Kier (Brandon Slagle) has been traumatized ever since he has seen his
father (Ryan Kiser) go into the sea and die from causes unknown but out of
his own free will 30 years ago. He has since served in Afghanistan, where
he was among the most violent soldiers out there - and has returned with a
serious case of PTSD. What's more, he's as dangerous as he was back in
Afghanistan. Auriel (Devanny Pinn) lives in the same insignificant
coastal town as Kier, but she wants nothing more than to get out of there
... but everybody tells her it's impossible. And then she sees all her
friends killed by something unknown during a harmless boating expedition,
and she barely gets away with her life. Victoria (Alexis Iacono) is one
of the few who has actually ever made it out of the coastal town in
question, and she has become a respected marine biologist - and then she
is sent back to her hometown that bears nothing but bad memories
(including her own alcoholic dad [Jw Wiseman]), to investigate the drastic
dying off of marine wildlife. Her initial investigations into the
subject leave Victoria's scientific mind pretty much dumb-founded, and
then she meets up with Auriel, who tells her about a legendary sea serpent
who needs a human sacrifice every 30 years - and 30 years are over right
now -, and she initially thinks the girl's just crazy ... but then she
finds herself on the run from Kier and his army buddy Castor (Britt
Griffith), who have taken it upon themselves to see that someone is
sacrificed to the sea creature ... and this time around, their choice has
fallen on Victoria - also as a punishment for being brave enough to leave
her hometown behind ... Dead Sea is a clever little film
that isn't content with just being your average monster movie but instead
throws together elements of monster cinema, mystery, psycho thriller and
even horror in the Lovecraftean tradition to create a very tense piece of
genre cinema that relies less on spectacle, effects, sudden shocks and
gore than on suspense, dramatic build-up and a general atmosphere of
unease. Add to that an extremely competent ensemble cast playing
well-created characters, each with their own character arc, and a very
fine directorial effort, and you've got yourself a pretty good movie. Recommended!
|