The film is loosely based on the true story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who in 1998 went out with a scuba diving group, Outer Edge Dive Company, on the Great Barrier Reef, and were accidentally left behind because the dive-boat crew failed to take an accurate headcount.
The film was inspired by the short story “Adrift” by Japanese author Koji Suzuki, from which it took its original title, but promotional posters claimed the film is based on actual events.
Ashcraft, now married with two children and living on San Juan Island, Wash., spoke about her ordeal on a recent visit to Chicago.
But before you can say "Hollywood ending," Adrift reveals that Sharp isn't alive, but a vivid part of Oldham's imagination. Sharp was swept to his death at sea during the hurricane, just as Oldham described in her 1998 account Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival at Sea.
Watch Open Water 2: Adrift on Netflix Today!
The trailer for the movie, the aptly re-named Adrift, shows all of this. The movie is based on the true story - taken from the book Oldham wrote years afterwards called Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival at Sea.
The Hazana was battered by 40-foot waves and, while making the boat watertight, Oldham was flung into the hold, knocked unconscious and only awoke, groggy, weak from blood loss from a gash in her forehead and in agonizing pain, 27 hours later. Though the storm had abated the luxury yacht was now a wreck.
What is Open Water 2 adrift about?
Six friends are plunged into a nightmare when they jump off a yacht without lowering a ladder. With no way to climb aboard, it's only a matter of time before the bickering stops and terror kicks in.
In 1983, Ashcraft's then-fiancé, 34-year-old British sailor Richard Sharp, was hired to ferry the 13-metre yacht Hazaña from Tahiti to San Diego. The then 23-year-old Ashcraft accompanied him on the crossing.
Swim to lowest point of boat rail, go deep in water and swim up as high as you can, and grab rail. Hand over hand, work your way to a part of the boat where there are some metal rails, or lifelines higher than the deck. The stern area on a sailboat typically has great, strong metal rails for this.
The Netflix Streaming Endorsement: Open Water, the Original Gravity. Released in 2003, the micro-budget Open Water is based on the true story of an American couple stranded in shark-infested waters while scuba diving.
The Ending: What happens to Susan and Daniel? Getting stranded at sea with nothing to ensure their survival finally kills both Susan and Daniel. At first, they had believed that someone in the crew would notice that they were missing, and soon enough, the boat would come back to look for them.
Eileen's father, John Hains, later said that he suspects the couple ultimately became dehydrated and disoriented and in the end succumbed to drowning or sharks.
Two days passed before anyone realized that the Lonergans were missing. It was only realized when Nairn found a bag aboard containing their personal belongings, wallets, and passports. Alarm bells rang; a massive search was underway. But Tom and Eileen Lonergan's bodies were never found.
Blake Lively's new movie The Shallows isn't based on a true story, at least not that we know of. In the movie, Nancy is a young medical student who travels to a secluded beach, aptly called Paradise, in an effort to connect to her recently deceased mother.
Caribbean reef sharks are not an aggressive species and are not considered dangerous to humans unless provoked. However, they are excitable and may make close passes at divers as well as bite in the presence of speared fish.
Based on a true event, The Reef feels very real. This sense of reality makes this shark film scary indeed it's what makes it stand above most other shark films. For me it sits somewhere between Open Water and Jaws. "The Reef" is a tense and realistic combination of "Open Water" and "Jaws".
Open Water 3: Cage Dive | Netflix.
