Last year’s August FrightFest event came to an epic conclusion with Scott Mann’s Fall. The film charted the plight of two friends who found themselves stuck at the top of a 2000 foot TV tower. The reception was overwhelmingly positive, and this year it seems the festival is hoping that magic will happen again with The Dive.
Directed by Maximilian Erlenwein, The Dive shifts focus from the sky to underwater. Sisters May (Louisa Krause) and Drew (Sophie Lowe) meet up for a spot of cave-diving. The activity is something that they’ve done since they were children. Back then they had their father to help; this time it is just the two of them. It has been a while since they last met up, but their reunion quickly takes a perilous turn when a landslide above causes the more experienced diver, May, to get trapped. It is then left to Drew to save her sister.
Sisters trapped underwater is a story that has been done before, 47 Metres Down being the first film to come to mind. Interestingly, ahead of Fall’s debut, Mann’s movie was pitched as 47 Metres Down but above sea level. That now The Dive is being lauded as Fall, but in the ocean, is essentially saying it is 47 Metres Down without the sharks. The easiest way to describe The Dive would therefore be to say that it lies somewhere between both. However, The Dive fails to capture the imagination as well as either.
A key component in both 47 Metres Down and Fall is that the viewer understood the stakes. In Fall the vertigo-inducing camerawork sells just high up the friends are. Similarly, in 47 Metres Down the clear water allowed the audience to see the sharks lurking near the cage. However, in The Dive, it is unclear exactly how far down the sisters are. Not only is there a lack of clarity where exactly the two are, there is also too much debris in the water to get an accurate idea. That Drew is able to easily reach the surface and seek out help also diminishes some of the fright factor. The Dive tries to add some anxiety to the above surface sequences by adding a ticking clock onto the screen. This timer is counting down May’s air supply, but Drew’s scattered approach to rescue frustrates rather than heightens the drama.
As Drew frantically races around above ground, May is left trapped. Whilst she floats around with a dwindling amount of oxygen she begins to wrestle with her psychological demons. Truths from the sister’s past come to light. Unfortunately, with little set-up of the sisters and their dynamic before the accident, it is hard to feel the full emotional weight of these revelations.
Where both Fall and 47 Metres Down succeeded, The Dive flounders. A hazy setting and light set-up make The Dive harder to access than its peers. The result is a survival thriller that has a few moments of intrigue, but is ultimately a little flat. Though far from terrible, The Dive fails to add anything new to the subgenre.
The Dive
Summary
Not as exciting as the premise announces, The Dive loses the viewer with its lack of clarity of the crisis at hand.
The Dive was reviewed at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest. The Dive arrives in UK cinemas on Friday 26th August 2023.
