So unfrightening it's frightening.

One of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life, Open Water is rarely entertaining, and the plot is very weak. Once the couple is in the water about a third of the way through the movie, that is the only scene. They just float around for the rest of the movie worrying about sharks, going to the bathroom, and not much else. There is hardly even any dialogue between the two. It is a real sleeper in which I do not see how any one could be scared.… Expand

The seventh art as they call movie making is and should be in most ways an "art". to make a film based in true events can also be artfull, that is not the case with this film. the reason for this is that the director wanted the audience to experience it as a "reality". since this film is NOT the actuall footage from the actual event, it remains and always will remain as an interpertation of the true events. therefore, the director takes himself a bit too seriously by trying to sell us this film as real and leaves less room for cinematic creativity and imagination. this is not art, it is fake reality at best...and the reality of it is that it is nor entertaining nor all that interesting. the only thing you will get out of this movie is nausea and open sea sickness. … Expand

It was boring, and it had tons of huge glaring factual flaws. Had the guy actually been able to stab the shark, a feeding frenzy would have occured. When he was bit, they would have been completing devoured and not left until morning to be eaten. Really very dumb if I do say so.

Its understandable that many people did not like this movie. The low-budgetness is distracting at times, and you do come into it expecting a thriller/horror/shark movie... but it's really the immature ones (like you people that say "Very boring!") who will come out of it saying that it sucked. You have to be able to appreciate intimate and low-key scenes, which this movie is full of. You have to be able to let yourself go and put yourself in the situation that the characters are in. If you can do that, and forget about the low-budget camera, you'll see what a great movie it actually is.… Expand

[***SPOILERS***] I've been in the exact situation as the two characters in the movie. My father and I were abandoned at sea during a snorkeling trip and had to swim 5 hours back to shore - no crap! I could tell you this doesn't capture the authenticity of the situation. These people are idiots -- they deserve to not be rescued! First of all, they decide to wait there for the scuba diving tour people to come back and rescue them. That's the wrong thing to do. Think about it -- if they are incompetent enough to leave you out there in the first place, how compotent are they going to be to realize you're missing and come back and rescue you? What they should have done is start swimming towards shore or a boat. They whine and moan through the whole movie. It's a little thrilling at moments when some sharks get involved ... but hearing them bicker and cry didn't really make me or my father tense at all. While most of the people in the theater with us were approaching the film as "Oh, my god! This could happen to us!!!" we had the attitude of "Been there -- done that." In the end, the film will have more of an effect on people who haven't experienced an event like this before. It's the same thing with guns -- you are going to feel more scared and tense if someone holds a gun to your head for the first time, then if you've already experienced it before. The movie has a clever idea, and the direction is cool, but the plot really drags during the second act. For all the perverts out there, you get to see Blanchard Ryan full frontal in bed, and I mean the whole shabang! I'd wait for DVD on this one. I can't believe critics are raving about it. … Expand

Great Movie. Not your average "run of the mill" film. Keeps you talking about it even when it's over.

This was one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. There was nothing harrowing or thrilling about this movie, it just made me have to pee looking at all that water. The dialogue is horrible and you can't bother to care about either of the characters, who are both miserable. Maybe I just didn't get it, but there's not much to get.

I read some of the bad reviews, and I thought those people were nuts! (A) Those were real sharks swimming by those people, those actors, (B) the story was well written, and (C) that fact that people being left at sea really happened made this all the more terrifying. I found this film to be superbly suspenseful, given how realistic the scenario is.

Dreary, grey, and tedious. Depicts a dreadful and regrettable situation, arguably quite well. But unfortunately there is an anologous regret at having to spend money--voluntarily--and waste an evening with this. Hard to account for the positive reviews.

If you're willing to accept how the couple gets into the predicament they are in and how nobody on that boat realizes they are missing, Open Water will probably work for you. The best thing about it is its uncompromising and unexpected ending.

The blair fish project. Watching two fishing bobbers for 80 minutes would be better than this. The film cost $130,000.00 to make, what did they spend the money on? Go sharks.

This is the stupidest movie I have ever seen or bought. It was very boring just watching the 2 people float around in the ocean. The flashbacks/ or whatever to show you what was going on in the rest of the world just confused me. It would have been better if they had been rescued or almost rescued and then at the last minute died. Not any action to speak of.

This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. the plot sucked, the directing was awful, I want my money back!!

The person holding the camera could not have done a worse job.

Creepy,creepy,creepy for any casual diver.

Boring... two people in the water for 45 mins!

While the movie held my interest, it's pretty hard to pass it off as "based on a true story." For those of you who haven't seen it, you'll know what I mean when you see the ending. Until then, it was plausible. I thought the actors did a good job portraying how normal people would act in that situation. Some of the flashbacks seemed to be a bit of a waste of time though.

When I first read about this movie, I was under the impression that it would be like Blair Witch Project, which I enjoyed a lot. Open Water has no drama at all. It's like watching an ocean-based Before Sunrise (which I also enjoyed, a lot). Too much talking and nothing ever happens. Even at the end you are left wanting more. I do appreciate the difficult filming of this, with all the sharks swimming around, but I rather watch a Discovery Channel documentary instead.… Expand

Pretty boring. The only good part about this movie is the husband is very attractive.

I think it was very well done.

I've always believed that after reaching a certain age or level of maturity, the thriller-chiller genre becomes tired and contrived for most of us, monotonously offering the movie-goer the same old wine in the same old bottle. Not this one! "Open Water" delivers big time. It is genuinely scary and captivating, especially when one discovers that the film is based on an actual occurrence. Not only that, the soundtrack is also intriguing, to say the least.… Expand

I understand that i probably am missing the point of this movie, but to me it was simply a boring movie. I don't understand am i supposed to be afraid am i supposed to wonder what happens next i don't know all i was thinking of is when will it end.

Eh, not too much to talk about here. I agree that at times it was chilling, but unfortunately, the dialogue was mediocre. The ending was very good, which some guys in the theater didn't understand. Obviously, they dont frequent independent films very often. I liked it, but it lacked substance and at times suspense.

The low-budget digital filmmaking goes a long way toward making this nightmare seem real. Minimal and unnerving, this is one movie that has remained in my mind for days afterward.

Maybe it's because we had the advantage of seeing Susan (Blanchard Ryan) naked, but shouldn't somebody have noticed that the most attractive woman on the boat was missing? "Open Water" needed that shot of gratuitous nudity, since Ryan and Daniel Travis, albeit non-actors, and were probably directed to give non-performances, don't hold our interest like Heather Donahue did in "The Blair Witch Project". They're just photogenic fish food, because even though the two divers appear to be in actual mortal danger, a lot of their exchanges sound curiously unconvincing. No doubt, this is caused by the distraction of losing a leg, or more. It's unfair to pan such bravery, but Ryan and Travis make us aware of the cameras by seeming relatively cool in the company of all those sharks. There should be more primal fear, more screaming, more inarticulation, and no six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Great ending, though. … Expand

This movie is pretty much a love or hate film. I enoyed it. There are times where you are on the edge of your seat thinking 'What is going to happen?' And when something does happen it comes as quite a shock. Although, this movie is kind of hard to follow and is slightly confusing in some places, it will be enjoyable to those interested in psychological thrillers.

Well ... Jaws it wasn't. And that's not a bad thing! What I got from this rather than from the original *shark* film, was true fear. The original made me fear sharks in the same way I fear Freddy Kreuger. But in this film I felt myself bobbing up and down with every wave ... glancing around at every small splash in the water ... peering down at my feet to make sure they were still there! Then, probably worse than the fear of the sharks themselves, came the fear of dying. Not JUST dying, but dying out in the open sea, all alone, b/c of a simple human error. This *city* couples existence was simplified to one moment in time. The laptops, cellphones, hotels ... none of it mattered. All that mattered was making sure you kept an eye on that ever close grey triangle surfacing nearby. A great movie, with true fear spilled all over it!! … Expand

Annoying married couple goes scuba diving during their Caribbean vacation. When they emerge from the water, they discover, much to their growing horror, that their tour boat has left them behind, virtually defenseless against the sharks, the elements, and their own endless yammering. Critics have called this the best shark movie since Jaws - pretty dim praise considering that the prior competition consisted of either cheesy drive-in junk (Great White, Jaws of Death) or Jaws' own trio of increasingly dreadful sequels. The film was shot on video, which sometimes gives a film some documentary-like immediacy, but in this case, the washed-out, unfocused look of the film actually distanced me from the action; I was constantly reminded that I was only watching a movie, and a pretty cheap one at that. (Nothing in principle against cheap movies shot on video - Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is a b&w mini-masterpiece.) I also found Ryan and Travis to be fairly unimpressive in the acting department, though I admire their stamina in pulling off such a physical shoot. See this one for yourself; some found it to be a minimalist suspense masterpiece, while I found hardly a jolt in this entire 79-minute stunt.… Expand

That was the worst camera work I've seen since the Blair Witch. I know it was a low budget film, but couldn't they buy a tripod or something.

Definitely not for everyone, but for me it was a totally harrowing experience! loved it!

I feel this was an excellent movie. Although I had very low expectations for it, I was truly amazed by it. It started a little slow, but after the first shark appearance there is no way anybody was not on the edge of their seats. Although it wasn't a jumper or a gorefest, I still feel it was an extremely worthwhile movie with constant suspense and an amazing twist ending.

Spending time and money with this movie was a huge regret. It would have been a suitable 1/2 hour TV special, depicting a horrible accident (mind you, it is realistically portrayed) without dwelling on such trivia as developing characters, humour, irony, or meaning. A big question I have is: how can such a dreadful movie make it to mainstream theatres, when there are SO many good independent films--entertaining, poignant, stimulating--that never get seen? … Expand

The unfortunate thing about this movie was that the distributor pegged it as something it was NOT. This is not a JAWS film. This was NOT a horror film as we the public view it. Let's put it this way. If I buy a Reliant K car, they're not telling me it's a Camry. What Light House Films did was a grave injustice to both the public and this film; they tried to tell us the K car IS the Camry. It does have some good points. I liked the way it was filmed. I liked the attempt at the 30 min "monologue". It's a rarity to see dialogue of limited resources carry a script. Did it fail on some points; sure. But if you're going to judge this film on what it is (the K car), it's fairly descent. I think that the script writers could have put more into it to make the situation more intense. Chad S. in his review on this site said it exactly; HOW could you miss the best looking woman on the trip? The whole action of the knife was also a waste. The best part of the movie was the ending with the gutting of the shark.… Expand

[***SPOILERS***] While mildly entertaining, I didn't find it all that scary. It seemed just too fake and there just wasn't enough tension created by the directors or characters. Given the reviews, I had high hopes for this film. Being a certified scuba diver and the fact that similar scenarios have occurred, you sometimes think "what if...". While I've wound up more than a mile from the ship once or twice due to some miscalculation, I've never been left stranded. A lot of what happened structurally didn't make sense. A boat crew is always supposed to clean and check the boat when they arrive at shore. Even if they somehow missed the couple at sea, they should have counted everyone when leaving the boat, noticed that two tanks were missing and that someone had left their gear bag under the seat when they hit shore. As to the divers, they seemed to have had some experience, so why weren't they carrying a standard "safety sausage" (a 6 ft long inflatable orange stick balloon that is to be used in situations like this to help boats and aircraft see you better)? Also a mirror and/or light is generally standard equipment. Why didn't they have enough sense to drop their weights immediately when they realized they were stranded? Being two people alone in the big ocean, they should have used their weight belts to lash themselves together. One or two big waves and they could have been separated early on. And jelly fish can't generally sting you or tear your flesh through a wet suit. Lastly, your knife should have a lanyard string attached so that you don't stupidly drop it in the ocean by mistake. They should have tried to swim towards a ship or shore. Sitting there whining will get you nowhere other than perhaps washed out into the middle of the ocean, where it will be much harder to find you. This movie gets dumber as the end approaches. Why did Travis die? Loss of blood from the leg gash? Shock? Why did Ryan choose to give up the ghost? She was supposed to be a strong character supposedly in charge of here destiny and life. Remember in Castaway when Tom Hanks said "Keep on breathing. You never know what tomorrow may bring"? And it would have been much more interesting twist at the end if when the shark was gutted, a hand, arm or leg fell out!… Expand

[***SPOILERS***] This movie was a complete waste of time. Not only was it boring but also it simply did not make sense. We are expected to believe that in a sea which seems to be filled with sharks that a bleeding person would last more than ten minutes. The movie would have been more realistic if it had lasted a total of 30 minutes. Now to add the kicker, what is better than a film that boasts that it is a true story yet all the characters die?… Expand

My disapointment was topped only by what could possibly be the wprst ending in a movie ever. Don't waste your time or your money.

I definitely do not recommend this film.....at the end I just wished that I could go back and "un-watch" it. Found the acting to be okay, but the filming was 'home-video' quality. Have to admit that it made me scream a few times, though!

I admit, this film does have its problems. Although it has shoddy camera work and acting at times, it manages to pull through and show its head among the few other brilliant films in the year 2004.

This is a low-budget feature by a budding filmmaker that received good reviews by several prestigious critics. I think any praise is undeserved. The main problem is that about a half hour of story is presented in an 80-minute film, leading to an irritating amount of padding. Every promo and review says that this is about a couple caught alone on the open ocean, but it takes well over half an hour to get them out on the water, and almost as much time to get them alone. After that, the action is strained and episodic, the dialogue both predictable and mixed, and the conclusion is distasteful and confusing. Open Water falls far short of being as bad as the worst low-budget moneymaker, The Blair Witch Project, a turkey we would have never heard of but for the deceptive marketing campaign that strongly intimated that it was "real." For good low budget, try the brash Clerks.… Expand

Not great, but better than 99% of "horror" movies out these days, and it deserves credit for that. The realism and clever filming is what makes this movie, as opposed to endless blood and gore. I can't help thinking that the people who call Open Water boring are only entertained by pointless, idiotic movies like House of 1000 Corpses, making them by definition shallow idiots.

While momentarily disappointing, this is a powerful movie simply because it refuses at every opportunity to resort to Hollywood gimmickry. A series of innocent oversights, none fatal in themselves, results in a diving couple abandoned in the open ocean. They undergo a Blair Witch kind of process as they try by force of will to avoid conversion from casual observers of the food chain to hapless participants.… Expand

I can't believe the critics' rave reviews! Yeah, it was free of the usual Hollywood gimmicks; yeah it puts you right in the flippers of the doomed swimmers; yeah it was realistic. But it has ZERO story. Films shouldn't be realistic just to be realistic. Films tell stories. There was nothing in this film I couldn't imagine in my own head or read in a paragraph.

It was slow until they became stranded. That's when we got to see the dynamics of their relationship, It kept getting better until it sank like a stone at the end.

This movie is sooo bad! Don't waste you money... rent a movie!

Don't get me started on this movie. It is terrible and pointless. As an exercise in filmmaking maybe it was a worthwhile experience for the filmmakers, but it won't be worthwhile for many audience members.

There are two ways to experience this minimalist suspense film dealing with two upwardly mobile workaholics trapped in mid-ocean after being accidentally desertedon a diving trip. One, of course, is to identify directly with them, vicariously experience the various bites, stings and scares the encounter, and in the words of a certain politician/author, feel their pain. The other, which I'm not totally sure the filmmakers DON'T want you to do, is to realize that these two are alot prettier and richer than you'll ever be, identify them with the sharpster who keeps edging you out for Salesman of the Month, the landlord who keeps cutting your service while raising your rent, or the CEO who's probably going to cut 80% of your department by Christmas, and sadistically enjoy the possibility of yuppie scum becoming yuppie chum. It's possible to argue both ways: perhaps if our protagonists hadn't been so self-involved, another passenger would've noticed their absence, and their response (especially his) to being standed in the deep IS rather petulant much of the time---but at other times they repond with more calm and courage than most of us (definitely me) would muster under the circumstances. Their story is being promoted as the second coming of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, but despite a terrific in-joke reference near the end (can you catch it?) it's from the standpoint of ultra-low budget, proudly grainy digital camerawork and attempted word-of-mouth build a lot more like The Blair Witch Project. I think Open Water's reputation will far outlast that flash-in-the-pan, however, because beyond the scares is enough resonance, irony and character detail to make this similar to the short story that Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson and Saki never wrote but that generations of former high school students, including the reluctant readers, still remember decades after encountering it in English class.… Expand

[***SPOILERS***] First of all, this was not Blairwitch, which made good sense to have a "home video type feel" because you actually see a cameraman. For some reason they decided to make it have this same feel. I kept waiting for someone to pop out from behind the camera. Dumb decision. Second, what the heck was the point of the whole bug scene in the hotel room, boring lack of dialogue to fill up space. That goes for the numerous wave shots....filler...filller...filler. Third, can we get some real actors with some real emotion. As soon as I would pop up in the middle of the ocean and my boats not there...major panicking will happen, not seven hours later. And her lack of emotion when she pushes her husband away after he dies, I would be sobbing hysterically. Fourth, guy gets bit, blood everywhere and they don't get chewed to bits until the next morning...come on, give us a break. Fifth, no real amazing shots of the sharks attacking, some leg knawing might have made me give this a 5.… Expand

A thinker's movie that subtlely examines our deepest fears without offering pat answers. defintely not for escapists looking for cheap thrills and hollywood solutions.

How can a true story about 2 persons abandoned at sea turn into a bore? This movie does it.

This movie is one of the worse movies I had ever seen I dont understand how anyone could like this movie it sucked eggs people dont even go see it I the only reasons why critics like it is because it was so terrible the movie company prombley paid them for geting good reviews but all the movie is abou tis a man and a women who went scubba diving and so the boat leavs them behind.

This is the worst movie I have ever watched. I should give my money back! This movie is not even scary. I slep through like practically the whole thing. Why couldn't they die earlier instead of wasting my time.

Was somewhat boring. I was hoping to see something at the end like a synopsis of what was concluded from the search results and wondered if the family ever brought a lawsuit against the owners of the boat.

I think this movie was more exciting in the previews. It isn't very scary and it isn't very long. I think it was very sad though. Tell me one thing though how can the people now exactly what happened to them they just used this story to make money, they don't know what happened so stop trying to make up lies!

Unbelievably bad film. Terrific for people with insomnia.

I don't see how this movie got on the big screen. complete waste of my time....I was EXTREMLY upset and very pissed. I have NEVER gotten this pissed from watching ANY movie before. You could step away from the movie for an hour and not miss a damned thing, SERIOUSLY. If you want the fear effect of getting stuck in the water around sharks, I can sum it up for you just in words, then imagine it, and presto, now there is no need to watch it. That took 5 sec. and was more entertaining then this waste of time.… Expand

Very boring!

This was not stuped but boring this was the big ghahona of crapy story lines this was sooo boring this is ther CRAPEST MOVE EVER.

This film was an amazing and sublime experience. This film was a harrowing experience that is one of the most memorable and best films I've ever seen, despite what some of these users have to say about it. This film felt real, and you're left guessing what will happen next. Sorry folks, but I loved this film, and I support the opinions of the critics this time. One of the best indie films out there, no doubt.… Expand

Bad home movie combining bad video, bad actor, bad story, bad everything. Quite consistent.

This movie was a complete waste of time. I'm surprised that I continued watching until the end. Whenever I watch a horrible movie, I compare it to this.

This never should have been made into a full length movie, it has some credibility and the circumstance they are in makes for an alright plot. It would have done much better as a 10 minute short film and would get the point across much more effectively.