There were two Australia-lensed killer crocodile movies released back in 2007, and while Greg McLean's ROGUE had the star power (Radha Mitchell, Michael Vartan, Sam Worthington, John Jarratt, Mia Wasikowska), it's David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki's lower budgeted BLACK WATER that's getting a sequel 11 years later.
Nerlich doesn't appear to be coming back for the sequel, but Traucki will be directing the new film, which has the title BLACK WATER: ABYSS.
The first movie told the story of three characters being stalked and attacked by crocodiles when their boat capsizes in a mangrove. ABYSS, written by Sarah Smith and Ian John Ridley, follows
an adventure-loving couple who convince their friends to explore a remote cave system in the forests of Northern Australia. With a storm approaching, they abseil into the mouth of the cave, which starts to flood, and find themselves threatened by a pack of crocodiles, setting up a tense survival drama.
Casting is underway for the project, which is being produced by Michael Robertson and Neal Kingston, with Robert Slaviero executive producing.
Altitude Film Sales will be presenting BLACK WATER: ABYSS to potential buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin. Altitude's Mike Runagall said that the sequel will, like the original, be shot with actual live crocodiles for the most part. It
employs the same ingenious approach on a much larger canvas to deliver a highly commercial high-concept thriller from a team with a proven track record in this arena."
Robertson says that the sequel is
designed to terrify and scare, cause dread and alarm, to invoke our worst hidden fears – in this case, a fear heavily imprinted in our genes, the fear of being eaten alive by a vicious, unreasoning predator.”
A fan of the first BLACK WATER, I'm looking forward to seeing how BLACK WATER: ABYSS turns out.