Last Updated: October 30, 2020
The genre itself is a mixed bag of “ironically” bad movies like Sharktopus or Ghost Shark, while studios will occasionally produce tense fare like The Shallows. The Meg from 2018 was based on the book series of the same name by Steve Alten, with the movie adaptation spending years in development hell with directors like Eli Roth and Jan de Bont coming and going. The subsequent Jason Statham Meg blockbuster rode a wave of smart advertising to gross over $500 million worldwide, despite mixed reviews and a disappointing lack of bloodshed.
Deep Blue Sea from 1999 finds a team of scientists trapped in an underwater lab, where they’re stalked by three experimental “smart” sharks. The logic of the movie doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny but it’s an undeniably fun action movie with a few surprise demises. This famously includes Samuel L. Jackson’s (Captain Marvel) businessman, with the actor being by far the biggest name in the cast at the time. Around the midway point he gives a rousing speech to his fellow survivors that they’ll make it out alive - only to be grabbed by a shark and viciously ripped apart. It’s a genuinely shocking moment and just one reason to recommend Deep Blue Sea.
There’s good news for Hulu subscribers, as Deep Blue Sea is currently available to stream on the Disney-owned service in the U.S., though it sadly isn’t currently available on any streaming services in the UK. The movie can also be rented or purchased via Google Play, YouTube, iTunes, Vudu, and other outlets. The movie later spawned a belated sequel in 2018’s Deep Blue Sea 2, which attracted universally negative reviews and essentially remade the first movie on a lower budget. Deep Blue Sea 3 is also in the works for Netflix.
The original ending of Deep Blue Sea featured three survivors, including Saffron Burrows’ morally dubious scientist, who created the sharks. Test audiences rebelled against this, however, and felt she deserved to die for her actions, so the ending was changed to have brutally eaten in the finale. Her character was digitally removed from the final shots to make her removal complete.
Next: Jaws: Where Amity Island Is Supposed To Be (& Where It Was Filmed)
