When it comes to Australian cinema, crocodiles seem to be the new great whites. Over the past year, two jaw-snapping films have been produced in the region, both of which have generated frantic splashes of media attention. The more publicized of the two, “Rogue,” directed by “Wolf Creek” creator Greg McLean, has been touted as having the largest budget ever for an Australian horror film. The second, and far more nightmare-inducing flick, however, is “Black Water” (Sony), an exercise in dread and imminent demise that’s somewhat similar to the shark film “Open Water.”
Based on a true story, the movie features a married couple and the wife’s sister, who head out a fishing trip in the mangrove swamps of Northern Australia unaware that a giant, intelligent, man-eating croc is waiting for them around one of the watery bends. Early on, the beast tips over the vacationer’s motorboat and chows down on their guide, leaving the three survivors to scramble up the nearest tree and wait for someone to rescue them. Pretty soon it becomes clear that they’re in a remote region and no one knows of their existence. It becomes equally apparent that the toothed beast hunting them has a hunger for humans and isn’t going anywhere. Desperate and exhausted, the three devise various plans for escape, some more deadly than others.
Black Water succeeds largely because of its unflinching approach. It’s not excessively gory, but it’s extremely bleak, Directors David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki never force viewers to suspend their disbelief in order to follow the survival efforts of the frequently hopeless characters’ and there’s none of the lighthearted humor that ruined movies like “Lake Placid.” The acting is excellent; the characters’ plight is palpable. And while there are several eyepopping attack sequences, there are just as many scenes in which the tension builds precipitously, but nothing much happens and by the end, the viewer is left feeling satisfied and exhausted.
Catacombs (Lionsgate) – For most of its 90-minute duration, “Catacombs” is a pulse-racing cat-and-mouse game between an anxious young adult (Shannyn Sossamon (”DeVour,” “Undiscovered”) and the mask-wearing stalker who chases her through an underground labyrinth. The plot is deceptively simple: Sossamon’s character, Victoria, is invited to Paris by her party-girl sister, Carolyn, (Alicia “Pink” Moore) for an experience she claims will “change” her life. Sis then introducer Victoria to the wild underground raves she and her friends throw in the catacombs in Paris. They fuel the impressionable, tense gal with absinthe and fill her head with stories about a Satanic cult that bred a masked killer in the catacombs and set him loose on anyone who enters. During a police raid, the girl is separated from her sister and the fun begins. The majority of “Catacombs” seems like popcorn-popping entertainment heavy on mood (think “Blair Witch Project” crossed with “Friday the 13th”) but seemingly light on substance. However, there’s a major plot twist that changes everything, and turns what might have been mindless entertainment into something far more frightening and thought-provoking.
Furnace (Genius) – Part supernatural thriller, part tough guy prison flick, “Furnace” is set in a maximum-security penitentiary that holds a terrible secret. It seems the old warden of Black Gate Prison, wasn’t such a law-abiding citizen after all. And while it seemed like a tragedy when he and his young daughter were burned alive by one of the inmates before the whole place went up in flames, it might not have been such a bad thing after. But now, years later, his ghost wants revenge, so he and his daughter turn up the heat on anyone who enters their lair, killing numerous inmates and making the murders look like suicides. Of course, there are a couple subplots, like the one about a corrupt cop Frank Miller (Tom Sizemore) who sells narcotics to prisoners, and another about overworked Detective Michael Turner (Michael Pare), who wants to escape his own past nightmares. The plot is compelling, and along the way viewers discover that the dead daughter might be after a whole different kind of vengeance. “Furnace” may adhere to many old-school conventions, but there are still enough temperature-raising thrills here to please everyone all but the most hardcore horror fans.
We Own the Night (Sony) – This crime thriller focuses on the manager of a Brighton Beach club and the Russian gangsters who own the place. While Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is all for career advancement and his establishment is often filled with remorseless thugs, he tries to keep his nose clean when it comes to Johnny Law. However when his estranged brother, Police Captain Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg) and his dad, deputy chief Bert Grusinsky (Robert Duvall) hone in on the narcotics deals going down in the club, Green is forced to make a choice between family and his job. Directed by James Gray (“The Yards”), “We Own the Night” is gripping, stylish and entertaining.
Ricco the Mean Machine (Dark Sky) – In 1973, zany Italian director Tulio DeMicheli threw together this grindhouse gangster movie that’s as ridiculous as it is enjoyable. Because of its graphic violence and gratuitous nudity, the flick never received a proper U.S. release until now. While it’s clearly dated, it remains somewhat outrageous, especially a scene involving a gangster caught sleeping with the girlfriend of his boss. The hero of the film, Ricco Aversi (Christopher Mitchum) is a cartoonish character that returns from a two year jail term to try to win back his ex-girlfriend, who has fallen in with Don Vito, the new leader of a crime syndicate that sprouted up while Ricco was behind bars. When Vito finds out what’s going down, he has Ricco’s sister and mother killed – which turns out to be a bad move. Ricco turns into a fist-flinging dynamo and enacts bloody revenge, which climaxes in abundant bouts of gunplay and carnage. Inadvertently hokey and unintentionally amusing, “Ricco” is a time capsule you’ll either treasure or happily throw away.
