A group of old friends get together for a boating expedition. Things take a deadly turn when they decide to go for a little open water swim. They forgot to drop the ladder which makes getting out of the ocean impossible. Will they figure out a way to survive or fall victim to the vicious elements of the sea?

While very different in style and tone from Open Water, this edition was still a very solid effort. The biggest difference between the two films is where the main source of horror comes from. In the original, the terror is delivered by the hungry sharks waiting to snack on the humans. In this outing the horror comes from the humans themselves. The reason for this is that the unwilling sea-stranded participants have no scuba gear. They got stuck out in the water from their own boat as opposed to being properly equipped. This obviously shortens the amount of time they have to survive significantly.

This type of human horror requires solid acting by the cast which thankfully Open Water 2 provides. Pretty much the entire group of friends was believable without the clichéd personalities that sometime go along with these types of characters. Very little in the ridiculous behavior department. I must admit I was quite impressed.

The main goal of this film was to keep you extremely tense while being sure of impending doom. Open Water 2 provides this in a BIG way so I would have to consider it a BIG success. It’s not the greatest film you’ll ever see but it provides what it promises. It’s not every day a film can emotionally affect me. The story sucked me right in and didn’t let go till the final credits rolled.

Though I don’t have many gripes with this film it is far from flawless. For starters it made absolutely no sense at all that a mother would bring her new born baby on a boozing adventure on a yacht in the middle of the Mexican sea. Also the ending was a bit of a letdown. I really can’t get into why I felt that way without spoiling it for you but let’s just say I was left unfulfilled.

So overall what you have here is a solid, tense, dark, well acted, and well-produced human horror film. You don’t see too many of those these days, at least ones that are any good. This film is not for everyone, it doesn’t have gore or other typical horror movie eye candy. I’d call it a mature horror film. You can certainly do a hell of a lot worse than this. At the very least you should find yourself moderately entertained. For that reason I am giving this the Marshal’s seal of approval. (You know that’s like gold baby!)

6.5 out of 10 reasons for not lying to impress your friends.

**Fun Fact: Like the first film, Open Water 2 is also based on a true story