Today I am going to recap and explain a true story-based Australian survival horror film called The reef. The director of this film is Mr. Andrew Traucki who directed another great true story survival horror film called black water. I have already recapped that film, if you have not seen it then please check it out. The link is in the I button and description. But first, if you have not subscribed to my channel then please do it. The film opens with a guy named Luke who was an employee in a boating company. His job was to deliver the private yachts to its customers. Sort of a yacht captain. He welcomes his friend Matt, Matt's girlfriend Suzie, and his ex-girlfriend Kate. Luke had invited them on his tour to Indonesia where he was delivering a yacht. This was a jolly good holiday trip.
At the dock site, he introduces his new crew member Warren to everyone who was also on this route for the first time. He used to work on a fishing boat before this. Here Kate observes the bones of mako, tiger, hammerhead, and white pointer displayed on the wall. A tour guide says sharks are local to this area, they are there. It's only that people don't believe that they can come this far north. He jokes about the odds of people dying from shark attacks to that of a bee attack. Kate and Luke had a bitter-sweet breakup, these two used to crew together in the past. Some incidents caused Kate to move out of this profession and she asked Luke to leave as well. But he refused hence she moved on.
Now all five sail and enjoy the ocean. These guys were sailing through the coral reef. After sailing for a few hours an island appears on the horizon. Luke suggests diving here to which everyone agrees. With a help of a lifeboat, these guys reached the shore and enjoyed the beach. Later dived and explored the underwater aquatic life. Here Kate saw a baby white shark and ignores it. As it was a baby. After resting for a few minutes on the beach the tide suddenly starts to recede. Warren informs about this to Luke by signaling his hand. Luke quickly grabbed everyone and reached the yacht. Because the tide was receding the water level was dangerously low for the yacht to sail. Luke and Warren lift the anchor, they carefully, and slowly sail through the water to a higher level. Luke asks Kate to steer the wheel while he and warren went down to check on the engine. Here Kate teaches Suzie how to sail a boat. The engine was fine hence they sail at full speed. At night all sleep in their cabins.
The next morning Luke and Kate started talking about their relationship. After a few minutes, Luke heads to grab some food from storage when suddenly the yacht topples. Everyone was drowned and started getting out. In a panic state, Kate reached the surface first, then Suzie, Luke, and Warren surfaced. Matt was still underwater, he heard Suize's calling. Luke dived here and saved Matt. The condition of these guys was pretty bad. These guys were in the middle of the ocean, their yacht was toppled and the lifeboat was damaged. They also lost their food and water. Luke was not sure what caused this, it may be a shark attack or they just simply hit a reef. Everyone tried to revert the yacht but it was heavy hence unsuccessful. Later all climb the yacht where they saw the keel itself was damaged. Even if they somehow revert this yacht it was in no condition to sail.
Luke saw a white shark surrounding them, but he ignores it. As this will cause panic which will help no one. Instead, he says, We are in the middle, there are no boats for miles. For us to survive we must swim to the nearby turtle island and wait for the rescue. It is approximately twelve miles or around about ten hours of swimming. Matt and Suzie were terrified hearing this as they never tried something like this. The marathon swimming. They were not Michael Phelps. Warren talks about activating SOS signal EPIRB. EPIRB stands for emergency position-indicating radio beacon. This was an old model which works only for planes. Meaning whenever a plane enter's the range of this signal, it gets detected. Since no planes were flying around here as it was not the usual route for them, the chances of EPIRB getting detected were next to nothing. Warren was pretty scared about this as this area was infested with sharks. He decides to stay here.
Luke again dived here and brought back the EPIRB device with some bodyboards and wetsuits. To cover that long distance it was needed. Except for Warren all four enter the water and started swimming north. Luke found North with the help of his wristwatch. At least for a couple of hours, these guys swam without any trouble and rather enjoyed it a little. Then they saw a school of fish circling around. After a few more minutes Suzie saw something in black color floating toward them.
Everyone halts to see it but it was not clearly visible. Luke tried to see it underwater, still, it was unclear. Matt courageously and slowly swam towards it. It turned out to be a big dead turtle whose head was chopped off. Everyone falls back in panic as to who might have killed such a big turtle. Kate thought of a shark. Suzie was terrified hearing this, her legs just froze hearing this. Matt and Luke helped her, they insisted on marching ahead.
Back at the yacht, Warren saw something surrounding him. It could be a shark or something else but he was definitely terrified. Back at the ocean Suzie again saw something around them, she started screaming. Kate and Matt tried to calm her down but she was pretty agitated. Luke started seeing underwater where this time he saw a big shark. Quickly he asks everyone to stick together and not to make any movement. The shark started circling around them. Fear and paranoia gripped these guys as there was no one to save them. Suzie was breathing heavily when the shark passed just beside kate. It dragged her bodyboard away from her. After staying here for a few minutes Matt decides to bring back that board, he slowly swam towards it and retreated it. When he was heading back the shark attacked him from behind with all its force and chopped off his legs.
He started screaming and flashing water. Suzie also screamed in panic, she wanted to swim toward him but Luke stopped her. After the shark went away with Matt's leg these guys approached Matt. As he could not swim anymore he asked everyone to go ahead. Suzie was shocked and crying, she was Matt dying in her arms. Luke screamed at her to move away from Matt as the shark was again coming for him. Suzie kissed Matt and swam away from him. Later the shark jumped on matt as it dragged his body underwater.
These three started swimming again towards the north, and pretty soon it was night. Suzie was pissed as Luke told them that they will reach the island in three hours but it was way past that. Clearly, it was a lie to get them on board. She blames Matt's death on him but Kate supports Luke. At night another shark surrounds them but this time it leaves without attacking them. These guys swam all night, they were exhausted. The next morning brought a ray of hope as they saw the Island on the horizon. They rested for a while on a small reef that was barely above water. As they head out Suzie again saw something approaching them. I mean this lady might have the eyes of an eagle, it's always she who sees the danger.
This time it turned out to be a dolphin, not a shark. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and swam ahead. After a few minutes, a shark sneakily attacks Suzie underwater and drags her away from rest. It shreds her body where a school of fish started munching on her. Luke and Kate saw this in horror but they were helpless. They quickly swam away from there, claimed another reef and kate started crying. She thought this was the same shark that attacked Matt. In a hurry, her feet got injured, Luke raps a cloth on it and both rest here for a while. These two end their breakup and embrace each other. This misadventure taught them one thing very clearly living a life without love is as good as being dead. The Island was not far from here hence these two moved ahead. Finally, they reached it. But the Island was not flat it was quite steep and slippery. Just then the shark returns and started circling around. Luke somehow lifts Kate onto the rocks. As soon as he tried to climb it the shark attacked him from behind and dragged him underwater.
His blood slashed across the water. Kate in desperation screamed like hell but luke was gone. The written epilogue reveals that Kate was rescued by a fishing boat the next day, however extensive searches failed to locate Warren or the Yacht. Most probably it sank. With this, the film ends. Well, this is not by far the great shark movie but definitely a realistic one. Like in the black water, where they used real crocodiles, the director here used real sharks. Except in one scene when the shark passes right beside Kate all scenes are real.
This film is a reminder that while we enjoy playing out in the waters, deadly creatures do inhabit them. They use our fear of the unknown to their advantage. The film has great suspense from beginning to end, it holds tension and makes you nervous. Even though it bombed at the box office I still say this in hindsight it's a great B horror film. Its sort of sequel is releasing this month which I will recap
