Review: 12 Feet Deep

(imdb.com)

Perhaps one of the most frustrating things about watching a movie is witnessing its original concept executed so poorly. But, even great ideas can suffer at the hands of diluted plot points and an anticlimactic ending. Tack on mediocre acting - partially undone by a bad script - and a film that should have been able to capture the eyes of its audience, instead falters to a point of apathy. This is the case with 12 Feet Deep.

12 Feet Deep follows a pair of sisters with a strained relationship, as they become encased in a swimming pool with a hard fiberglass cover. Sounds great? It should have been. But, the next addition to the film is a doozy of ridiculous proportions; a janitor, for what seems like no reason, seems hell-bent on blackmailing the women for their money that they don't have. What could have been a film of slow-burning survival, quickly devolves into an outrageous mess that'll have even the easiest-pleased scratching their heads.

12 Feet Deep stars Alexandra Park (The Royals) and Nora-Jane Noone (The Descent) as the troubled Jonna and straight-laced Bree, respectively. Diane Farr (Numb3rs) plays the Janitor and Tobin Bell (Saw) plays the blink-and-you'll-miss-it-role as a pool director. Between muddled arguments that seem impractical and thrown-in, the two young stars are done a disservice. Nothing about their relationship - the good or the bad - seems genuine. There is a lack of chemistry that this film definitely needed to succeed. Park makes plenty of valiant efforts but they all fall short of anything noteworthy thanks largely to a script that was definitely not thought through.

As noted, had this film been a basic survival flick, it would have been far better. There was a way to do this and do it well. Firstly, many Olympic pools don't have a shallow end. Including one is defeating of one of the scariest aspects of being trapped in water; exhaustion. Secondly, keeping the diabetes storyline in place, the exhaustion aspect of treading water becomes all the more pressing. Then, without the janitor, this film could feel truly claustrophobic. By showcasing shots outside of the pool, the filmmakers remove some of the atmospheric tension that would build around being trapped in a pool. The bottom line is this; there are a lot of things this movie could have toyed with - chlorine intake, making use of the pool lanes, attempting to break open the cover - but instead they traded all of this fantastic material for a hapless janitor with pretty outlandish intent.

It really is a shame what 12 Feet Deep is versus what it could have been. What would have been even better as a practical, more grounded horror tale of survival is left behind for a truly obnoxious result. There are far too many flaws in the film for any of its individual issues to be remedied. Sad, because its concept is so much better than what audiences will get. 3 out of 10.