm, but we were also drawn to the taut story of resourceful protagonists who are left to their own devices against a diabolical enemy in the vast expanse of the open ocean where conventional laws and the associated protections in society do not apply.

Director Phillip Noyce, who would go on to helm a winning streak of action movies during the 1990s, namely Patriot Games, Sliver, Clear and Present Danger, and The Saint, makes impressive use of the widescreen format here to accentuate the remoteness of the location and the distance of the two boats from one another as Rae is taken hostage by the rescued killer while her husband is left behind with murdered corpses on the sinking craft that they have discovered. The narrative, based on a 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Williams, draws cues from Roman Polanski's 1962 psychological drama, Knife in the Water, but ups the ante on edge-of-the-seat suspense, especially when Neill's beleaguered character must rely on his sailing expertise in a race against time to reunite with his wife, while Kidman's Rae must find her inner steel in a nightmarish situation.

I had forgotten how much I used to love Dead Calm. Neill and Kidman are both endearing heroes because of their resilience, while Zane, who would later appear in James Cameron's Titanic, excels as a frighteningly twitchy and nervous madman whose vulnerabilities make him all the more unpredictable. The music score by Graeme Revell adds immensely to this movie's unnerving appeal.

This 2009 Warner Bros. Blu-ray delivers the goods with a nicely faithful and filmic video presentation. The end result could probably benefit from a restoration, and it's probably just a matter of time before Scream Factory or some other label puts out a rerelease, but I could easily stick with this one indefinitely if I had to. The Dolby 2.0 mix does not redefine audio capabilities for the format, but it does well to add an edge to the score.

This is a bare bones affair with no supplements other than a trailer.