A dream vacation becomes a life-or-death battle for survival as Kate Jackson and Kenneth Welsh embark on a voyage into riveting high-seas danger and suspense in Adrift.
To rekindle the romantic spark in their marriage, Katie and Guy Nast set sail on an idyllic South Pacific yachting vacation. then, after ten days at sea, they encounter a boat adrift and rescue two starving, half dead survivors. But as their new passengers Nick and Eliza Terrio (Bruce Greenwood and Kelly Rowan) regain their strength, a series of shocking shipboard "accidents almost cost Katie and Guy their lives. 
After Guy is mysteriously poisoned, the Nasts come to the horrifying realization they are the cold blooded mercy of two lawless tormentors who will stop at nothing to satisfy their deadly, twisted desires.
Their new shipmates have now charted a course of their own journey - a course that will propel them all into the uncharted depths of mortal terror. Its a gripping voyage into horrific sea-going suspense! 

In the style of Dead Calm, this great TV movie rip-off (for CBS network) was filmed in Gisborne, New Zealand in 1992 where Kate Jackson and the crew spent six weeks. Canadian director Christian Duguay has an experience in horror movies (Scanners II, III and Screamers) and he created a well-done claustrophobic film with some great moments full with action and suspense. Outstanding performances by Kate Jackson as the revengeful wife who takes action to fight for her life and Bruce Greenwood as the psychopath killer. 
Definitely one of the best suspense-horror movies where Kate Jackson stars.

CBS should pick up some wind in its ratings sail this week with "Adrift". Vidpic is weighed down by similarities to the '89 film "Dead Calm" and by being forced to milk the plot for two hours. However, this horror cruise is a fresh breath to TV: It's a telefilm not based on N.Y. Post headlines. Patrick Lussier's sharp editing and Rob McLachian's crisp camerawork add punch from beginning to end, drawing in viewers to a thriller where there are no extras, scene changes or variance of any kind. Director Christian Duguay works with a script by Graham Flashner, Ed Gernon and Terry Gerristen.

Between Dead Calm and his TV movie, "there are obvious similarities....(but) this story was developed from a totally different direction." The most significant difference is character development. In Adrift, we learn something about the aggressors' childhood abuse, which helps to explain their mental imbalance. Dead Calm's Billy Zane never really reveals what makes his character tick. But with a budget that was about four times that of Adrift, the theatrical movie was a superb thriller, which Goodwill concedes.

"I think this is also a well-crafted thriller, done on a television budget," and he says the earlier movie's success probably helped this project get approved.

"Judged on its own merits, Adrift lives up to Goodwill's description, although some of the violence is excessive, especially a brief torture scene involving Jackson.

But there's compensation in the actors' performances. Welsh and Jackson are the pros you'd expect. Rowan is especially good, gradually switching from vulnerable waif to demonic villain. She even appears to change her physical features during the transition.

Goodwill's assessment of making the film almost echoes that of Steven Spielberg, who vowed, after Jaws, never to direct another one on the sea.

Adrift's production was plagued with bad weather and choppy seas, ending all chances of filming from a large barge tied up to the yacht -- the standard ocean-movie drill.
Instead the crew had to squeeze on board, with everybody, including camera operators, grips, the director, assistant director, lighting technicians and make-up people, "trying frantically to stay out of the shot," says Goodwill. The result, he believes, resembles a docudrama.
"In a way, it helps to give the picture a real edge, a visceral quality to it." It also discouraged prima donna behavior.

"There was no pretense of being a television star out there. There were 25 people on a boat, and when it rained, everyone got wet and we all sat around in our underwear (below decks), waiting for us to dry off. There weren't a lot of creature comforts."

Adrift is another success story for the Toronto-based Atlantis Films, which made the film in association with CTV. DBS bought the U.S. broadcast rights and will air it the following night.

Obviously, CBS didn't get too worried about this film's similarity to the earlier release. As for me, I could never get the first film off my mind, from the initial sailing scenes to the slasher-movie ending.

If this is your first tour of the plot, you'll probably find the voyage worthwhile. Then you could head for the video-rental store for an academic comparison or, if my opinion is off base, for a suitably different experience. Adrift premiered on April 13, 1993.