So NOT a “date” movie. Inspired by a real life incident in which a scuba-diving couple was abandoned in the ocean, director Chris Kentis’ feature is a harrowing, chilling, profoundly sorrowful experience – not exactly a lead-up to goo-goo-eyed smiles and smooching for first time daters. Even jaded horror film and Discovery Channel Shark Week devotees are certain to exit the theater with their wind knocked out.

A workaholic couple, Daniel (Daniel Travis) and Susan (Blanchard Ryan), finally embark on a long-needed vacation to a tropical island. Surrounded by sun and relaxing fun, they finally put the laptop down and sign up for a scuba diving expedition with a boatload of other tourists. Yet after a delightful dive, Daniel and Susan come back up to find the boat… missing.

Accidentally abandoned, the couple’s mood quickly changes from calmly optimistic to worried when a dark fin appears. As time passes, the boat doesn’t return and more forms of ocean life – some visible, others hidden below – cross their path, primal fear and hopelessness sets in…

At the Sundance Film Festival 2004, where Open Water premiered, the first press screening’s terrified audience had no clue about the film’s actual Grey Reef and Bull sharks, which has since been revealed in previews and TV promos (FYI, Ryan got chomped by a barracuda while filming). Still, the inevitable first appearance of a fin gliding across the water’s surface is a harrowing, jarring image, in part due to Kentis’ effective, tension-evoking direction and knot-tight editing (keep in mind there are no computer generated effects). Kentis and producer/co-cinematographer Laura Lau mostly limit our field of vision to the water’s surface, keeping the dreadful threats shrouded in mystery below. This is a very Blair Witch Project-like device – allowing our imaginations to go hog-wild with nightmarish possibilities – but unlike Blair Witch, Open Water boasts more than its share of “money shots” that have us jerking our legs up into the chair: those actual sharks.

Open Water’s washed-out digital video isn’t even slightly up to par with what we’ve seen today’s technology glossily achieve (think Star Wars Episode 2), yet it does impart a home video/documentary feel. This adds to the work’s gripping immediacy – you’ll share Daniel and Susan’s pit-of-the-stomach feelings of hopelessness. Acting-wise, although they did seem a little stiff during the film’s first quarter hour, Travis and Ryan’s chemistry was very believable to me. They managed to evoke a realistic longtime couple’s rapport, while the dialogue and various stages their characters go through – mutual panic, clinginess, infighting – struck me as convincingly organic.

I do wonder if Open Water will inspire even a fraction of the rip-offs that Blair Witch did – say, parodies in which couples are stranded in kiddie pools, a porta-potty, or in an ocean with the Finding Nemo cast.

Regardless, movie scares like this don’t come often enough, so prepare for a dive into dark depths indeed.