History Film / DeadCalm

* ForWantOfANail: If John had listened to Rae and just ignored the black schooner on the horizon, the plot wouldn't happen. [[spoiler: And then his formalist nature as a navy officer makes him investigate the ship...]].

''Dead Calm'' is a 1989 psychological thriller directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Creator/SamNeill, Creator/NicoleKidman and Creator/BillyZane, [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on a novel]] by Charles Williams.

''Dead Calm'' is a 1989 psychological thriller starring Creator/SamNeill, Creator/NicoleKidman and Creator/BillyZane, based on a novel by Charles Williams.

* AdultFear:
** One of the worst imaginable. Danny decoupled his seatbelts. Rae, trying to fasten them back, lost the control of the car and had an accident, in which the boy died precisely because he wasn't fastened... and twenty minutes after the crash, while she was still in the car, unconscious and unable to do anything about it.
** Giving aid to someone stranded in the ocean, who would certainly die otherwise, [[spoiler:only for him to try to kill you.]]

* PsychopathicManchild: Hughie acts inthe most immature fashion imaginable, absolutely unable to evaluate his actions in any way. [[spoiler: He ''killed five people'' in a fit of anger. Then, after he leaves John stranded and has Rae as his hostage, he scolds her for killing the mood with her anger or desire to rescue John]]. Combined with [[Creator/BillyZane Zane's]] performance it creates a chilling effect of just how unhinged his character is.

* InNameOnly: Aside from the names and the situation of a woman held captive by a psycho, the film bears little resemblance to the book. In the book, [[spoiler: Hughie is an asexual manchild with a wife, kills the captain's wife in a diving accident, then sabotaged the yacht and left his wife and the captain to die. The film does, however, closely mirror the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebelle_(ship) Bluebelle murders]], on which the book and Creator/OrsonWelles' unfinished adaptation are loosely based]].

* DeadSparks: Considerably toned down when compared with the source novel (where the voyage was a last-ditch attempt by John to save his marriage). But the Ingrams' marriage is still falling apart after the loss of their son and Rae is clinically depressed and distanced from John, despite his best efforts to support and help her. [[spoiler: By the end of both the book and the movie their marriage is in much better shape, after going through hell to save each other]].

* NightmareSequence: Downplayed. We are treated a flashback scene, showing the car accident, a very mundane even. Then the scene cuts to Rea waking up and crying - it's the dream she keeps having ever since the accident, time after time.

* TheCaptain: ''Captain'' John Ingram, a career navy officer, is spending vacations with his wife on their yacht, helping her recover after a car accident and loss of their son. His skills as a seaman are important more than once.

** The box containing [[spoiler: double barrel shotgun]] in...

** ... and [[spoiler: Ben's fetching ball]]
** There is a radar on ''Saracen''

* DeadSparks: Considerably toned down when compared with the source novel (where the voyage was a last-ditch attempt by John to save his marriage). But still Ingrams' marriage is falling apart after the loss of their son and Rae is clinically depressed and distanced from John, despite his best effort to support and help her. [[spoiler: By the end of both the book and the movie their marriage is in much better shape, after going through hell to save each other]].

* DistractedByTheSexy: [[spoiler: Eventually Rae starts to play along Hughie's behaviour, ultimately buying his trust by having sex with him and lowering his guard completely]].
* DistressedDude: [[spoiler: After learning in just how bad shape ''Orpheus'' is, John can only slow down the schooner sinking, but won't be able to help his wife in any way. Instead, he ends up saved by her]].

* DrowningPit: [[spoiler: When a storm starts outside, a piece of ''Orpheus''' mast falls and blocks the doors of the engine room, trapping John inside, with water level steadily rising despite his best effort to pump it out. He's forced to improvise a snorkel to not drown]].
* EvidenceDungeon: John investigates the boat Hughie came from and finds five bodies and [[spoiler: a video that suggests Hughie murdered everyone. Unusual for the trope, Hughie actually tried to destroy the evidence, damaging his boat in an attempt to scuttle it, then overpowering Rae and sailing off, leaving John to die]].

* ForWantOfANail: Should John listen to Rae and just ignore the black schooner on the horizon, the plot wouldn't happen. [[spoiler: And then his formalist nature as a navy officer makes him investigate the ship...]].
* TheGreatRepair: Subverted. John tries to fix [[spoiler:Hughie's boat so he can give chase to his own (or at least so it remains floating long enough that he can be rescued), but the thing is too damaged and he ends up having to get on a life raft and set it on fire so he'll be seen by someone (who, thankfully, ends up happening to be his wife coming back for him after subduing Hughie)]].

* TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: The opening sequence, which starts mounting tension right from the first minute. Navy personnel goes home for Christmas. Sam Neill's character disembarks the train and is awaiting for someone. Then he gets impatient, because nobody shows up at the railway station. Then two police officers spot him in the crowd, check their notebook and [[BearerOfBadNews slowly start walking toward him]]. The camera cuts to John sitting in the back of a police car, visibly stunned. Only then we learn what happened.

* MinimalistCast: A married couple. A psycho.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler: Ingrams rescued apparently the only person not dead from food poisoning in the middle of the ocean... and he's a killer, who first chance given steals their yacht, maroons John and takes Rae hostage]].

* PsychopathicManchild: Hughie acts in most immature fashion imaginable, absolutely unable to evaluate his actions in any way. [[spoiler: He ''killed five people'' in a fit of anger. Then, after he leaves John stranded and has Rae as his hostage, he scolds here for killing the mood with her anger or desire to rescue John]]. Combined with [[Creator/BillyZane Zane's]] performance it creates a chilling effect of just how unhinged his character is.
* ReedSnorkel: [[spoiler: When the door to the engine room gets blocked by a broken piece of a mast and ''Orpheus'' takes water too fast to pump it out, John saves himself by using a pipe leading above water level]].

* SoleSurvivor: Hughie Warriner is the survivor of a photography cruise which he claims ended with everyone else dying of food poisoning. [[spoiler: Turns out he murdered everyone in a fit]].
* SurvivorGuilt: Not only Ingram's son died in a car accident, but Rae is toiling under the fact she came out of it mostly unscratched and she was the driver, constantly getting back to the moment and blaming herself.
* ThouShaltNotKill: [[spoiler: Despite having every single reason to do so, Rae never tries to kill - at least not directly - her kidnapper]].

* TookALevelInBadass: Rae starts the story as a complete wreck and basically being a DamselInDistress. [[spoiler: By the end of the film she subdues Hughie, sails her way for John, rescues him and most likely finally starts to accept the loss of her son in an accident]].
* TranquilFury: [[spoiler: After all the suffering and finally managing to best Hughie, Rae tells him with straight face that she ''will'' kill him if he makes a single move]].

* MayDecemberRomance: There's a twenty year age difference between Rae and John.

* LostInTransmission: [[spoiler: John manages to fix the radio from ''Orpheus''. He immediately tries to contact Rae, she calls back... and it turns out his mic is broken, making the conversation one-sided. Interestingly, John uses SoundEffectBleep to communicate with his wife anyway, while she asks yes[=/=]no questions]].