Billy Zane though has this evil aura about him that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up every time I see him.

Anyhow, the film is based around John (Sam Neil) and Rae (Nicole Kidman) who decide to go on a nice relaxing yacht trip after the disturbing death of their son in a car accident. The trip is going very nicely until they come across a schooner that appears to be in some trouble.

While they are inspecting the boat from afar they notice a man in a rowboat coming towards them. He is obviously distressed and begins to tell of the horrific circumstances surrounding hid recent plight. Hughie (Billy Zane) however does have some slight flaws in his story.

After some consideration John decides to go and take a look at the abandoned boat which is apparently sinking. He discovers some very nasty stuff indeed aboard the schooner and immediately begins to row back to the yacht.

As Rae steers the yacht towards him Hughie awakens and realises that John has discovered his dangerous and devious nature. He manages to break from of his locked cabin and knocks out Rae. As he steers the yacht off in the opposite direction John turns back to the sinking schooner.

From here John struggles to keep the schooner afloat and Rae struggles to get back to her husband.

You’ll be amazed at Hughie.... he just won’t die!

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
The 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer is fantastic. The detail and clarity in the picture are quite exquisite. There were no MPEG artefacts and only a few small film artefacts.

There is some noticeable depth of field problems in the original production of the film where the distant backgrounds show as unclear but this is not a problem with the transfer. There are also some instances of slight grain which I also believe were intentional in the original filming as they are at the beginning of the film in what you could term as flashback scenes.

There are also some quite definite problems with ailiasing and shimmering, especially in the brightly sunlit ocean scenes.

Colour saturation is perfect and at no time could I find fault with colour range, hue or tones.

Shadow detail was perfect and at times would have been difficult to obtain given the dark scenes inside the yacht.

AUDIO
The Dolby 2.0 surround track is also commendable. Dialogue was consistently sharp and clear. The surround channels were used often and to full effect given a 2.0 track. There were no audio sync problems.

The Musical Score from Graeme Revell is certainly praiseworthy and is fully suited to the on screen action. It provides a deep suspense when required and is a memorable soundtrack.

EXTRAS
None

OVERALL
Overall this is a fantastic movie. Nicole Kidman is great in her early years and then again Sam Neil also plays a convincing role. If you can stand Billy Zane then go out and BUY the DVD. It’s certainly a film you can watch more than once.