Hans Horn

(In French, On Cable TV, June 2021) There are touches of zombie movies and techno-thriller in Death Water that make for a promising, but not particularly fulfilling result. Readers of techno-thrillers will certainly recognize much of the set-up, as an oil-drilling platform uncovers a long-dormant life form that makes a snack of modern biology. The counter having been started for the End of the World as we Know It, that takes care of the overall plotting of the film. The rest follows disaster-movie conventions, as we are introduced to a number of characters with personal problems (the no-good ex-husband, the careerist woman, the hotshot driven scientist, etc.) that will be magnified by the impending catastrophe. Some of Death Water’s initial moments feel like a zombie movie, as a mysterious illness suddenly affects residents of a coastal city, overwhelming hospitals with people behaving strangely. As scientists argue with the mayor that beaches must be closed, we move closer to Jaws, but then three characters lock themselves up in a submarine to jury-rig a world-saving solution and, incidentally, save one of the characters’ daughters. (She should logically be dead but, you know: plot contrivances.)  Director Hans Horn’s Death Water only works intermittently, and seeing it on a channel usually dedicated to horror films may have set weird expectations for a film that keeps going back and forth between thriller and horror modes. (It eventually ends up firmly in horror territory, as the very last scene clarifies.)  The result is not uninteresting, but much of it has to do with the unusual North Sea atmosphere rather than intrinsic interest in the characters or the plotting. Not much distinguishes Death Water from many other Hollywood horror thrillers except for the quality of its special effects, and that’s not necessarily a compliment.