Truly Dreadful Film

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I was fully expecting to hate RED WATER. Not only is it a modern-day shark movie (set in a river) that rips off the likes of JAWS (underwater menace shots), ANACONDA (the setting) and DEEP BLUE SEA (huge mechanical explosions etc.), it's also a television movie, a genre of films that I typically dislike. Talk about everything conspiring against it from the start...anyhow, I was pleasantly surprised by this film when I watched it, and I ended up enjoying it a lot more than a lot of other big bucks fare. It's a film with plenty going on all the time, and a plot that is straight out of a B-movie action/thriller, not a monster movie. The story involves some criminals searching for stolen loot, and rapper Coolio has a large role in the film as an imposing, trigger-happy stock gangster cliché. There's plenty of shooting, stabbing, and fighting, and really, when you think about it, not that much shark action. But I enjoyed it anyway.Sure, the film is predictable, the story little more than a reason to put a group of people in a single location together and have lots of conflict between them. But the acting isn't half bad; everyone seems to be making an effort here, which is more than can be said for some films. Coolio is definitely the worst actor but his performance enters the so-bad-it's-good category so you can't complain. Of the others, Rob Boltin is engaging as a Cajun, Kristy Swanson is far better (and prettier) than she was in that BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER movie and provides some pleasant eye candy, and Lou Diamond Phillips actually cuts the mustard as an action hero, all muscles and stunts and heroic stuff.While the Louisiana setting means we get some Cajun dancing (think SOUTHERN COMFORT here) and provides an original backdrop for the underwater menace (the movie was actually shot in South Africa, and looks good), unfortunately the plot plays out strictly by the book. The black expendable dies early on, the bad guys can't hit anything when they shoot, and despite the watery setting just about everything in the film blows up at some point, captured in loving slow motion, of course. The shark never feels like much of a menace and is a cross between acceptable CGI work and a decent animatronics model. Unfortunately, it's not on screen very often, only popping up every half hour or so to make an appearance. The gore effects are kept to a minimum and consist of blood pooling in the water and a cheesy severed arm shot. One thing I did particularly like was the ultra-cheesy ending, which sees the shark being literally drilled to death; nicely grotesque, it's a fitting climax to a decent little thriller.

"John Sanders" (Lou Diamond Phillips) is a fisherman who is having problems making payments on his boat. So when his ex-wife, "Dr. Kelli Raymond" (Kristy Swanson) comes along and offers him a quick job helping out on an oil rig he reluctantly agrees and takes her, his colleague "Emery Brousard" (Rob Boltin) and an oil executive named "Gene Bradley" (Gideon Emery) up the Atchafalaya River where the rig is located. At the same time there are reports of a huge bull-shark in these same waters which causes concern to everybody on board but they speculate that it has gone up-stream and continue about their business. When they finally get to the rig they find another boat nearby and wonder what these people are up to. At first they think that they are from a rival oil company but as it turns out that they are drug dealers who are diving in the water in search of a safe filled with money. And they are just as deadly as the shark. Anyway, rather than detail the entire story and risk spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this wasn't too bad for a "made-for-television" movie. Although some parts were rather typical for a movie of this type and there were scenes which were a little slow I still enjoyed it for the most part. Obviously, being a made-for-television movie there isn't any sex, profanity or graphic violence which might have actually benefited what I considered to be a relatively mild "shark movie". Be that as it may I rate the movie as about average.

Red Water is the latest in a long line of straight to DVD shark movies to prop up the shelves at your local Blockbuster. And considering the multitudes of low-budget shark films out there, you'd have thought that producers might have figured out how to make a good one by now. Not so, because despite a refreshing premise, Red Water is destined to swim with the likes of Shark Attack, Megalodon, Shark Zone and legions of others in the realms of bottom shelf mediocrity.On the plus side, the premise is actually quite good. Instead of the usual scenario whereby a shark terrorises a holiday resort or an underwater submarine, we get one swimming up into the Louisiana bayou. The fish in question you see is a bull shark, an animal capable of surviving in fresh water. At first glance, this film's closest cousin appears to be Piranha, especially when a young girl gets devoured at a local swimming hole, but things soon continue in a different direction.This is down to the fact that there's a bunch of guys obsessed with drilling in the river. Cue Lou Diamond Philips (taking things way too seriously for this sort of movie), a boat owner with a troubled past who must give a lift to his ex-wife (Kristy Swanson) and a stereotypical rich bloke upriver to visit one of the platforms. Unfortunately for them, they've got to contend not only with the shark, but a trio of criminals (including Coolio believe it or not) on the hunt for a missing suitcase filled with cash.From this we get an hour and a half where the pace shifts dramatically. The shark all but disappears after the first five minutes, which is really a blessing considering how stupid it looks, then doesn't make a significant return until much later in the movie. The attacks are also a bit naff and only the incredibly silly scene where an opinionated nature lover gets eaten really stands out. The violent finale on the other hand is an absolute blast, with boats exploding, gun battles, people running around on fire and a shark eating everything that falls into the water, culminating in a highly original b-movie shark death. Sadly though, it doesn't make up for the the previous hour, where the film makers seem unsure of whether they're making a shark film or a hostage one and fail to balance the tension with any effectiveness to speak of.So yes, it's cheesy. It's stupid. It's packed to the rafters with stereotypes and bizarrely for a film like this, doesn't feature a huge number of women striding around in the smallest swim suits known to man. The last twenty minutes is terrific but everything else is utterly forgettable. You'd be better off watching Deep Blue Sea again but credit where credit's due, you can't fault them for trying something new.

There were only a few short scenes with the shark and the water was muddy and shark didn't do anything but come str8 ahead like the prop on a string it was. Very weak special effects. Lou diamond philips was pretty good as the hero and i always love kristy swanson. A beautiful and very well built woman.An incredibly stupid scene was when the good guys were tied up and thrown in this room. But their hands were tied at the WRISTS leaving the fingers completely free. Would have been easy to untie the ropes on their comrades. But they never did that and then one of the bad guys came in and kicked the crap out of them. After he left, they took a hacksaw out of a toolbox (which had been lying there all along) and cut the ropes!!!!No suspense and no real scares in this "horror" movie. For kristy swanson fans only.