In
The Deep (2016/Weinstein/Anchor Bay DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: C
The
2016 Johanne Roberts film In the Deep is another recent enter
in the 'shark' horror subgenre, which was dominated this year by the
superb thriller The Shallows. The film stars Claire Holt,
Chris J. Johnson, Yani Gellman, and (real-life singer on a comeback)
Mandy Moore.
This
is a tough subgenre in horror to tackle, due mainly to the perfection
of the shark movie in Spielberg's Jaws, its endless imitators
(other fish and monsters) and the comparisons to that film are, of
course, evident here. In recent years, the successes in the genre
have been hit and miss with my favorite still being the 1999 goofball
shark flick Deep Blue Sea.
Two
cute sisters (Moore and Holt) end up vacation in New Mexico and also
end up out on a boat with a bunch of studs. Lowered into a shark
tank underwater and at first blown away by the beautiful of life
under the sea, they soon end up stalked by a great white and are on a
fight for their life to get back to the surface.
The
screenplay, while full of some predictable moments, has an
interesting premise and the underwater photography seen here is
nothing short of impressive. Camera angles are used to hide the
shark during tense moments, with the focus mainly being on the two
actresses playing off one another. Sometimes this filmmaking trope
works and sometimes it falls short. Perhaps with two stronger leads
this could have been more compelling.
Presented
in standard definition with an anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of
2.35:1 and a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track, the film looks and sounds
fine for DVD but could obviously benefit to a high definition update.
No extras.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
