Danny Houston, Matthew Goode, Joe Cole and Alan McKenna: Stranded deep underwater in claustrophobic thriller “PRESSURE”
Four deep sea saturation divers become stranded
650ft below the surface of the Indian Ocean after disaster strikes their ship.
With the air in their bodies compressed to withstand the depth, surfacing too
fast without decompressing is unthinkable and will lead to almost certain
death. With their diving bell damaged, rescue uncertain and oxygen depleting
they are forced to work together to fight for their survival and ultimately
find a way back to the surface
It's gripping and suspenseful, adeptly building
tension as the back stories of the main characters unfold in surprising ways.
When people are put in untenable positions, survival can bring out the best and
worst of all of us.
Danny Houston, Matthew
Goode, Joe Cole and Alan McKenna are the scuba-diving
sailors, each cursed with a hardened core. Each character emotes a sense of
psychotic behavior.
Reaching the bottom of the Somali
Basin, a four-man saturation dive team prepare for work, servicing an oil
pipeline at the bottom of the ocean. Jones the smart rookie, Hurst (Alan
McKenna) the fast-living joker, Mitchell (Matthew Goode) the leader
and stickler for protocol, and Engel, enigmatic and remote, make their final
checks before heading out, unaware of the severity of a storm above water.
Turbulence hits the bell, and the
team are radioed to prepare for their ascent as the storm hits their support
vessel above. Mid-ascent everything stops; the bell lurches and begins to free
fall, hitting the bottom of the ocean, and leaving the bell systems operating
on emergency support. Engel swims out to assess the damage and discovers
wreckage on the ocean floor; the ship is down. With no support boat above, they
argue over the best way to ensure survival.
Mitchell insists on securing the
bell, but if the rescue boat does not reach them in time, they will die. Engel (Danny
Houston) believes they should float the bell, but Mitchell worries
about the structural integrity after the accident, insisting they wait. Danger
lies all around; the near freezing water outside, unendurable for long without
hypothermia setting in; the decompression sickness if they ascend, lungs
rupturing in the most unimaginable pain; and on top of all this, the
diminishing air supply, without which they will all die.
Hope comes in the form of radio
contact with a Chinese ship requesting their co- ordinates but communication is
lost and the peril persists. Mitchell takes charge, instructing Hurst to assist
him in securing the bell. Mitchell’s umbilical gets aged, cutting off his
breathing gas and communication system.
As he struggles to breathe, Hurst
races towards him but is unable to detach the umbilical. The malfunctioning
commas spark into action; Engel hearing Mitchell in danger dives into the water
to drag Mitchell to safety back inside the bell. It quickly emerges that Hurst
cannot use his hands properly – a side effect from years of diving – and has
been unfit to do his job for some time.
Determined to prove his worth,
Hurst sneaks out of the bell in an attempt to find the sunken ship and bring
back vital breathing gas.
Ignoring Mitchell’s orders to
return, Hurst pursues the wreckage; running out of heat, he starts falling into
the throws of hypothermia. Worried about the continuing waste on air, knowing
it’s too late to save him, Jones (Joe Cole) makes the decision to turn
off Hurst’s breathing supply. Jones analyses a map of the seabed and determines
that if they follow the pipeline, they will find emergency gas; Engel
volunteers for the mission. Time and heat rapidly diminishing, he finally
locates the canisters but exhausts his body to the limit. As Engel begins to
lose the fight for life, Mitchell reacts fast, and swims out to help him,
hauling both Engel and a canister back to the bell. Mitchell forces CPR to save
the unconscious Engel, as he splutters back into life, gulping air into his starving
lungs.
The radio crackles to life with
contact from HMS Marlborough, but without co-ordinates the chances of the ship
locating the bell by sonar is time conditional. In a desperate effort to make
their location known, Mitchell swims towards the surface as far as his
umbilical can reach holding a GPS beacon. Before he can activate the device he
is engulfed by a swarm of jellyfish. Batting the creatures away, his hand
slips, and the beacon escapes before he has the chance to activate. Still
determined, Mitchell takes a deep breath, ripping off his umbilical, and chases
the disappearing beacon. Grabbing hold, he
Must remove his glove to activate
it; he’s successful, but with his hand badly stung by the jellyfish, and his
umbilical disconnected, he falls through the ocean to his death. Now only Jones
and Engel remain, awaiting further communications from HMS Marlborough. They
have located the beacon, but it will still be hours before they can commence a
full rescue, and there’s not enough breathing gas left. Engel makes the
decision to float the diving bell. As it ascends the wreckage below snaps the
umbilical, and the bell is stopped. The only option remaining is to swim to the
surface, a near impossible dive. With only one helmet remaining, Engel demands
Jones makes the dive, essentially giving up his life in exchange.
Trepidation and suspense set in
as Jones makes the ascent, struggling to switch from his umbilical to a
breathing tank. Engel guides Jones via the communications, and he finally
breaks the surface. The rescue boat charges towards Jones and hauls his
exhausted body into the hyperbaric chamber. The reality of the situation hits
Engel, and he accepts his fate.
“PRESSURE” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.
Showing
on October 21. Nationwide.
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