Posters are an integral part of any film's marketing campaign during its theatrical release. They give an interesting insight into what the distributor would have thought were the most marketable aspects of a film, such as cast or genre, and could be tailored to different countries and audiences. In this moody poster for the 1989 Czech release of Dead Calm (or Úplné bezvetrí in Czech), we can see how significant the psychological thriller's genre was for drawing in that country's audience. The crimson waves and red sky give the poster an ominous quality, and in it, Nicole Kidman's face is cut in half by the horizon – which also hints at the seafaring plot. In the film, a grieving couple played by Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill are at open sea when they rescue a stranger (Billy Zane) from a sinking ship – only to discover he is not what he seems. Some fun trivia: before filming began, Nicole Kidman took lessons from the owner of the Stormvogel on how to operate the ship. During the storm sequences near the end of the film, she is actually piloting the yacht.