This review will contain spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

Reading this blog, one might think that I only watch killer shark movies, which isn’t entirely true… Every now and then I get on a kick. Some times this kick is on a band or a genre of film and recently I have been on a kick of watching killer shark movies. Maybe its nostalgia since the summer is coming to a close, or maybe I am just looking for a decent shark movie. Well I have found an above average killer shark film that you should definitely check out!

In the Deep is a 2016 survival horror film that involves sharks. I hadn’t heard of it at all since the film was poorly marketed. You cant even find a trailer online (how is that even possible?) and if you want a DVD copy its gonna cost you (they are selling for over $40 on eBay currently). I found out about the film when I was writing my review for The Shallows yesterday. I was on IMDB and it came up as a recommend film. One thing lead to another and I knew that I had to check out the film.

The premise of the film is simple. Two sisters vacationing in Mexico decide to go cage diving with great white sharks after one of the sisters boyfriends breaks up with her for being “boring.” Of course the horror ensues when the cable that holds the cage breaks and the women go plummeting to the bottom of the ocean. The original title to the film was 47 Meters Down which may have been a bit too on the nose since their is a conversation that goes as such: “How far down are we?” “47 meters.” That would have been distracting I think.

“Anti-shark cage. You go inside the cage? Cage goes in the water, you go in the water. Shark’s in the water. Our shark.”

The film stars Mandy Moore, Claire Holt and Matthew Modine and is directed by Johannes Roberts. It would be easy to see the women in this film giving performances where they scream and cry just like a lot of other horror flicks, but this is not what we get at all. The two actresses in this film were great. They both understand the danger they are in and almost instantly kick into survival mode. They do things throughout the film that make you think that you would just rather die inside the cage. Modine doesn’t get much face time in the film and his character is a bit subdued but he is never distracting in the few scenes that he is in.

Johannes Roberts is a director that I am not all too familiar with. His Wikipedia page has his filmography at 10 films included this film but I am not too sure what his actual involvement were in those films. After seeing In the Deep though, I would like to explore his work a bit further. Roberts directed the shit out of this film. The atmosphere and mood that is set is so terrifying. As if being at the bottom of the ocean in shark infested waters wasn’t bad enough, Roberts adds a sense of claustrophobia with very tight camera angles on the actors faces. This not only gives us the feeling of being in the cage with them but it also allows us to view the characters emotions that are displayed on their faces. I thought this was a great move by the director, but I will admit, every now and then I just wanted a wide shot showing the cage sitting all alone at the bottom.

Another aspect of the film that made it great was the score. Jaws obviously has an iconic film score that will live on forever. I am not saying that this film score is iconic the same way that Jaws’ is, but it is effective. The tension that is built through the music alone is horrifying. Coupled with the camera work, the music adds so much dread to the viewing experience. There are scenes in the film where the music and camera will be working together to make you expect a shark to attack the cage and it never does. Other times there will be that same combination of music and camera work and a shark does attack the cage. It is effective in keeping you off guard, on the edge of your seat, and curious to see what comes next.

The visual effects also look great. The sharks in this film were up there if not better than the shark that appears in The Shallows. They looked like real sharks throughout most of the film. There is one scene in particular that really stood out to me. Towards the end of the film Moore’s character is attacked by one of the sharks. The camera is angled to show her in the mouth of the shark. At this point she begins to gouge at the sharks eye. This whole interaction looked intense. I believe that this scene was done using a shark prop and that helped to really make it look realistic.

My one complaint centers around the exposition in the film. Some of the dialogue is nice because they actually get scientific and explain why the characters couldn’t just race to the surface (the bends) but other times it seems to foreshadow and almost give away what is coming next. The oxygen tanks that our main characters have are running low and Modine’s character sends down to them two fresh tanks. As he is doing this he explains to them that they must be careful because this increases their chance of narcosis. Narcosis could lead to them hallucinating he says and immediately as an audience member you know that one of these characters is going to be hallucinating at some point soon.

Within the next few minutes the sister played by Holt is killed by a shark, or at least attacked and dragged away. Moore’s character is distraught and seems to be on the verge of giving up. Moments later we heard Holt’s character come through the intercom on Moore’s headset. She says that she is hurt and bleeding a lot. Moore’s character beings to do everything she can do to get out of the cage to save her sister. When she gets out she finds her sister quickly and they begin to ascend to the surface. They have to do this slow to avoid getting the bends. The entire time they are coming to the surface their are sharks surrounding them. Moore’s character gets attacked twice before they get on the boat.

Once they are one the boat they begin to receive medical attention from the men on the boat. The camera focus’ on Moore’s face and she begins laughing. She hold her hand in front of her face and we can see blood coming out by it is flowing as if it is in water. During all this Modine’s character is talking to her and slowing his voice beings to sound like its coming through the intercom. This scene ends quickly and we are once again back in the cage. Moore is sitting in the cage laughing hysterically talking about how they have been saved.

I really liked the end to this film, however I could see it coming because of the obvious statement about the narcosis. I can understand why the statement was made since the filmmakers seems to want to include science in the film but at the same time I think it made the effect of the ending a little less. On the other hand, maybe they included all the science in hopes to cover up the hallucination line in the film. Either way it was my one major issue since it made the ending less impactful.

The shame with this movie was that it was complete over shadowed by The Shallows. I liked The Shallows a lot but this film to me was just better. The choices the director made allowed this film to terrify its audience in effective ways and at the same time have them thinking throughout what they would do if they were ever to find themselves in that situation. As far as killer shark films go, this one is near the top for me. Is it Jaws? No, of course not. What it is a very well made and thrilling film that keeps you thinking and on the edge of the couch the entire runtime. If you haven’t seen this or The Shallows yet, I would recommend watching both. Start with The Shallows then watch this. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

8/10