“Don’t worry. They say you’re more likely to die from a bee sting than get killed by a shark.”

Drake’s rating: Bump & Bite may or may not have been the name of my last punk band

Drake’s review: I think we can all agree that if you’re just dead-set insistent on getting out onto the ocean, then the best defense against a shark attack is being in a boat. Sure, it’s not a 100% sure thing that a sailing vessel of some type will keep you from becoming shark food — after all, we saw what happened to Quint and the Orca — but more often than not a boat is going to keep you safe and sound.

And to be fair to Luke, Kate, Suzie, Matt, and Warren, they do indeed start off in a sailing boat that’s being delivered to Indonesia. Luke has a customer there, and his friends Matt and Suzie are going along for the ride. Matt’s sister Kate is also coming along, and it’s evident early on that she and Luke have a bit of history between them. Because you definitely need interpersonal drama in your shark flick. Warren is a sailor who works for Luke, but there’s no love interest aboard for him. Warren’s just flying solo.

It’s a beautiful trip across very blue waters, and the four take in some diving at a small island Luke found on one of his previous trips. It’s all fun in the sun until Luke notices the tide dropping, and they rush back to the yacht in their dinghy, scraping a reef along the way. There’s some tension as they rapidly get the boat under sail again before it can beach itself, but soon all is well with their trip once again.

That doesn’t last long, of course, since to have a shark movie you’re going to have to get the characters into the water to be menaced by the sharks. Which is exactly what happens when, that night, the yacht hits a reef and capsizes. Everyone gets out, but all the five have to float on is the hull of their capsized boat. And that’s when fateful decisions have to be made. Luke notices that the current is pulling them farther out to sea, and also knows that the boat will eventually sink. His idea is to swim back to the island, a 10- or 12-mile journey in his estimation, and he dives into the capsized wreck to gather what he can to make the trip survivable.

It’s a tough sell, but eventually four of them decide to make the swim. Warren stays behind on the capsized boat because he’s terrified of getting into the potentially shark-infested waters, and he’s left to float on the wreck solo. Like I said, Warren just goes it alone. Granted, a 12-mile swim is going to be hard enough, but the inclusion of sharks stalking the four survivors immediately turns a difficult journey into a perilous one. Warren was right to be afraid of getting into the water, but the other four are going to have to live or die with their decision.

The Reef is a very effective little thriller from director Andrew Traucki, who had previously written and directed the alligator-based horror film Black Water. Sticking with a very small cast, Traucki sets them adrift in a vast open ocean yet makes the horror feel close and personal. The four are first stalked, and then terrorized by a massive great white shark that sees them as nothing more than easy prey. When an attack comes, it’s swift, brutal and inevitable, leaving the characters ashen-faced and terrified.

The bulk of the film rests on the shoulders of the four swimmers, since they have to convey a wide gamut of emotions while floating in the ocean with no land in sight. They’re frightened and desperate, of course, but also committed to surviving the horrible situation they’ve been thrust into. They can’t do anything but continue on no matter what happens, and so they persevere regardless of their mental, physical and emotional exhaustion.

Another strength of the film is the real-life footage used of a great white shark, which is a welcome relief from the over-saturation of the computer-generated sharks used in too many movies. Additionally, the shark is portrayed in a very realistic manner. This isn’t an overly aggressive beast attacking for no purpose. Instead, it’s a careful apex predator utilizing the “bump and bite” technique very common to the great white shark, and that makes it even more frightening than a ravenous monster.

The Reef is a tight little thriller that keeps the action focused on a small group trying to survive extraordinarily dangerous circumstances, and thus it’s a breath of fresh air amid its more outrageous cinematic brethren. If you’re in the mood for something far more grounded than tornado-powered sharks dropping on Los Angeles, then I highly recommend this one.

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