{"id":10371,"date":"2019-09-30T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T20:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog-proxy.atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/?p=10371"},"modified":"2019-09-30T13:00:17","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T20:00:17","slug":"fantastic-fest-sea-fever-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/sea-fever-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantastic Fest: &#8216;Sea Fever&#8217; Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Neasa Hardiman\u2019s\u00a0<i>Sea Fever<\/i>\u00a0is a chilling aqua-horror take on\u00a0<i>The Thing<\/i>\u00a0meets\u00a0<i>Cabin Fever<\/i>\u00a0set aboard a trawling vessel. Comparable parallels might suggest a Celtic\u00a0<i>Alien<\/i>\u00a0set afloat with an underwater monster ready to trigger massive thalassophobia reactions (Google Images, my friends). Hardiman\u2019s deep-blue behemoth isn\u2019t some ferocious Xenomorph design, however, but instead a parasitic take that\u2019s more scientific horror based on fact, humanity\u2019s hubris, and nature\u2019s immeasurable unpredictability. According to sailor superstitions, redheads assure bad luck for voyages.\u00a0<i>Sea Fever\u00a0<\/i>doesn\u2019t do much to dispell such a myth.<\/p>\n<p>Siobh\u00e1n (Hermione Corfield) has been assigned to a modest fishing expedition as their marine biologist tagalong. Freya (Connie Nielsen) and Gerard (Dougray Scott) welcome Siobh\u00e1n into their ranks, but the shy intellectual has trouble making immediate friends. That\u2019s until an unidentified lifeform attaches itself to Freya\u2019s boat, contaminating everyone\u2019s water supply. Siobh\u00e1n must win over her surrounding crew if she\u2019s to identify an anti-outbreak escape, which may prove more difficult than her scientific deducing. That or they\u2019ll die horrible, lonely deaths.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/545P-C8J1EU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>Sea Fever<\/i>\u00a0has only played Toronto International Film Festival and Fantastic Fest at this point with no distribution deal. While we wait for someone to take Hardiman\u2019s bait, here are three reasons to hunt down this saturated slice of vacuum-sealed dread when it finally hits theaters.<\/p>\n<h2>1. It&#8217;s A Headier Horror Cruise\u00a0Than The Usual Monster Chomping<\/h2>\n<p>I know I mention\u00a0<i>Alien<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<i>The Thing\u00a0<\/i>above, but to confirm, both those movies are far scarier by general horror terms.\u00a0<i>Sea Fever<\/i>\u00a0is more about infection survival, patient zero paranoia, and a monster that lurks well out of sight. Siobh\u00e1n\u2019s narrative drives themes of science versus religion and superstition versus folly, as we uncover why the film\u2019s stranded ship becomes suctioned to a monstrosity from below. The horrors of facing one&#8217;s finality outweigh monster cinema influences like\u00a0<i>Deep Rising<\/i>\u00a0or\u00a0<i>Life<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe that doesn\u2019t sound as exciting, but Hardiman never sacrifices excitement or tension. Siobh\u00e1n understands she cannot risk their newfound parasitic infection spreading across mainlands, and is forced to convince a crew already against her that their lives aren\u2019t worth the greater good. Cue engineers and captains forced to face their own mortality, giving way to some squirmy visual spooks. There\u2019s a natural, humane reason why Gerard\u2019s greedy pursuit of profitable netted returns is never worth the doom he\u2019s ensured. It\u2019s a battle of reason against panic, which offers the depth of layered terror versus one-note creature chomping.<\/p>\n<h2>2. A Wooden And Metal Tomb\u00a0Setting Raises The Tension<\/h2>\n<p>Hardiman\u2019s tension within confined seafaring quarters works to pressurize and constrict. Most time is spent in a cramped galley, tight machine room, or diving off the boat into darkened waters. There\u2019s nowhere to hide nor anywhere to run because ocean waters stretch as far as the eye can peep (and you can\u2019t run atop water, ding dong). Yet, Hardiman remains methodical and doesn&#8217;t even need to employ the true effects of \u201csea fever,\u201d the hazy, delirious state that disorients when sailors sleep only twoish hours a night. You feel trapped, claustrophobic, but Siobh\u00e1n\u2019s collected calmness instills such poise when solving her biological puzzle. Dread and intrigue tangle like tentacles in subdued ways that remind me of the exploratory outer space disaster\u00a0<i>Europa Report<\/i>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10376\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10376\" class=\"size-large wp-image-10376\" src=\"https:\/\/blog-proxy.atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/sea-fever-dougray-scott-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/sea-fever-dougray-scott-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/sea-fever-dougray-scott-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/sea-fever-dougray-scott-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/sea-fever-dougray-scott-1000x500.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/sea-fever-dougray-scott-500x250.jpg 500w, https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/sea-fever-dougray-scott-1080x540.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/sea-fever-dougray-scott.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peering into each other&#8217;s eyes in &#8216;Sea Fever&#8217;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As Siobh\u00e1n attempts to sanitize Freya\u2019s ship of unwanted invaders passed through water, she\u2019s met with pause simply over fears of the possible damage incurred. These are the film\u2019s climatic standoffs, not between fanged beast and terrified researcher, but between terrified humans. Olwen Fou\u00e9r\u00e9\u2019s elderly assistant Ciara poses more of a threat to Siobh\u00e1n given her irrational hatred of orangy hair colors. Madness drowns out rational thinking in small floods, but then sanity returns when Freya suggests everyone inspect each others\u2019 eyes in a nod to\u00a0<i>The Thing<\/i>\u2019s blood sequence. Cameras zoom into pupils, searching for wriggly sea babies swimming within &#8211; tension filling your lungs. There\u2019s more horror in acknowledging death sentences than waiting for a monster to strike and it&#8217;s particularly heightened because the setting provides no escape, only increasingly claustrophobic dead ends.<\/p>\n<h2>3. It Shows The Grotesque Beauty Of Body Horror<\/h2>\n<p><em>Sea Fever<\/em>\u00a0is a horror movie. Don\u2019t dispell that classification simply because it lacks jump scares. As abandoned ships within rafting distance are combed for clues, gruesome findings foreshadow what could possibly happen to Siobh\u00e1n\u2019s collective. As Omid (a strong supporting performance by Ardalan Esmaili) and others weigh their fates against survival odds, the side effects of sickness cause fleshy mutilation and mutation, optical trauma and bloody gashes alike. Hardiman isn\u2019t shy about body horror, but also doesn\u2019t require gore as a crutch.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, glowing neon appendages flail and leave behind a greenish goo that shimmers brightly. The \u201cmonster\u201d never harms Siobh\u00e1n during an early encounter, and as the scientist herself says, their vessel was mistaken for a whale. Everything about Hardiman\u2019s gargantuan creature latched onto Freya\u2019s ship reads as a dangerous \u2013 but not a malicious \u2013 attack. When you enter uncharted waters, go where you should not be, there are consequences. Freya herself even inadvertently remarks on how beautifully the beast\u2019s glow illuminates night wakes and waves, defining this complicated relationship between man and nature. Mother Earth is gorgeous, her babies uncontainable, and sometimes we just get caught in the middle.\u00a0<i>Sea Fever<\/i>\u00a0is a deadsight reminder of our puny insignificance and the grand pecking order that should humble us all.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neasa Hardiman\u2019s\u00a0Sea Fever\u00a0is a chilling aqua-horror take on\u00a0The Thing\u00a0meets\u00a0Cabin Fever\u00a0set aboard a trawling vessel. Comparable parallels might suggest a Celtic\u00a0Alien\u00a0set afloat with an underwater monster ready to trigger massive thalassophobia reactions (Google Images, my friends). Hardiman\u2019s deep-blue behemoth isn\u2019t some ferocious Xenomorph design, however, but instead a parasitic take that\u2019s more scientific horror based on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,52],"tags":[40,37],"class_list":["post-10371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror","category-review","tag-featuredpage","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10371"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10377,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10371\/revisions\/10377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}