film review: The Reef (2010)

I’d heard about The Reef… vaguely. I’d heard it was a low budget Australian film about some people who get caught out at sea. It featured in the Horrorthon in the IFI in 2010. However, having not been a big fan of Open Water and being limited by funds, I skipped it…

… Then I didn’t hear about it again until it popped up on DVD this week. I figured, hey, why not?

I have to admit, I had low expectations… real low. I really didn’t like Open Water. But, to be honest, I’m actually glad I did bother in the end.

The Reef is a much more interesting film than that one. Written and directed by Andrew Traucki and starring a cast of unknowns… well to be fair, I have no idea if they’re known in Australia, but they’re unknown to me, it skips along at a jaunty pace. While I wouldn’t claim that I really felt for the characters, they were decent and likeable so you didn’t want to see them get eaten by an ol’ Great White. As I so often would in these types of films. Traucki even manages to throw in a bit of subplot which doesn’t feel tacked on for the sake of it. Definitely a cut above the usual.

Speaking of the shark, or sharks, they looked good! No cheapo special effects here. Those were real sharks and with them the film-maker managed to create some real tension. No mean feat in a film where you’re pretty sure you know what’s going to happen from the minute you look at the DVD cover.

All in all, it’s a good addition to the genre. Worth a look, and a bag of popcorn, if it appears in your local DVD store.

Hmm… this may actually be the shortest review I’ve ever done.

7/10

The Reef is out on DVD from 24th January 2011.