Summary

• Black Water, a 2007 Australian horror film, was inspired by a real-life crocodile attack.
• The film fictionalizes the encounter, making the crocodile more anthropomorphic and malicious.
• Black Water won multiple awards, and the film's sequel added a natural disaster to the plot.

Horror movies have the power to evoke strong feelings of anxiety and fear from their viewers. Whether from a sudden jolt of a jump scare or even just the killer's appearance, the sheer terror that arises from this genre can be quite effective, even knowing it is all just a work of fiction. However, if a movie also boasts the "based on a true story" disclaimer right at the very beginning, the gravity of the horror that is about to unfold hits just a little differently, and it even begs the question of how much of the movie was inspired by actual events.

Black Water is an Australian horror film from 2007 that, at first glance, seems like another low-budget effort to capitalize off of other crocodile creature features like Lake Placid. So when this movie's opening warns audiences that "This film is based on true events," the warning may seem generic to some people, given that crocodiles and other predatory animals that have starred as the monsters of horror films are just as prone to attacking humans in real life. Despite being a work of fiction, Black Water is purposeful with its foreboding message, as its story was inspired by a real-life tragic event that happened four years earlier.

Updated by Jordan Iacobucci on May 5, 2024: Over fifteen years after its release, Black Water is still one of the scariest movies based on a true story. The film depicts a heightened version of true events during a crocodile attack in Australia. This article has been updated to fit CBR guidelines and to offer deeper insight into the true story of Black Water and other films like it.

Black Water Is Based on a True Crocodile Encounter

As reported by Daily Mail, in December 2003 (four years before the release of Black Water), Shaun Blowers, Ashley McGough and Brett Mann took their quad bikes (similar to ATVs or four-wheelers) out for a ride through the swampy bushland near the Finniss River, a river south of the city of Darwin in Australia. Stopping by the river to cool off, the tide began to rise, and the three teenagers were attacked by a crocodile. In an attempt to escape from the creature, Mann's shoulder was unfortunately grabbed by the crocodile's mouth, causing him to be dragged underwater by the large reptile. Blowers and McGough climbed into a tree before the crocodile returned.

After 22 hours of being up in a tree, a rescue helicopter found and saved the two young men from the crocodile in the river below. A search for the missing teens had been in progress since their disappearance from Sunday evening into late Monday when they did not return home that night. While Blowers and McGough were taken to the hospital to recover from the traumatic incident, Mann's body was sadly never found. These horrifying events were used to inspire the later Black Water movie.

How Black Water Dramatized True Events

While the plot of Black Water has a brutal crocodile attack and the survivors holding up in a tree as they wait for rescue, the similarities between the movie and the devastating real-life story end there. Instead of three friends quad biking near the river, Black Water's main cast involves husband Adam, his wife Grace, his sister Lee and tour guide Jim, the first victim of the crocodile, going on a boat tour to do some fishing.

Quickly into the movie's runtime, the crocodile attacks their boat, which claims the first victim and prompts the family to climb up the tree and eventually attempt to get the boat back into working order. By the end of the movie, Lee is the only survivor as Adam and Grace both die from crocodile-related injuries; Lee confronts the animal by shooting and killing the river monster with a revolver before wading down the water, leaving her fate unknown as the credits roll.

In the real-life tragedy, while the crocodile continued to stalk Blowers and McGough, Black Water took a more anthropomorphic approach with the movie's monstrous reptile. As with the antagonistic animals of the creature feature genre, this crocodile exhibits a far more aggressive attitude than its real-life counterpart may, going so far as to tip the tour guide boat over without provocation.

While crocodiles are dangerous and are known to attack both humans and other animals, especially in Australia, the relentless nature of the beast in the Black Water movie may have been slightly exaggerated for the horror aspect of the film. Regardless, these attacks still occur in real life and are sometimes fatal, like in the tragic case that made Black Water based on a true story. In the case of a crocodile encounter, one fact remains the same in the real-life story and the movie- be sure to get out of the water as quickly as possible.

Black Water's Reception

Black Water received surprisingly positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. The most notable part of this praise (beyond how successful the movie was at creating tension) was the lack of extensive CGI and the preference for practical special effects in the film. This is particularly commendable given that it was a low-budget Australian survival production, with the Black Water movie reportedly made for about $700,000 USD. Much of the movie's footage of crocodiles was shot in Darwin, Australia, with real saltwater crocodiles.

This afforded it a sense of authenticity, which helped the Black Water movie score over $1 million USD at the box office. Conversely, the movie also saw success when it came time for the movie awards season. Black Water won multiple movie awards in the Australian ranking system and was nominated for even more. The unexpected success of the crocodile horror film allowed it to become a modern classic, not to mention finally getting a sequel made several years later.

Did Black Water Have a Sequel?

Announced in 2018, a sequel to the Black Water movie was finally released in 2020. Titled Black Water: Abyss, it was also directed by Andrew Traucki. The movie switched things up by adding a natural disaster in the form of a tropical storm, with several friends getting stuck in Australia during the natural occurrence. Unfortunately, they're forced to contend with nature's true fury in the form of a gigantic crocodile.

Black Water: Abyss wasn't quite as well-received as the first Black Water movie, though it was seen as a success in its own right. Many noted the quality of the scares and kills, with the sequel's tone being surprisingly different from its predecessor. It was released theatrically in Australia on July 10, 2020, with international distribution coming afterward. Black Water: Abyss and the first Black Water movie can both be streamed on multiple streaming platforms.

Other Films To Watch If You Loved Black Water

There are plenty of great films for viewers to check out after viewing Black Water and Black Water: Abyss. First, audiences should revisit the film that inspired some of the more fictionalized parts of Black Water, the 1999 horror comedy Lake Placid. The film follows a bloody series of events that occur when a giant crocodile begins to torment a town in Maine. Things boil to an epic man vs. beast scenario as the police attempt to end the crocodile's reign of terror. Lake Placid went on to inspire multiple low-budget sequels.

Deep Blue Sea is another epic film following a group of survivors attempting to outwit bloodthirsty sea creatures. The endlessly memorable film centers around an attack by genetically engineered sharks that break out of their holding cells and torment the facility's employees. As laughable as the film may be at times, it is undeniably entertaining while also featuring one of the most iconic scenes from Samuel L. Jackson's long and celebrated career.

A more recent creature feature with killer reptiles is 2019's Crawl, starring Kaya Scodelario of The Maze Runner franchise. When a hurricane hits a small town in Florida, one girl bites off more than she can chew while trying to look for her missing family. Instead, she finds a pack of hungry alligators that would sooner eat her than let her escape. While not immensely successful, the film is a terrific follow-up to the reptilian antics of films like Black Water and its sequel.

If viewers love films about killer sea creatures, there is no better movie night option than Steven Spielberg's iconic 1975 film Jaws. The classic movie depicts one shark's rampage along the coast of a normally peaceful island--and one police chief's seemingly impossible mission of hunting down the creature. Jaws is still considered one of the best creature features of all time, exceeding the heights of all other films of its genre, including Lake Placid, Crawl, Deep Blue Sea, and Black Water.

Black Water is an epic adventure featuring battles between man and beast. Audiences who enjoyed the somewhat true story told by the film should check out other similar films that likewise capture that same terrifying thrill of Black Water and its 2020 sequel.