Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Andrew Traucki
Starring: Teressa Liane, Saskia Archer, Ann Truong, Kate Lister
Australian writer/director Andrew Traucki is best known for his
movies Black Water, The Reef and
Black Water: Abyss, all of which feature attractive Aussies battling crocodiles or sharks
in a scenic setting. For his latest, Traucki has decided to broaden his
palette by…nah, who am I kidding? The Reef: Stalked is yet
another thriller that features attractive Aussies battling a shark in a
scenic setting.
Like Black Water: Abyss, The Reef: Stalked is a sequel to its predecessor in
name only, with an entirely new set of characters. The villain is still
a man, or in this case woman-eating, shark of course. The original was
something of a minor success of the shark sub-genre and featured the
novel idea of a group of people stuck in shark-infested waters when
their boat capsizes. The Reef: Stalked doesn't have such a
high-concept premise, and it too often relies on its characters
willingly placing themselves in danger.
Four young woman – sisters Nic (Teressa Liane, yet another of
those Margot Robbie lookalikes that seem to come off an Australian
production line) and Annie (Saskia Archer), and their friends
Jodie (Ann Truong) and Lisa (Kate Lister) – meet for a
paddling expedition in remote but idyllic waters. While making their way
towards an island they discover they're seemingly being tracked by a
"man in a grey suit," slang for, you guessed it, one of our finned
friends.
Dubbing the shark in this way ties into the film's hackneyed theme of
toxic masculinity, with the stalking shark compared to a male abuser. A
prologue sees Nic discover her other sister Cath's dead body submerged
in her bathtub after being murdered by her husband. The experience has
scarred her so much that she quit her job as a diver and is only now
returning to the water nine months later. Whenever Nic finds herself in
a scary shark situation Traucki edits in rapid flashbacks of Cath's
submerged body, which just comes off as cheesy. The film never really
grapples with Nic's trauma in any purposeful manner – it's simply
something for her to argue about with Annie during the lulls between
shark attacks.
Said shark attacks are admittedly well realised, with Traucki and
editor Scott Walmsley doing a good job of cutting in footage of
real life sharks. Seeing a living, breathing shark is always more
effective than some CG creation, which always looks dodgy in a water
based environment. But such sequences are few and far between, and the
film has a major problem in that its cast is so small that there simply
aren't enough victims. It's too obvious which characters are going to
make it out alive. Traucki puts children in peril to generate some extra
suspense, but we suspect he's not the type of filmmaker to have kids
eaten alive in his movie.
At this point shark movies have been done to death, yet keep propping
up the virtual video store shelves.
The Reef: Stalked offers nothing we haven't seen in its
many rivals over the past few decades, and its attempts to add a social
theme simply come off as clunky and misjudged.
Jaws IV: The Revenge is well-mocked for proffering the
notion that its animal antagonist holds a personal grudge against the
human heroes, a ridiculous idea The Reef: Stalked drifts
dangerously close to imitating.
