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Sea Fever Movie Review

Sea Fever is a 2020 Irish science fiction thriller film directed by Neasa Hardiman and starring Hermione Corfield. It’s a derivative, but still quite effective genre flick.

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“Are my eyes open or closed?“

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The crew of a West of Ireland trawler, marooned at sea, struggle for their lives against a growing parasite in their water supply. So, the influences on this movie are very apparent very early on. ‘Alien’ and ‘The Thing’. These two are the most obvious reference points, in the latter case even going so far as to copy/homage one of that film’s important scenes, which is the checking of who among the group is infected.

That level of unoriginality seriously hurt the movie, but otherwise it’s still very solid due to a couple of great things going for it. One is the plausible nature of its plot. None of the scenarios played out are unbelievable and the movie is very restrained in thriller/horror elements without ever feeling overly manufactured in drama and tension, which may bore some people, but as a fan of hard SF, I appreciated that approach to it.

The characters are mostly disposable, though still better than most in SF horror movies. Hermione Corfield’s Siobhan is particularly memorable and such a cool, well realized main character. Others are more forgettable individually, but as a team they are quite solid. Still, most of their dialogue scenes felt too reminiscent of the scenes of ‘Alien’ to the point of feeling like a rehash more than an homage.

It’s wonderful seeing Ireland get on board genre filmmaking, and Sea Fever is ultimately a solid entry into the indie SF market. The effects could have been better, but the alien creatures themselves remain very cool and intriguing, but also believable as they are very reminiscent of Earth’s cnidarians. The blue fluorescent color made them quite a magnificent sight.

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The movie’s gory elements are sparse, but all are suitably disgusting. It can be considered to be both a thriller and a horror movie, but above all else a strong SF flick that utilizes its trawler setting superbly, and some scenes are very suspenseful and desperate in their atmosphere.

Sea Fever is a very derivative science fiction thriller/horror flick that wears the influences on its sleeves a bit too obviously (‘The Thing’ and ‘Alien’ are often directly rehashed/paid homage to). Though it needed more edge and originality, the movie succeeds in its suspenseful elements, plausible scenarios, memorable parasite creatures and a strongly utilized trawler setting.

My Rating – 3.5

You can get Sea Fever on Amazon.