| | | A voyage into fear.
Features: DVD, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Widescreen, French, Subtitled, Trailers
Veteran sailor John Ingram (Sam Neill) joins his beautiful wife Rae (Nicole Kidman) on the deck of their sailing yacht Saracen, and finds the ocean mirror-flat, the air dead calm. A career Royal Australian Navy officer, Ingram has seen the world's oceans. But this particular voyage represents a far more personal odyssey -- it gives John and Rae the opportunity to soothe the memory of that single rainy night many months before when a a devastating auto crash took the life of the couple's young son -- and almost killed Rae as well. Suddenly, John and Rae's private, healing cruise is interrupted when they spot a dinghy being furiously rowed away from a large schooner lying some half-mile to starboard. The other ship -- named the Orpheus -- shows no other signs of life. The sole occupant of the dinghy is Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), a frightened young American who pours out his ordeal to the rescuers -- his shipmates have all died, the apparent victims of food poisoning. But Ingram, skeptical of the stranger's tale, rows out to the schooner and discovers that something much more ominous and horrifying may have occurred on the Orpheus. Heart pounding, John races back up onto the crippled schooner's deck and stares in anguish toward his own boat. On deck, Rae is screaming and Hughie is at the helm of the Saracen, steering her under full power -- in the opposite direction! Thus begins the strange tale of Dead Calm, a drama of terror, suspense and courage from director Phillip Noyce and co-producer George Miller, co-creator of the famed Mad Max film series and director of The Witches Of Eastwick.
"Mesmerizing, terrifying, fascinating!" Jeffrey Lyons, Sneak Previews
"Keeps you white-knuckled on the edge of your seat. Moves along like a runaway train." Merrill Shindler, Los Angeles Magazine
Editor's Note
Returning from duty with the Australian navy, John Ingram (Sam Neill) is surprised to be met by two policemen, who inform him of a car accident that has left his son dead and his wife, Rae (Nicole Kidman), injured. The grieving couple seeks refuge on their yacht, the Saracen. Out on the boat, the skies are sunny, the sea calm--but on the horizon is another vessel, the Orpheus. As John and Rae approach the ship, they find a lone survivor, Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), who tells them that the other crew members have died of food poisoning. Leaving Rae behind with the sleeping Hughie, the suspicious John boards the Orpheus--only to be confronted with a horrifying situation. Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce directs the film, based on a novel by Charles Williams, with great inventiveness--whether focusing on the tranquil water, the violent Hughie, the resourceful Sam, or the determined Rae with her luminous, translucent blue eyes. A suspenseful thriller reminiscent of Roman Polanski's KNIFE IN THE WATER, DEAD CALM is a chilling tale of trouble on the high seas.
Plot Summary
When their intimate sailing vacation is interrupted by the suspicious appearance of a survivor from a sinking pleasure schooner, a husband and wife must use their wits to avoid the same fate.
| Features | English Subtitles | | English Dolby Surround | | Widescreen Version | | Standard Version | | French Subtitles | | Interactive Menus | | Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Access |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 9/6/2005 |
| Running Time: 96 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1988 | | Catalog ID: 11870 | | UPC: 00085391187028 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: English, French | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 2.35:1/4:3 |
| Cast & Crew | Billy Zane | | Nicole Kidman | | Rod Mullinar | | Sam Neill | | Charles Williams - Based on Novel By | | Geoff Burton, et al. - Cinematographer | | Norma Moriceau - Costume Designer | | Phillip Noyce - Director | | Richard Francis-Bruce - Editor | | Graeme Revell - Musical Score | | Terry Hayes, et al. - Producer | | Graham 'Grace' Walker - Production Designer | | Terry Hayes - Screenplay |
| Awards |
Australian Film Institute (1989) |  | Dean Semler, Winner, Best Achievement In Cinematography | | Richard Francis-Bruce, Winner, Best Achievement In Editing | | Ben Osmo, et al., Winner, Best Achievement In Sound | | Graeme Revell, Winner, Best Original Music Score | | | Graham 'Grace' Walker, Nominee, Best Achievement In Production Design | | | Phillip Noyce, Nominee, Best Director | | | Terry Hayes, Nominee, Best Film | | | Terry Hayes, Nominee, Best Screenplay, Adapted |
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| | Professional Reviews | USA Today
"...Tautly directed....Well photographed..." 04/07/1989 p.6DEntertainment Weekly
"...An undeniably effective thriller....[Kidman is] impressive..." -- Rating: B 01/26/1996 pp.66-8 Los Angeles Times
"...A spare, smart, seductive piece of real movie making....[With] a superlative cast and enough tension to keep us all hyperventilating for hours..." 04/07/1989 p.C1 Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 7 of 10
A married couple, recovering from a family tragedy by spending some time on their yacht at sea, pick up a stranger who proceeds to terrorize them. Full-blooded thriller is so skillfully acted and directed that it enables you to gloss over its flaws--and forgive its slasher-movie-inspired finale. Based on a novel by Charles Williams. - Leonard Maltin
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
The key image of Dead Calm is of two ships drawing near each other in the middle of a vast, empty expanse of ocean. The emotions generated by this shot, near the beginning of the film, underlie everything that follows, making us acutely aware that help is not going to arrive from anywhere, that the built-in protections of civilization are irrelevant and that the characters will have to settle their own destinies. On board a sailing yacht are a married couple who hope that the cruise will help them deal with the death of their son. On board the other ship - a sinking schooner - is a young man who seems to be the only survivor from a tragic incident of food poisoning. He jumps into a lifeboat and rows for his life toward the yacht, where he is taken aboard. The husband, curious, goes to inspect the schooner, leaving his wife alone with the castaway, who of course turns out to be a homicidal killer. Almost the entire movie involves these three characters in a violent game of psychological strategy... Dead Calm generates genuine tension, because the story is so simple and the performances are so straightforward. This is not a gimmick film (unless you count the husband's method of escaping from the sinking ship), and Kidman and Zane do generate real, palpable hatred in their scenes together. Note: The film is based on a 1963 novel by Charles Williams, which inspired an ill-fated Orson Welles project that was suspended in 1970 and then abandoned in 1973 with the death of his leading man, Laurence Harvey. I haven't read the novel, but the story is worthy of a robust craftsman like John D. MacDonald... - Roger Ebert
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