Deep Blue Sea, Renny Harlin’s 1999 sci-fi/horror fest that was unleashed during a pretty loaded summer season, is a concept that would seem right up the alley of a Syfy original.
For those unfamiliar with it, here’s the gist. In an effort to cure Alzheimer’s, a team of scientists working on a floating laboratory named Aquatica in the middle of the ocean have genetically engineered a trio of Mako sharks whose brain tissue fluids, once drained, serve as the key to unlocking the cure. Unfortunately, the sharks’ increased brain size only results in making the beasts even smarter, and it’s not long before the sharks enact a plan to gain their own freedom by picking off everyone they can and sinking the facility itself in the process.
As you probably know, there’s nothing deep about Deep Blue Sea. It knows it’s not Jaws, and doesn’t care at all that it isn’t. It’s a movie about three insanely smart, incredibly dangerous sharks and the people desperately trying to find a way to survive what’s happening, and once that entire premise is in place and all hell breaks loose, there’s nothing more to it, leaving the rest of the film to exist purely as a rollercoaster ride filled with thrills punctuated only by the briefest moments of breathing room. It’s entertainment in its purest form, allowing you to turn the brain off without also causing you to roll your eyes, the film taking its concept seriously enough to keep the whole thing from steering into outright ludicrous territory.
So, it’s no surprise that there’s now a Deep Blue Sea 2 coming our way and it’s being produced at Syfy. How appropriate, right? Not much is known about the plot at the moment, but from what we understand, it’ll revolve around “a scientist conducting experiments on bull sharks.” Naturally, this doesn’t go according to plan and eventually, the sharks escape – and hell breaks loose.
Directed by Darin Scott, and starring Michael Beach, we now have the first trailer for the sequel and it promises deadlier, wiser and stronger sharks. From the looks of things, it appears that Deep Blue Sea 2 is working with a smaller budget than its predecessor and it’s pretty clear that this is a direct-to-video production.
Still, that doesn’t mean it won’t provide some solid thrills and with the shark genre having seen something of a resurgence in recent years, we’re hopeful that the pic is another worthy outing – even if it may not entirely live up to the bar set by its predecessor.
“We are a true sequel. We wanted to keep to the spirit of Deep Blue Sea and why people love it,” Matt Bierman, creative executive for Warner Bros, recently said.
“The research that was used on the sharks in Deep Blue Sea 2 comes from the mythology and story line of the first movie. We have given the lead shark an intelligence and personality and hope the fans will embrace that as it really helps the story telling and the narrative in a way that first one didn’t. Deep Blue Sea 2 has a slightly slower build but once the rubber band snaps things go boom really quickly!”
Deep Blue Sea 2 will make its way to Blu-ray and DVD in July, with Amazon now taking pre-orders.
