Though Jaws is the granddaddy of all shark movies unlikely to ever be bettered it hasn’t stopped film makers trying especially over the past few years with the likes of The Shallows, 47 Metres Down and most recently The Meg films. Latest pretender to the throne is Deep Fear starring Madalina Ghenea and Ed Westwick.
Ghenia plays Naomie an accomplished yachtswoman and diver who sets off on a solo trip to meet her boyfriend (Westwick) in Grenada. Her boat ironically named, The Serenity, will soon be anything but when she encounters a man and a woman clinging on to the remains of their sunken yacht. Rescuing them she soon finds will be a big mistake when they force her to dive down to the wreckage of the yacht in order to recover its cargo of cocaine.
Like Jaws, Deep Fear does use occasional stock footage but effects have moved on since the infamous malfunctioning mechanical rubber shark and here the sharks are CGI and very highly convincing they are too under the guidance of David Fowler whose previous includes the Fantastic Beasts films and Harry Potter franchise. What’s less convincing is Madalina Ghenia. So whilst the film is in awe of her physique as well as the equally stunning scenery (Malta standing in for the Caribbean) but the producers must have been wary of her doing so many scenes in the water for fear of her contracting rising damp. On the flip side Westwick is underused and wasted in a role that sees him spends much of his time on land coming to the rescue of his onscreen girlfriend.
Much of the action is underwater and there are occasional moments with the sharks which work well – having had Cocaine Baer we now have Cocaine shark but Deep Fear is largely derivative and somewhat generic.
related feature: The Meg 2 facts and figures
related feature: A trio of enormous Megalodon shark fins breached the River Thames ! The Meg 2 : The Trench is here
The cast, director, underwater cinematographer and visual effects supervisor talked about the making of the film at a special screening…..
