Thursday, August 13, 2020

Black Water: Abyss


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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).
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Black Water:  Abyss                                                    EH/OK
Black Water was an enjoyable little natural horror film from 2007 involving a killer crocodile in Australia.  This sequel really bears no connection to it other than having the same director and taking place in Australia.  I’m guessing they anticipated drawing in more viewers if it was connected by title, but if it was simply titled Abyss and contained a killer crocodile, I and any other natural horror fans would likely watch it anyway.  It does bear a similar plot as the first, yes---a group of people get together, go on an excursion (this time, a cave during a rain storm), and end up trapped above the water to avoid being croc grub---but that could be a similar plot to many natural horror films.  Somehow the first film worked with one primary location and few characters, and whereas that film had some nice scenery to look at, there isn’t much to look at in a cave (Australia is a beautiful continent that should be presented as much as possible).  There really was no suspense here in wondering whether the crocodile was going to show up or not, because I kept thinking it would’ve been either too predictable or lack enough croc action.  The kills, when they actually did happen, weren’t even notable, save for a brief one in the beginning, and that one even happened too fast.  The first one may have been a bit long for its premise too, but I don’t recall being bored too much, whereas here, it felt too long and I was bored often.  I didn’t necessarily despise this film, but don’t, at all, color me impressed either.  8/10/2020


Bonus review:


Wolf Creek:  Season Two                                            EH
As proven numerous times, you can keep making movies/TV shows forever and ever any time there’s a seemingly invincible villain.  I thought to myself, how can they effectively make another 6-episode season based off a simple horror movie from 2005 that was good, not great, with a sequel that was decent, but not as good, following a previous 6-episode season for a TV series that was just decent enough?  [You can read my review for the first season in the archives---www.abcreviewarchive.blogspot.com].  Well, unfortunately, it wasn’t able to effectively sustain itself for an entire season this time (the six-episodes range from 44 to 60-minutes, totaling 5 hours and 13 minutes; clearly I have no life).  You don’t necessarily need to have seen the two films or the previous season to watch this, but, like always, I don’t know why you would want this second season to be your introduction to the franchise.  It would help to know a bit about the general framework, but all you really need to know is that it takes place in Australia and there’s a redneck serial killer named Mick Taylor (played by John Jarratt) consistently looking for victims and never manages to get caught, or die.  This time, his targets are a group of tourists traveling the “land down under” by bus.  I actually liked the first episode the best when we’re introduced to all the characters knowing they’re all potential victims of Mick.  After that, it drags with the occasional (and expected) kill, often predictable, hence unable to sustain itself for an entire season (like I said).  For a bit, part of me wanted to keep watching regardless of how much it dragged at times, but, eventually, I felt like I was forcing myself to finish and that’s never a good sign.  There are talks of a third season, even though this season ended in 2017, but I personally think Mick Taylor had enough time on the screen (big or small).  8/10/2020



Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

Burden  >>>OK/G

Psychotic!  >>>EH/OK


---Sean O.
8/13/2020

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