Perhaps the most hyped indie film since The Blair Witch Project, Chris Kentis' shark attack drama Open Water "goes adrift about halfway from shore." Shot on digital video (which is even uglier on DVD) and starring unknowns Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis as live bait for a bevy of bony-looking sharks, this movie made a splash at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and caused a few ripples at the box office too.

Swimming With Sharks

Studio suits at Lions Gate Films reveal the key ingredients to selling an independent film in The Indie Essentials. Apparently "a cool idea" and "a smart script" are all you need to get a foot in the door. Yes, folks, it's that simple!

Funnily enough, director Chris Kentis and wife/producer Laura Lau paint a rather different picture in Calm Before The Storm, Lau revealing, "It was painstaking because we had no crew." Kentis elaborates on this, explaining that the film was shot only at weekends over the course of two years because he couldn't risk giving up the day job.

There's also a good amount of behind-the-scenes footage here and, yes, Ryan and Travis really did go swimming with sharks. Crew member Stuart Cove explains that he used bait to direct the fanged fishies where they needed to be - ie not too close to the actors. (Sadly, Cove doesn't get too much talk time.)

Going Deeper

"The true inspiration for the film had more to with the Dogme 95 films," says Kentis in Beneath The Surface, a series of satisfyingly in-depth interviews with cast and crew. There's a palpable sense of the camaraderie between the filmmakers and their stars, with Travis noting, "We became like a close-knit family." (You access snippets of these interviews along with behind-the-scenes footage during the film by selecting The White Shark option on the bonus menu.)

The fearless foursome also delivers a cheerful audio commentary, although their tendency to laugh at private jokes can be irritating. Still, there's plenty of trivia to be gleaned - watch out for Kentis (and his camera) reflected in Blanchard's sunglasses as she lounges by the hotel pool. If you hover your mouse over the right-hand side of the bonus menu and click on the falling target (quick reflexes required!), you can watch the first eight minutes of the commentary as its being recorded. Why you should care to see this though, remains a mystery.

Likewise seven deleted scenes don't offer much in the way of fresh insights. They focus mainly on the relationship between the leads prior to their fateful scuba-diving trip, but frankly there's only so much bickering and lovey-dovey eye-to-eye gazing you can take before wanting to throw yourself overboard.

Although there's surprisingly very little on the routine danger of working with sharks (and we don't mean movie execs), this DVD offers a fair selection of extras to sink your teeth into.

EXTRA FEATURES

The Open Water DVD is out to buy on Monday 27th December 2004.