Deadwater

Even taking into account that this is low-budget, Black Ops is truly a horrendous pile of steaming crap. Watch this at your own peril. The film combines an element of supernatural horror and an action/adventure military flick, but fails on both counts.

There are better films that touch on the same current topic of Middle Eastern terrorism and the use of torture and extraordinary rendition. There are also numerous horror movies that are infinitely more satisfying.

The camera work and audio are crisp and professional-grade. The storyline, dialogue and acting are not.

1 star out of 10.

I would give it a 5 out of 10 as far as rated b movies are concerned. Maybe even a 6 if you add munchies. It reminds me of the video game wolfenstein. One slight naked scene with the beautiful Katherine Randolph's .

You have your WWII-era battleship an evil Nazi entity, enormous amounts of bloody body parts, dead corpse hanging upside down. At first I couldn't figure out who killed everyone on the waters and how did they escape or did they? To find out as the movie progressed it might be a ghost! How do you fight a supernatural being? you'll have to watch the movie. don't forget the popcorn! definitely watchable.

OK...OK... It's not going to win any awards! But it is a great study (listen to directors comments) on how to make a low budget ($350,000) thriller in 15 days. Shot with two Panasonic HVX-200 HD camcorders on a docked WWII Liberty ship in LA, the 15 man crew did an amazing job in the cramped sets they had to work with... which is why the lighting is minimal. But isn't that the way it's supposed to be in the typical "spooky house" (the ship) movie. The writers simply cranked the script out after visiting this museum ship...and they acknowledge that much. They simply wanted to have fun making a movie. One unintentional hilarity is the similarity to part of the plot line to "Ghostbusters".

Or is it "onboard"? Well whatever it is (and emphasis on the "it"), there are far better efforts out there than this one. It tries pretty hard and unfortunately thinks it's more clever than it is. Still with no expectations at all, you might have a somewhat rewarding experience ... On the other hand, you could do a lot better with your time and watch a Lance Henriksen movie, where the movie is good too.

It's shot nicely though and there are a few nice scares (though it does suffer as some movies, from a strong beginning and very fast drop after that). The effects are good too, but that's almost it. A friend of mine told me, that there might be a music "mistake" at the end too. But why bother looking for a mistake like that?

Oh when oh when will I learn not to let my absolute adoration of Lance Henrikson make me sit through even extremely bad films Ie. pretty much anything post-"Millennium". This brain-dead little number is no different. Attempting to tie a Iraq war film with a supernatural ghost story may work on paper, but this is not paper and the result is an absolute mess that's nearly unwatchable. Bad acting, bad special effects, incoherent storyline. One can go right down the list of bad film-making 101 and put checks down it. The sad thing is I KNOW this won't be the last movie I watch from Henrikson, i still believe the guy rocks. But it will be the last Roel Reine flick that I watch.

My Grade: D-

DVD Extras: Director's commentary; One night on the set; Alternate opening; deleted scenes; Trailer for this movie; and trailers for "War, Inc.", "Player 5150", "Day of the Dead", "Three Days to Vegas", "Jack & Jill Vs. the World", "the Amateurs", & "Rockaway"