If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Madison has an acute fear of water, and worries that a vengeful spirit is coming for her. One of her friends admits to another that she has a mental problem. Probably best, then, that these 'friends' get together and create a mock séance and challenge any spirits to send a sign that they mean Maddie harm. When a definite sign is sent that harm IS meant, what is the next thing this group of geniuses decide to do? Carry on with the séance, and lower her into a tub of water – where she is grabbed by an unseen spirit that tries to drown her.In the continuing face of her misery, more people – professionals, this time, and the father of a former victim – tell her her fears are all in her mind. Such stupidity gets instantly frustrating. The darkened creature known as The Drownsman thinks so too, and slowly he begins to attack Madison's group of friends.The trouble is, due to his nature, The Drownsman dispatches all his victims in the same manner, so instead of his crimes being depicted as brutal and terrifying, they are rather more relentless and repetitive. Also, Maddie's extreme aqua-phobia clearly doesn't extend to an ability to wash herself – she, her clothes and hair are spotless at all times. It's impossible not to notice this.This is a competently made, unambitious picture, content to model its scares on the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' franchise, with the titular fiend appearing to a group of intense young pretties mainly through their unconsciousness, always involving water. As the creature's success with claiming the young troupe continues, his original favourite Madison continues to evade him long enough to find out a little of the Drownsman's past; the 'terrible sick monster' was a rapist, who raped Maddie's mother, which resulted in … Maddie.There's a notion that The Drownsman might have been waiting for Maddie so she can take his place, but this is only vaguely hinted at before the credits come crashing in and, in all honesty, it's difficult to be overly concerned with a character (or characters) who spend most of the film's running time screaming instead of developing any discernible character.

It's pretty obvious where director and co-writer Chad Archibald's inspiration for "The Drownsman" came from - the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies. However, in his defence he makes the evil force in this movie pretty original - I can't recall another movie involving a water-based supernatural force like this movie. But despite this original touch, the end results, while not terrible, don't really work. Despite all the water, the movie plays out in a dry and drab way - even the bland cinematography doesn't grab the audience's attention. The movie is too subdued, content to just hover around the mildly creepy part of the scare scale (at most, and not very often.) It's also really slow going at times. I think a reason why the movie is so bland is that the title figure is so underwhelming. We learn little about The Drownsman, and he simply doesn't get to do that much that might either interest or chill us. What the movie ends up being is a horror movie that's for the select few that don't like what the horror genre usually tries to give its audience.

A solid horror flick that gets hurt because there are a couple of plot holes that you sort of can't stop thinking about.The plot involves Madison, played well by Michelle Mylett, who falls into the water during an engagement party for her best friend and has a horrifying vision of some sort of monster.Cut to a year later, and it turns out this event has given Madison an extreme case of aquaphobia, since she believes that every time she touches water the monster appears. Her friends try to to cure her of this fear but it turns out that it may be true, that she may be haunted by the spirit of Sebastian Donner, The Drownsman, a supernatural being who travels only in water...The movie is solid. Good acting all around, The Drownsman is introduced to us in a well done prelude and is generally creepy all around. The film doesn't meander -- this is not one of those "50 minutes of meaningless exposition and then 1/2 hour of the actual movie" films. It gets going right away and doesn't let up. Couple of nice twists to keep interesting strong.Biggest problem is a couple of plot details that are hard to ignore. First of all, Madison's aquaphobia is extreme -- she can't drink water (takes fluids through an IV), she can't leave the house if it's raining (causing her to miss her best friend's wedding in which she was supposed to be Maid of Honor), and just a drip sends her into a panic. And yet... she has spotlessly clean skin, clothes, and obviously recently coiffed and washed hair. I know you're supposed to just "go with it" and it's "only a movie," but when they take SO MUCH EFFORT into making her extreme aquaphobia be a major plot point and then she seems to have no problem washing herself... well, it's hard not to think about it all the time.Same goes for the "missed wedding." Her missing the wedding is the catalyst for her friends trying to help, and the bride comes barging into the house still in her dress. But... the movie takes places in the two or three days after the wedding. No Honeymoon? No husband concerned about his new bride leaving him right after the wedding? Again, even with the "it's just a movie" it's hard not to thing about that.Make the aquaphobia a little less overwhelming and eliminate the wedding and I suspect there will be a lot less eye-rolling. None the less, still a solid film and worth checking out.

The acting is excellent."Madison" has been in other horror movies and continues to impress me.She has a future in Hollywood. She will break out of horror B flicks and into mainstream soon.I couldn't help think of the Descent..the acting,the intense relationships and the spook factor.Its not as good as The Descent by any means but still most movies starring all women just are epic fails.The Drownsman keeps you interested from start to finish...no filler and no exploitation.If you appreciate good acting and a good storyline,even a bit original..give The Drownsman a watch.Its good entertainment.No cheese and no gimicks!Just nonstop spooky fun!