In the modern days of cinematic horror, the creature feature sub-genre has forced filmmakers to face the conundrum of attempting to create a decent movie with both effects that are pleasing to the eye and a narrative that makes sense. As a result, these movies tend to fit more into the sister category of thriller, although with some tender attention and elbow grease, even a shark-attack thriller can find success amongst a plethora of other films in the crowded catalog — which was exactly the case for 2016’s The Shallows.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the House of Wax directed sought out to generate a worthy shark-attack contender — which undoubtedly helped with Green Lantern star Blake Lively getting cast in the horror project. In the Collet-Serra vehicle, Lively stars as Nancy Adams — a medical student dealing with recent grief who travels to a remote beach in Mexico. Unbeknownst to her, a vengeful great white shark is patrolling the waters, which forces Adams to utilize her knowledge to try and escape.
With Lively in the driver seat and the effective capitalization on a low-budget gem, The Shallows garnered more praise than it did criticism — especially with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, where the movie harbors a 78 percent Certified Fresh score. In its defense, the overall critics’ consensus declared that the horror movie boasted a premise that “transcended tropes” with regard to the typical creature-feature flavor.
Thrill-seeking Netflix subscribers echoed these sentiments, too, with many movie-lovers clearing their schedules to soak up the survival horror’s breathtaking sequences. As per FlixPatrol, The Shallows has become one of the platform’s most-watched films in several countries around the world — proving itself to be an acclaimed creature feature with plenty of bite.
