FAQ

John (Sam Neill) and Rae (Nicole Kidman) Ingram take Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), the sole survivor of a sinking schooner, on board their sailboat. When John boards the sinking vessel looking for salvage, he discovers that Hughie murdered the entire crew. Meanwhile, Hughie has taken over the Ingram's boat, leaving Rae to outwit their psychotic passenger, regain control of the boat, and rescue John before the schooner goes down.

Dead Calm is also a 1963 novel by American crime fiction writer Charles Williams. The novel was adapted for the movie by English-born screenwriter Terry Hayes.

When John enters Hughie's ship he finds that he can repair the boat and go back after Rae. However as time passes, John realizes that the ship is, in fact, damaged to the point of sinking within an estimated six hours.

Hughie tells John and Rae that they died of food poisoning. However, when John boards the boat, he discovers that several of the bodies have knife wounds and at least one has been decapitated. Additionally, the footage which John views depicts the moments leading up to the murders, with Hughie becoming more aggressive towards his fellow passengers.

The music which Hughie listens to after taking control of the yacht was written and performed by Tim O'Connor. All of the songs he contributed to the film are available on his album "Run Over by Love."

Rae tosses Hughie's body into a life raft and sends him adrift. She heads back in John's direction and picks him up. The next day, they cross sails with the life raft, but Hughie is not on it. Rae fires a flare into the raft to be sure he is not lingering under it. Later. while washing Rae's hair, John leaves to get more fresh water. In John's absence, Hughie's bloody hands begin to massage Rae's hair before attempting to strangle her. John sees Hughie and fires a flare at him that hits him In the mouth and knocks him overboard into the water. In the final scene, John and Rae hold each other and look out over the water at Hughie's body floating away.