The film follows a woman (Michelle Mylett) who is recovering from almost drowning in an accident. She suddenly starts to develop aquaphobia. Her friends try to help her out of this predicament but they accidently unleash a murderous spirit known as the drownsman. Now, he is stalking her and her friends. It forces them to try and find a way out, before he drags them into a world of immersed torment where there isn’t a way out.
Sometime a film that you’ve been wanting see so bad, turns into a film that leave your head scratching and makes you wonder why I was interested in the film in the first place. This happened with “The Drownsman”, as this was a bad film. It surprises me that it’s bad considering the names that were involved in this film were also behind the entertaining horror film “Antisocial”.
Chad Archbald’s direction was not good at all. One of the things that I didn’t like about his direction was the way the pace of the film moves. Whether it was the way the film shot to the killer’s look, everything helped make the film feel very dull to the point that I was bored with what was happening in the film. But at least, Archbald managed to keep the film somewhat interesting with the way that he directs his cast. He does a good job making sure that the performances aspect kept my interested with the film’s story. Too bad, he couldn’t come up with a screenplay that would’ve enhanced the performances and make this a better film.
The screenplay was surprisingly bad considering that I liked their last screenplay “Antisocial”. One of the things that I didn’t like about Chad Archbald’s and Cody Calahan screenplay was the fact that the death scenes weren’t written well as it didn’t generate any reaction. Usually in a horror film, the death scenes is handled to turn up the intensity of the story. This film didn’t do it until near the end of the film. I was bored watching them for the other two thirds, as it didn’t make me feel horrified and shake me at the cord. Part of it has to do with the way the scenes were written and part of it had to do with the fact the characters weren’t interesting to even care. The other thing that I didn’t like about their screenplay was the fact certain things were rushed. Things like the lack of character development in the beginning of the film to how some of the death scenes went too fast and deprived it from generate any scares. If some of the scenes were slowed down, then this would’ve been more of an effective screenplay. Instead, the film’s screenplay drags this film down.
I had some expectation going into this film, but this sadly left me disappointed. “The Drownsman” drowns due to its screenplay and its dull action.
Review Rating: One Star
