This is a cookie cutter movie, as formulaic as they come for the genre of middle-to-upper class couples with marital problems getting screwed by weirdos aboard their yacht.Rutger Hauer and Karen Allen play that failing married couple who hope that a voyage on their yacht will rekindle something nice about their marriage while they're sailing around the coast of Italy. Of course, any chance of that happening is quickly interrupted when Gil Freeland (Eric Roberts in his usual weirdo thriller style), the former high school classmate of Rutger Hauer's character, and his over-sexed wife tag along for the ride after being stranded with some excuse about a delayed business meeting. But, the trip with the couple, though obviously bizarre at first, goes out of control when Freeland and his wife reveal their true nature...and their true motives. So, Rutger Hauer and Karen Allen have to protect themselves from the crazy couple.From beginning to end, it is predictable. What a shame, too, considering the cast, the relatively low budget (looks like BBC mini-drama styled photography), and the beautiful setting, that they couldn't do anything creative here. "Dead Calm" is a much better choice for this kind of thriller.

This movie is a masterpiece of Eric Roberts, I believe this is his best movie (maybe along with Runaway Train). I think his character truly shines in this movie. Idea of meeting of two worlds evil and good on a place where there is no escape (yacht) has been greatly utilized in the movie. It is full of conflicts between the good (Morgan and Catherine) and bad (Gill and Ronnie) with wonderful dialogs, that will really make you laugh at times. Gil is just so funny stating very very bad remarks and replies to Morgan all throughout the movie, sometimes you can't believe he is so bad. The story is thrilling and graduating all the way till the end of the movie. The plot is simple, yet the quality of the movie is in the dialogs that might shock you and make you smile sometimes. I highly recommend this movie.

Tepid at best. The story is so cliched that within the first 15 minutes I was able to guess everything that was going to happen in the movie. It held no surprises for me.And...let's talk about the miscasting. Rutger Hauer was obviously middle-aged, and it's blindingly obvious that Roberts is at least a decade younger, and yet we're supposed to believe they're high school classmates? Give me a break! That sort of sloppiness is inexcusable.Another thing that really offended me was how they made Roberts' wife bisexual. It had absolutely nothing to do with the plot or the story; it was just there to increase the "ick" factor and make people go "ewwwww!" I hate that sort of thing with a passion. It's a cheap tactic, one that I think we all should just bury and forget.There could have been a lot more tension in this, but the story's predictability hampers any suspense. Also, the fact that they regularly go ashore robs the plot of any of the claustrophobia that marked DEAD CALM.I found this film memorable only because it was so bad. A trite story, so-so acting (and Hauer looks terrible!), and bad writing and direction make this a loser.

While watching this, I found myself wondering: how is it that a good film will make you instantly care what happens to the good guys, but in a lousy film, you watch them for two hours and just hope they drown? My thoughts also drifted to the actors playing the good guys, who have starred in outstanding films with Harrison Ford and now do substandard movies. I couldn't help but notice the Heineken bottles, almost certainly at the request of Hauer. My mind wasn't on the action I guess.