The brand new trailer for The Reef: Stalked has been released.
In an effort to heal after witnessing her sister’s horrific murder, Nic travels to a tropical resort with her friends for a kayaking and diving adventure. Only hours into their expedition, the women are stalked and then attacked by a great white shark. To survive they will need to band together and Nic will have to overcome her post-traumatic stress, face her fears and slay the monster.
Director Andrew Traucki spoke about why he felt he needed to make the film:
For years since I wrote and directed the hit thriller, The Reef, my shark based survival film, people have been asking me to do another shark film. I didn’t really want to because I thought I’d been there and done that but then I had a compelling idea I just had to explore.
I’ve been very aware of the problem of domestic violence both in Australia and across the world for sometime now. In Australia, a woman dies of domestic violence every week. What a horrible, disturbing statistic. A while back I went and saw The Sydney Theatre Company production of, Lethal Indifference. It’s a play that recounts a tragic domestic violence death. Sitting in the theatre I became aware that the audience was mainly white, middle to upper class and older. Whilst domestic violence crosses all demographics I couldn’t help but feel that this powerful play was not really reaching the right audience.
I started thinking about making a film that had an anti- domestic violence message that would find a broader international audience. I thought of the parallels between a vicious shark attack and death at the hands of your partner and that is how the idea for The Reef: Stalked was born.
The film begins with a brutal domestic violence death and then follows a group of women having to band together to overcome a violent predator, the man in the grey suit (that’s what surfers call sharks).
Having worked for many years in the feature film, thriller space I no longer just want to make films that create tension and fear but rather I want to create elevated genre films that are both entertainment and are thought provoking as well. The Reef: Stalked is the perfect vehicle for this. The shark thriller aspect provides a strong narrative engine, whilst the character’s relationships provoke an examination of the ramifications of Cath’s death.
I am really excited about the script for The Reef: Stalked. I think I have managed to craft a story that both, entertains and could be a catalyst for further discussion around domestic violence and exposing the issues that surround it. I think if done right, The Reef: Stalked has real potential to go wide and fingers crossed, get people talking about the plague that is domestic violence.
Check out the trailer below for The Reef: Stalked below:
