Writer: Neasa Hardiman (Screenplay)
Starring: Hermione Corfield, Dag Malmberg, Jack Hickey, Olwen Fouere, Dougray Scott, Connie Nielsen, Ardalan Emaili, Elie Bouakaze
Plot: The crew of a West of Ireland trawler, marooned at sea, struggle for their lives against a growing parasite in their water supply.
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Intense Biological Horror
Story: Sea Fever starts when biology student Siobhan (Corfield) is forced into the field, working on a fishing trawler under Captain Gerard (Scott), Freya (Nielsen), along with Johnny (Hickey), Ciara (Fouere), Omid (Esmaili) and Sudi (Bouakaze). The journey starts simple enough, before the boat becomes trapped by a creature.
Once freed the boat looks to return home, only they discover they have released a parasite onboard, which is attracted to open wounds, they will need to find away to escape the parasites or risk the infection spreading further.
Thoughts on Sea Fever
Characters – Siobhan is a marine biology student, she has been studying and understanding environmental changes that have caused major changes in the natural world, she is social awkward, rather focusing on her work than being able to handle a conversation. She must do field work, which see her joining a fishing trawler, for a simple study of the catches and going on a dive, only she gets more than she bargained for, as she must use her skills to try and save the crew of the boat from an unknown parasite, which has found itself way on board the boat. Gerard is the captain of the ship, he makes the decisions on where to fish and who does what on the boat, not being as welcoming as he should, knowing that taking her on board will help pay for things in the future. Freya is the partner who knows the difficult decisions Gerard is facing, showing him that they can work together through the differences on board. The rest of the crew do have something to fight for, showing they have people back home that care for them along the journey.
Performances – Hermione Corfield is great in the leading role, she creates the distance in her character with ease, making every scene feel like her character shouldn’t be there and doesn’t want to be there. Dougray Scott and Connie Nielsen bring the star power to the film keeping both their characters grounded through the situations, with the rest of the cast going great through the film too.
Story – The story here follows the crew of a fishing trawler, joined by a student that find themselves infested by a parasite that is slowly infecting them as they look to make the difficult decisions or survive the effects of the parasite. The story here does show us just how difficult being caught out at sea can be on the victims, stranded no easy escape from what could be coming their way. We get plenty of hints into the superstitions of the crew, while seeing just how uncomfortable the student will be on the boat. The story does mix The Thing with Alien, showing us that we can bring the ideas that a borrowed but still feel fresh along the way.
Horror/Sci-Fi – The horror in this film comes from the isolation of the unknown that could be coming for them, the parasite slowly infecting people without knowing how to stop it.
Settings – Most of the film takes place on the boat, it keeps us within the walls of the fishing boat, that is stranded in the ocean, with the people on board facing an unknown threat, playing into the horror.
Scene of the Movie – The parasite first burst.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We get one twist which is not needed for the scare factor.
Final Thoughts –This is a great atmospheric isolation based biological horror that brings more of the science to the table, than just going for a blood and gore heavy film.
Overall: Isolation Horror Treat.