Dead Calm is a 1989 Australian psychological thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce, produced by George Miller, and starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. The screenplay by Terry Hayes was based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Williams.

Plot

Rae Ingram is involved in a car crash which results in the death of her young son. Her older husband, Royal Australian Navy officer Captain John Ingram, suggests that they head out for a vacation alone on their yacht, the Saracen. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they encounter a drifting schooner that seems to be taking on water. A man rows a dinghy over to the Saracen for help. He introduces himself as Hughie Warriner and tells them the schooner is sinking and that the other passengers have all died of food poisoning.

Awards