Deep Blue Sea (1999)

 

Arrow Films are releasing Renny Harlin's genetically modified sharks on the rampage movie in a brand new 4K restoration supervised by the director on both UHD and Blu-ray formats.

It's a film that has the benefits of a decent budget and some decent actors, Thomas Jane, Stellan Skarsgard and Samuel L Jackson among them. It also had a promising original idea by screenwriter Duncan Kennedy, whose inspiration for the script was apparently a recurring nightmare of being trapped in a passageway and being pursued by sharks who could read his mind. This came to him after he witnessed the remains of a shark attack victim washed up on the beach near his home. 

However, the finished film that is DEEP BLUE SEA translates that idea to the screen with mad scientist Saffron Burrows attempting to cure Alzheimer's disease by using a protein harvested from shark brains, and then slapping a bit of illegal genetic engineering in there for good measure. Of course what she's up to wouldn't be so bad except that a storm and an exploding helicopter turn the marine research facility where all this is happening into a disaster area, and the film becomes a bit like The Poseidon Adventure With Sharks before we get to the climax. 

LL Cool J is in this as a chef, apparently because Jackson's agent quite reasonably said that the role wasn't good enough for Mr Jackson, who then had another part specially created for him. Sadly he doesn't get to say that he's had enough of these motherfucking sharks in this motherfucking research facility but that's okay because anyone who watches the film these days will likely fill that in for him. It's also good to see at least one good old-fashioned exploitation film principal being exercised here, namely old-time producer Harry Alan Towers' rule that you must kill off the most expensive actors first.

Arrow's disc contains two new commentary tracks, one from screenwriter Kennedy and another, very enthusiastic, one from film writer Rebekah McKendry who discusses all things shark movie related. The 1999 archival commentary with Renny Harlin and Samuel L Jackson (recorded separately it sounds like) has also been ported over.

Other extras include a 25 minute interview with production designer William Sandell, and a 20 minute visual essay by Trace Thompson that does go rather over the top in its praise for the film and also gets rather too bogged down in theories of 'the monstrous feminine' for a film that's essentially just a bit of big budget daftness. 

Archival extras include a making of (15 minutes), a piece on the animatronic sharks (8 minutes) and eight minutes of deleted scenes with optional director commentary. As usual there's a trailer and an image gallery, and Arrow's limited edition set comes with a 60 page book featuring new writing on the film, a poster and some postcards. 

Renny Harlin's DEEP BLUE SEA is out from Arrow Films on 4KUHD and Blu-ray on Monday 17th March 2025