Sea Fever

Sea Fever follows marine-biology student Siobhán (Hermione Corfield) as she catches a ride with a deep-sea fishing vessel to conduct research, with the journey eventually taking on a horrifying dimension after the crew encounters a mysterious (and enormous) underwater creature. Filmmaker Neasa Hardiman has infused Sea Fever with a decidedly deliberate sense of pacing that complements her low-key screenplay quite well, and it’s clear, certainly, that the assortment of compelling and surprisingly well-developed characters go a long way towards initially capturing the viewer’s interest (even though the heavy accents occasionally make it difficult to catch every word of dialogue). And while the aforementioned creature’s presence does seem to promise a fairly traditional sci-fi/horror atmosphere, Sea Fever progresses into a matter-of-fact midsection that seems to be going out of its way to avoid suspense or tension – which is undoubtedly a unique way to present material of this sort (ie imagine The Thing or Life but filtered through the prism of a procedural). The predictably bleak finale ensures that Sea Fever ends on a fairly memorable note, and it’s ultimately impossible not to admire Hardiman’s decision to put a far more plausible spin on a traditionally creepy premise.

*** out of ****