The Reef is an independent Australian-made survival horror/thriller about a shark attack on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Townsville.

Two couples board a yacht with one crewman and are having a great time until they hit the reef and their boat capsizes.

They are left with the most important decision of their lives.

Should they swim to an island they can't see over the horizon or wait on board the upturned boat that is likely to sink for help that may or may not come.

Director Andrew Traucki makes great use of a talented bunch of actors with the tension in this movie much akin, if not better, than that in the 1975 Jaws movie.

Even the shark is more realistic when we finally get to see the beast.

The all-Australian cast are superb.

It would be difficult not to go through the whole range of emotions with the characters as they are stalked and picked off by a white pointer (in the real life incident on which the movie is based it was a Tiger shark).

Damian Walshe-Howling plays Luke, the confident and pragmatic character, who becomes a leader the moment the keel rips off the boat.

Kieran Darcy-Smith plays Warren, a skipper and keen fisherman, who knows a thing or two about the local waters and he injects a sense of dread in the audience of what is to come.  

Adrienne Pickering is Suzy, a girl clearly out of her depth, and she shows real terror.

The Reef also stars Underbelly’s Gyton Grantley and McLeod's Daughter's Zoe Naylor.

The music helps build the tension.

Like any good horror/thriller, there are moments where you think something is going to happen and it doesn't and others when it happens very suddenly and makes you jump.

The only frustration is that for a big part of the movie the characters seem to be treading water or swimming too slowly to actually look like they are swimming.

Having investigated the real life story, however, when three people off Lodestone Reef north of Townsville had to leave their capsized boat, New Venture, that is exactly what they did; tread water, hoping to drift ashore.

The Reef director Andrew Traucki, who also directed the thrilling crocodile flick Black Water, says sharks are part of Australian culture yet we have never made a movie about them, all the while American movie makers have filmed scenes for shark movies here.

Well, now we have, and it's the best one I've ever seen.

This movie is sure to renew your jumpiness in the water.

The Reef may be a low budget movie, but lacks for nothing that the big guns have, and the acting is infinitely better.

Go see it.

>> Verdict: Four out of five stars

>>The Reef is out in cinemas on March 17. For more information, visit Birch Carroll & Coyle on www.eventcinemas.com.au

>>To win a competition to swim with a great white shark in Adelaide, visit www.reefmovie.com.

>>Look out in future editions of Timeout for an interview with The Reef director Andrew Traucki and actress Adrienne Pickering.

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