My first fear when watching any shark movie these days is – how bad is the CGI gonna be?
The time of practical shark effects are long gone, but occasionally we get films that do one of the ocean’s apex predators justice.
While Deep Fear isn’t the next Jaws, it is a fun and enjoyable ride with some quite impressive shark effects, given its limited budget.
Some may recognise the name of director Marcus Adams from the minor DVD hit Long Time Dead from 2002, and here with the help of Gossip Girl’s Ed Westwick he crafts a serviceable thriller with some bite.
We mainly follow Westwick’s girlfriend Naomi as she travels from the Bahamas, and discovers a wreckage as a storm approaches. Naomi isn’t any old sailor though, as her parents drown when she was a child, giving her some pre-established PTSD, and throw some sharks into the mix and you’ve got Deep Fear.
Oh, did I forget to mention, the capsized boat was carrying cocaine, which Naomi is tasked with retrieving in the hunting grounds of white sharks.
The attack sequences are well done, with the sharks used as existential threat which sometimes appear just to remind our cast that the ocean can be a dangerous place, never mind for storms and capsizing boats.
While not particular scary like something like The Reef, Deep Fear is more an easy viewing with minorly raised stakes and a slew of decent performances; especially Madelina Ghenea’s Naomi, who is really put through the ringer. Westwick, despite top billing, is a co-star at best until the film’s finale.
If you are in need of your shark fix, you can do far worse than Deep Fear.
Watch the trailer for Deep Fear below –
Bloody Flicks 