A little while back we brought you the news from Signature Entertainment with the first UK trailer for the movie The Reef: Stalked starring Teressa Liane and Saskia Archer, today we bring you our thoughts on the new movie.
The Reef: Stalked starts off slowly with a quick introduction to the group of friends, but then tragedy strikes and nine months later in an effort to escape the trauma of their sister’s murder, Nic (Teressa Liane, The Vampire Diaries) and Annie (Saskia Archer, Boshack) along with two close friends set off for a dream vacation. A Pacific island adventure lies ahead with drinks, sun and surf on the menu. Within hours of hitting the surf, the women are attacked far from land by a great white shark.
Bleeding and vulnerable, it’s a race against time as they soon realise they’re being stalked by the beast as they venture closer and closer to safety. They are more than prey to the shark, they’re entertainment. The Reef: Stalked is written and directed by Andrew Traucki (Black Water, The Reef).Â
I have to say that movie was not what I was expecting, the DVD cover design is a little misleading as the film is very, very, slow. I was hoping for some moments that had me shocked and jumping off my seat, but sadly not, the movie just seemed to drag its heels or should that be fins, the underwater shots do look good and I really can’t fault those, as do the cinematography of the footage on the surface of the water that looks nice and crisp.
The Reef: Stalked is more thriller than horror and if you class it as a thriller I think it works better, the story is one that does work and you do feel for the characters a little, the cast does a great job showing the fear that you would expect anyone to have when they are being “stalked” by a great white, the soundtrack from Mark Smythe (BOAR) works well and it does have moments when it has those John Williams moments when the shark attacks, which sound great.
The great white footage looks good and works for the movie, but sadly for me it just isn’t scary, maybe it’s that we’ve so many shark movies over the years that the poor creatures now have such a bad reputation, but let’s face it of all the movies out there that come and go I don’t think that Stephen Spielberg’s JAWS has any worries about being knocked off as one of the best shark movies.
If you prefer your thrillers to your horrors then The Reef: Stalked is OK and maybe it’s a movie that you will enjoy, it’s not for everyone and for me it really didn’t grab me the way I was hoping it would.
Signature Entertainment presents The Reef: Stalked on UK Digital Platforms 29th July & DVD 8th August.
The Reef: Stalked had protentional to be so much better
Movie title: The Reef: Stalked
Movie description: After her sister's murder, Nic, her younger sister and two friends seek solace through a Pacific island kayaking adventure. Hours into the trip the women are stalked by a shark and must band together, face their fears and save each other.
Date published: July 26, 2022
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 28m
Director(s): Andrew Traucki
Actor(s): Teressa Liane, Ann Truong, Saskia Archer
Genre: Thriller
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
