Open Water is being touted as one of the most frightening films to chomp into your psyche for a long time, but either I'm secretly being fed sedatives or this is a case of good old hype meets collective hysteria.

| Jan 9, 2018

As it dawns on the couple that they've slipped several links down the food chain, you're right there with them.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 11, 2004

Open Water is terrifying on a purely primal level. In a fear-of-the-dark, monsters-under-the-bed way, it twangs nerves forgotten since childhood.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 8, 2004

There are no Hollywood heroes in these waters, only two regular people ... plus you and me, huddling in the dark.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 20, 2004

Considered in its ham-handed entirety, Open Water feels more of an exercise in cinematic sadism.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 20, 2004

Justified paranoia and dark digital photography combine forces in Open Water in an attempt to generate real fear in the audience, but the resulting film is simply too thin to manage the feat.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 19, 2004

Terrifying precisely because it doesn't go in for cheesy shock tactics and special effects.

Full Review | Aug 15, 2004

The unforgiving power of nature are all on display to amazing, and frightening, effect.

| Aug 13, 2004

Becomes a slow and steady descent into pure fear.

| Original Score: A | Aug 11, 2004

I'm sorry, but that's entertainment?

| Aug 9, 2004

By the end, I was ready to bite my fingernails off, and with softball season finally over I'd just finally gotten them all long and pretty again.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 7, 2004

We, the audience, shuffle out of the theater, feeling drained and punished.

| Aug 7, 2004

As the clock ticks on, the sharks thresh and the dialogue continues to stagnate, you might just catch yourself wickedly thinking: Come on sharks, let's do this.

| Aug 6, 2004

A taut, riveting, uncommonly well-made film.

| Aug 6, 2004

It's a very pure, basic kind of terror, nail-bitingly fun to watch; made more so by the startling realism of the sharks.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 6, 2004

The nagging desire to help these people underscores the involvement of the audience in this superbly told story. You can almost taste the saltwater, and the fear.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 6, 2004

Kentis keeps it simple and direct, and the effect is devastating.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 6, 2004

A low-budget indie film whose tension and realism are augmented by unknown actors who fully inhabit their roles.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 6, 2004

If you want to be consumed by special effects, go to any of the many formulaic thrillers in theaters these days. If you want to feel the real chill of fear, go for a swim.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 6, 2004

It's ridiculously cheap and terrifying at the same time.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 6, 2004