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Dead Calm

Dead Calm

1989
Suspense/Thriller
1h 36m
After a tragedy, John Ingram and his wife Rae are spending some time isolated at sea, when they come across a stranger who has abandoned a sinking ship. (imdb)
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Dead Calm

1989
Suspense/Thriller
1h 36m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 50.28% from 858 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(858)
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Rated 17 Apr 2020
80
77th
I’ve seen enough Billy Zane movies to know if he is getting on the boat you get off said boat immediately. Probably too many Billy Zane movies...
Rated 03 Feb 2021
72
72nd
It's like Cape Fear but the cape is an ocean. Hold on, I can do better. Instead of Straw Dogs it's Straw Sea Lions. Not there yet. Unlawful Entry on a boat so Unlawful Boarding? No, that doesn't work at all. Single White Seamale? Oh my God, this is getting worse. Pacific Ocean Heights? Yeah. Yeah that's good enough. Pacific Ocean Heights.
Rated 23 Mar 2008
57
58th
Dead Calm is a good thriller, only spoiled by the questionable reactions of the woman seeing as she is alone on a boat with a crazed murderer. Zane, Kidman and Neill all put in good performances, camera shots are well done, pacing is decent and the plotline is an interesting one. It's a pretty serious film but occasionally it throws in the odd joke, most notably over the flare-based demise of Zane, adding quite a substantial amount of unrealism but making for a good watch.
Rated 07 Jun 2020
60
12th
A dull thriller that's lacking in thrills & carried solely by three great leads who all deliver better performances than the material deserves, it starts off pretty alright but declines into a plodding mess void of any suspense. Between the unbelievably stupid decisions that Kidman's character makes, which inexcusably only get made to draw out the paper-thin plot, and the ridiculously lazy writing on the whole, this has wasted potential written all over it. A few decent moments, but not enough.
Rated 19 May 2009
72
57th
A pretty alright film. Makes me want to get a boat.
Rated 08 Feb 2013
49
29th
If Billy Zane is the best thing about your movie, you've probably gone wrong somewhere.
Rated 09 May 2021
15
3rd
fuck you metascore. fuckin moron critics ! this bullshit better than Joker uh? idiots
Rated 24 Feb 2007
80
93rd
Maybe Nicole Kidman's best film. Taut thriller with just three characters lost at sea.
Rated 24 Feb 2007
75
89th
Great film!!!!!!!!!!
Rated 30 Mar 2007
80
68th
Good suspense film. Better than some George Miller-directed films I could name
Rated 24 Aug 2007
65
57th
Good movie, just makes me very uncomfortable. Which, I know, is the point.
Rated 26 Aug 2007
75
75th
Good
Rated 17 Sep 2007
65
49th
well done overall
Rated 16 Nov 2007
60
17th
Enjoyable, in its way. Hyper-violent in moments, particularly the ending. Some lovely shots of ocean, some lovely shots of a shirtless Billy Zane, Nicole Kidman pre-blonding & freckle removal.
Rated 05 Feb 2008
55
44th
Good plot but something just did not work in here.
Rated 07 Mar 2008
80
80th
Excellently paced thriller with consistent performances by Zane and Kidman.
Rated 14 Jul 2008
50
21st
Nicole Kidman is soooo annoying in this movie. Practically every decision she made had me wanting to scream at the screen. Normally I'd be able to accept that characters don't have to act in a logical way all the time, but this was just ridiculous.
Rated 17 Aug 2008
75
72nd
Surprisingly good perfromances all round and a neato soundtrack by one SPK member Graeme Revell
Rated 26 Sep 2008
75
47th
Pretty disturbing horror. Some scenes I would not care to see again.
Rated 04 Jan 2009
91
90th
Haven't seen this in a while, but from what I remember I really liked it! How did Billy Zane get to the boat? I for the life of me cannot remember... ::shrugs::
Rated 26 Jun 2009
70
51st
The set-up is promising and the director gets a thrilling claustrophobic atmosphere out of it with great lensing and on-point performances. The ending betrays the feeling of the movie though.
Rated 13 Dec 2009
57
45th
Although impressive overall, the movie has some unnecessarily explicit scenes. A near classic.
Rated 04 Mar 2010
68
78th
Billy Zane is great in this film, like never before, and never again in his career. The film perfectly captures the feeling of being alone in a vast space, and at the same time being isolated in a small room with someone you really don't want to be with. There are a lot of under-tides going in relationship between Zane and Kidman characters that I really enjoy. On top of all that is simply brilliant soundtrack, that enhances the movie a lot.
Rated 07 Dec 2010
75
74th
Classic.
Rated 18 Jan 2011
74
52nd
74.250
Rated 16 Jul 2011
65
60th
The final scene is terrible, but overall it's a tightly-wound thriller with a nice moody atmosphere and a fair bit of suspense. Good acting performances by all three leads, a great ambient electro soundtrack, and some lovely shots of the open expanse of the ocean. Of course it's the setting that really makes this movie work. Stranded at sea with a psychotic Billy Zane; who wouldn't be afraid of that? You wonder why Kidman doesn't just bash him over the head after about 5 minutes, but whatever.
Rated 28 Feb 2012
80
77th
Excellent thriller. I've seen Noyce's Tom Clancy adaptations but those films were pretty ruthlessly ruled by the script, and I think he works better with something simpler like this. Shame about that ending though.
Rated 30 Jun 2012
2
39th
Points for atmosphere and Sam Neill. Big problem is the final act, which drags on and on before culminating in absurdity.
Rated 26 Sep 2012
75
58th
1.5 speed.
Rated 17 Jun 2013
72
43rd
Billy Zane plays a really great psycho.
Rated 27 Sep 2013
80
61st
The contrast between the wide open sea and the closed confines of a small ship give this a unique atmosphere for a thriller. While at times it's a bit plodding there are quite a few wonderfully executed moments and all three actors do a great job. That flare at the end is also pretty amazing.
Rated 03 Oct 2014
67
29th
Decently enjoyable, with some impressively sparse mise en scene and interesting but incomplete "nice guys finish last" sub-text. It's too bad there's some very dumb decisions by Kidman's character (and some by Neill's character) towards the end that really sour the conclusion of this film. I thought the first five or so minutes (not on the boat yet) were probably the best.
Rated 18 Nov 2014
61
71st
Don't be rude to the cabin boy
Rated 03 Dec 2014
65
29th
It's a prototype tv-thriller, enjoyable to watch but best not too think too much about. Biggest flaw in this that Billy Zane is unconvincing as the psychopath. Unfortunate the movie fails to utilize on its simple premise by having Kidman make many of those typical stupid movie choices.
Rated 18 Oct 2015
78
57th
Fairly entertaining if hammy thriller. The three actors were all good choices for their roles and I enjoyed the exotic setting. The far-fetched plot was the movie's weakest point. It did lead to plenty of excitement with a fresh-faced Nicole Kidman being chased around a boat, although Sam Neill got the short end of the stick on the baffling ghost ship. I'm in favour of more seafaring psycho thrillers.
Rated 19 Mar 2016
44
54th
#90s(e)#, rw4, story
Rated 18 May 2016
63
60th
Quite a nice thriller. I sensed a bit of a "Straw Dogs" influence which seemed presumptuous, but most of it is pretty straightforward, the characters' behavior is fairly sound, and I even liked the slightly over-the-top ending.
Rated 25 Mar 2017
88
67th
A-
Rated 04 Mar 2018
73
58th
Nothing special, bu I miss thrillers like these nowadys. Driven purely by its story, without bunch of special effects and stuff like that,
Rated 07 Oct 2023
95
96th
This movie is a psychological experience. The relationship between the psycho and Kidman is full of ambivalences that the movie touch upon.

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