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

Into the Deep (2024)

"Above Average Modern Exploitation Film"

INTO THE DEEP, is getting a Digital, Blu-ray and DVD release from Signature Entertainment, and, despite the generic box art, it's a film that's definitely more fun than a lot of similar fare currently out there.

As a child, Cassidy (Scout Taylor-Compton from Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN films) was traumatised by seeing her father partially eaten and then dragged to his death by a shark. She's now an oceanographer, but that's thanks mainly to the efforts of her grandfather (Richard Dreyfuss) helping her overcome her fears.

On holiday on Reunion Island (south west of Madagascar) with her husband, the two of them embark on a sea trip on the rickety old boat of her husband's old friend Daemon (Stuart Townsend - THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN's Dorian Gray). 

There's another couple along for the ride, too, and when they all decide to engage in a spot of diving a shark appears and bites the arm off one of them. Then a gang of drug smugglers looking to pick up a cache of heroin that has been dumped nearby turn up and everything gets a whole lot worse.

INTO THE DEEP starts off like a lot of modern-day low budget movies of its type - glamorous location footage, name star wheeled onto give a speech that justifies their name being on the credits, and diving scene that goes on a bit too long and allows you to start thinking you can find better stuff on YouTube. But when the pirates turn up the film suddenly decides to become a proper, good old fashioned action movie, with Jon Seda's snarling pirate leader just the right side of moustache twirling, and plenty of shenanigans and gun battles to liven things up. 

INTO THE DEEP is being sold as yet another shark movie but it's actually better than that, so don't be put off by the poster. If you fancy the modern equivalent of the kind of stuff a studio like Cannon Films used to put out you'll have fun with this. Here's the trailer:

INTO THE DEEP is out from Signature Entertainment on Digital Platforms on Monday 27th January 2025 and Blu-ray and DVD on Monday 3rd February 2025

The Last Breath (2024)

 

"Unexpectedly Entertaining"

For enthusiasts of a certain kind of cinema there's plenty to be tickled by in THE LAST BREATH, a diving adventure movie (plus shark) that's just been released on Blu-ray and DVD by Signature in the UK.

In 1944 the USS Charlotte is sunk by a German torpedo just off the British Virgin Islands. Surviving navy officer Jimmy bobs around in the water for a bit and tries to save a colleague but ends up pulling the man's severed arm out of the water. His nonchalant response to this grisly discovery suggests such a thing may well have been an everyday occurrence for him. Who knows, perhaps it was.

The ship remains undiscovered for 60 years until, in the present day, Noah (Jack Parr) dives a few feet down from the boat of his friend Levi (the late Julian Sands) in just the right place and lo and behold, there it is. At the same time, four of his very broadly drawn caricatures of college friends turn up for a diving holiday. The obnoxious Wall Street one offers $50 000 for them to be taken down to the wreck. The one who acts like the comedy relief in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon has his mask and flippers fall off when he dives, while the overly sincere surgeon (more about her in a bit) turns out to be Noah's ex-girlfriend who left him due to his proposed slacker way of life.

Yes, there's a shark, but it takes a while to appear. Before it does we witness scenes and ideas lifted from Neil Marshall's THE DESCENT as well as TITANIC and THE ABYSS. In fact, while director Joachim Heden seems to want to emulate James Cameron, crappy dialogue like "Sharks don't have ears do they?" coupled with a terrible attempt at underwater surgery and the repeated demonstration of inaccurate diving techniques (thanks to Mrs Probert for that) ultimately mean this one is more like having Bruno Mattei, the director of such epics as CRUEL JAWS and SHOCKING DARK, back with us again.

All of this is to say that, approached in the right way, THE LAST BREATH is actually very entertaining, in an Italian early 1980s direct to VHS shark movie ripoff kind of way. There's even a final shot of New York where you can add your own bit about how zombies have entered the building. Here's the trailer:

THE LAST BREATH is out now on Blu-ray and DVD from Signature Entertainment

The Black Demon (2023)

"More Megalodon Mayhem"

That's right, before Ben Wheatley's THE MEG 2 hits cinema screens in August, those desperate for their fix of a movie featuring an outrageously super colossal CGI shark need look no further than THE BLACK DEMON, getting a digital, DVD and Blu-ray release from Signature.

Paul Sturges (Josh Lucas) is a troubleshooter for Nixon Oil. Asked to assess one of their rigs he travels to a town in Baja with his family in tow, only to discover that the locals are unfriendly and nearly everyone on the oil rig has been killed by the most enormous shark ever to be conceived by a low budget digital compositor. By a series of contrivances Paul's wife and two children end up on the rig with him and pretty soon it's showdown time.

THE BLACK DEMON is directed by Adrian Grunberg who made the ultimately underwhelming RAMBO: LAST BLOOD. The same feeling of going through the motions is present here. The script offers some excellent opportunities for chills and thrills (not least when the teenaged daughter falls into a sea filled with body parts), but they're all fumbled, as are suspense sequences that, if you can suspend your disbelief as regards the CGI shark, could still have been a lot better. In the 1970s this kind of film could have been saved by the acting but again everything is strictly bland and one-note with nobody giving any real characterisation to what amount to little more than cardboard cut outs. Music could have saved this one as well but not in this case. If you're a completist for movies featuring a massive CGI shark you'll want to see this. Admittedly the locations are gorgeous and the disused oil rig they found to shoot on is effective, but a little more talent all round could have gone a long way with this one. Anyway, here's the trailer:

THE BLACK DEMON is out on digital on Monday 19th June and on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 17th July 2023

The Reef: Stalked (2022)

Writer-Director Andrew Traucki has something of an aquatic-themed CV, having previously made BLACK WATER (2007), BLACK WATER: ABYSS (2020), THE REEF (2010) and THE ABCS OF DEATH segment G is for Gravity (2013). His latest is THE REEF: STALKED and it's getting a digital and DVD release from Signature Entertainment.

Nine months after her sister is murdered by drowning, Nic (Teressa Liane) sets off with three female friends for a weekend of sun and surfing in the Pacific. However, scarcely are they paddling out to a paradisiacal-looking island than something with a big pointy fin starts swimming towards them, begging the question: how many will survive and in how many pieces?

THE REEF was a seriously decent suspense-filled little piece about a few people standing on top of a sinking capsized boat trying to escape the attentions of a Great White shark. Perhaps needless to say, THE REEF: STALKED doesn't see any characters from that returning, either because they're dead or if they're sensible they now plan their holidays somewhere appropriately dry and land-locked.

So what we have is a sequel in all but name, and while THE REEF was good, THE REEF: STALKED is pretty generic. Once again we have a great big shark with a taste for plastic and wood that, in the curious habit of movie sharks, will stop at nothing in its somewhat lunatic vendetta to pursue the same small group of people. The CGI isn't bad and it makes a change to have an all-female group being menaced, but the suspense and sense of isolation of the director's other movies listed above is a bit lacking here. One for Evil Fish completists only. Signature's DVD contains no extras to speak of but you do get the trailer for FALL which is going to be the closing film at this year's Frightfest. 

Andrew Traucki's THE REEF: STALKED is out from Signature Entertainment on digital on Friday 29th July 2022 and DVD on Monday 8th August 2022

Shark Lake (2015)

“Features sharks and a lake.”

But mostly a lake. Admittedly the box art for this is honest in that this film features star Dolph Lundgren and (not very good CGI) shark action in roughly equal amounts, but the screen time afforded both is far outweighed by some dull soap opera antics, those “crowd-pleasing” time wasting standbys of a little girl, a dog, and an old lady who seems to have trapped the spirit of the family cat on her mobile.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. We open on a shack belonging to Clint Grey (Dolph). Clint has been illegally keeping rare and exotic reptiles, amphibians and fish. The entire might of the local police force perform a raid, and the two of them end up chasing Clint as he makes his getaway.

In his van.

That has a shark in the back of it.

At least I think so. The van crashes into the lake. Clint gets arrested, and Clint’s three year old daughter gets adopted by soon-to-be “fiercely protective single mom” (thanks imdb) and police officer Meredith Hernandez (Sara Lane).

Five years pass.

Clint gets out of jail and returns to his remarkably clean and tidy-looking shack where the town’s local gang boss wants to have a word with him. “My money or my shark,” says the boss, which would have made a much better title for this film, or possibly for a TV show that will sadly never be. 

Meanwhile, something is eating people who stray into about three feet of water in the 200 square miles of the local lake, presumably by something that’s not just jolly good at hearing old people arguing, but can flatten itself to sneak up on you.

A bear gets blamed. We see the bear for a split second. It looks appropriately miffed to be in this film. Meredith meets a young chap called Peter (Michael Aaron Milligan) in a bar. Peter has glasses and a PhD that obviously isn’t in drama and he mumbles something about sharks. He’s bloody good, though, because he can tell not just the sex of a shark from a small polaroid photo but also whether or not it’s pregnant AND WITH HOW MANY BABY SHARKS.

Meredith and Peter engage in flirtation so mild and lacking in charisma that it’s like watching two blocks of wood trying to mate. 

Meanwhile a slimy shark hunter with a fake British accent turns up claiming to be from that well-known BBC TV series Fish Hunt. He interviews a few local lovelies before tackling the shark and getting everything wrong.

There are more deaths. Every now and then we catch a glimpse of CGI sharkiness. Every now and then we catch a glimpse of Dolph Lundgren. Shark and Dolph and Meredith and Peter meet for a climax of optically enhanced proportions (which isn’t saying much). 

SHARK LAKE really isn’t very good. Nobody seems terribly interested or good at what they’ve been assigned to do, especially the director, who does everything by the numbers, and the actors, who you think would welcome the opportunity to overact in something as ludicrous as this. Instead it’s as if Dolph has dosed everyone with quaaludes in order to make his own reasonable performance the standout (which it is, by the way).

Soda Pictures’ DVD offers you a trailer as extra. There’s an ‘options’ button on the menu but sadly these don’t include ‘eject the disc and go and watch something else’. But then, you can probably work that one out for yourself. 

SHARK LAKE is coming out on DVD from Soda Pictures on Monday 1st August