Dead Sea (2024) is a crime-horror film written and directed by Phil Volken. The film tells the story of a group of young people (Kaya, Tessa, Julian and Xander) on a fateful trip from Florida to the Bahamas. After a jet ski accident leaves one dead, the remaining three are swept away in the middle of the ocean. They think they have found salvation when they are rescued by a fishing boat, but that is only the beginning of real hell.
Initially, when they set foot on the ship, Kaya's group feels safe and hopeful. However, the people who save them - Captain Rey (Alexander Wraith) and Dr. Curtis Hunt (Dean Cameron) - are actually organ traffickers. Xander is killed first, Tessa is prepared to donate her organs, and Kaya must use all her survival instincts to fight back. She kills the doctor, shoots Rey with an arrow and activates a signal device to call for rescue. Finally, the Coast Guard comes to rescue the two girls.
In terms of content, the film has a simple structure: from peace to chaos, from rescue to trap. The highlight lies in the psychological transformation of the main character - from naivety and trust to bravery and determination. Isabel Gravitt (as Kaya) shows this psychological transformation, from humility and fear to fighting for life. The role of Captain Rey played by Alexander Wraith also creates a creepy, cunning feeling. Dean Cameron plays Dr. Hunt, conveying the image of a cold, ruthless person, making the audience angry.
However, the film also received a lot of criticism. Many critics rated the content as somewhat predictable and one-sided. Some comments on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes showed that the film was criticized as bland, lacking in drama, and sometimes dragging on for too long. On Reddit, there are quite negative comments such as:
“The storyline is pretty predictable, and the characters feel one-dimensional, making it hard to really care about their fate.” “Dead Sea was horribly bad, in a good way lol. Plus, the Director rewards us with all sorts of great angles of one of the hottest girls on the face of the Earth – in a bikini:)” .
Some people think that the film is a “missed opportunity”, failing to fully exploit the vast setting at sea, as well as lacking psychological depth of the characters. The underwater scenes, the beautiful Bahamas sunset images are devalued due to the immature staging, poor CGI.
However, it cannot be denied that Dead Sea brings a feeling of tension, suffocating atmosphere, betrayal from trusted people, and the survival battle of the female lead. The film is about 88 minutes long, suitable for showing on platforms such as Prime Video, Amazon.
In short, Dead Sea (2024) is a work with a remarkable idea: a rescue that turns into an organ trafficking trap in the middle of the ocean. The plus points are Isabel Gravitt's acting and the way the passive, suffocating atmosphere is built. On the contrary, the film is weak in its predictable plot, lack of depth in its characters, and its limited filmmaking techniques. If you love the survival genre mixed with light horror (not too bloody), this is a choice to watch on a relaxing evening, but if you expect a work with depth and breakthrough, "Dead Sea" may not satisfy you completely.
