Isca

A new marine chiller that attempts to revive the killer shark subgenre but fails in several key areas. Despite its potential and an almost entirely female cast, Hayley Easton Street's film fails to bring any freshness or real excitement to the genre. With a script that mixes elements from "Open Water" and "The Shallows"," relying on clichés and implausible situations, the movie ends up being more of a simple and boring exercise than a suspenseful thriller with low-quality special effects that diminish the threat of the shark. Rather than offering a frightening experience, it remains a failed attempt to replicate the success of its predecessors.

Something in the Water is a new thriller directed by Hayley Easton Street, who makes her real directorial debut with this film after some short films.

Before a wedding, the bride's group of friends decide to take a boat trip before the wedding. When one of the friends is bitten by a hair while swimming, the friends rush back to the boat.

Due to the panic that has arisen, they hit a rock during the return trip, which causes the boat to sink and the five of them end up in the open water with a dangerous shark lurking.

This film is being sold as a mix between the films Jaws and Bridesmaids, only without the talent behind these films. Due to the poorer script and direction, you don't really care about most of the characters during the film. The more novice actresses receive little or no guidance.

When the characters are also stupid because of the weak script. Or making separate decisions only makes you care less about them. You almost hope that the shark catches them quickly, so that the film can end earlier.

This film had promise from the trailer (albeit with a story lacking any sense of originality but that's fine - sometimes we just want a good shark film).

The strength in this film is with how it doesn't show the shark to start with, other than a fin. A page taken from Jaws' playbook but, when that fin "looks" to do a handbrake turn when the shark senses blood, we know we're in trouble and everything is about to go downhill... And it does.

The over head shots of the shark in the water are okay but the constant - shark lunging for victim - shots are some of the worst CGI I've seen. But this isn't the worst thing about this film. That "accolade" goes to the acting and stupid script.

Example of script:

Women in water, shark circling them. They panic (fair).

One of them cracks a "joke" about dying from a shark attack in Manchester due to global warming. The women start to laugh whole-heartedly. THERE IS A SHARK CIRCLING YOU AND ONE OF YOU IS BLEEDING TO DEATH!!!!

I could say more but honestly, I'm annoying I wasted 86 minutes of my life on this. Give it a skip and remember the name of those who made this atrocity so you can avoid future work too. It's THAT bad.

Ridiculous premise from the outset.

It is like an Enid Blyton novel, 'Five Diverse Babes Go lesbian Relationship Counselling At Sea'. What could possibly go wrong?

Obviously, the film is low budget and in this case, it shows.

The direction is basic. The script divests you of feeling for the protagonists whose characterisation is quite two dimensional.. The plot is ridiculous and written with stupid characters making stupid decisions and written by people who have no idea about shark behaviour.

Although I did say it was low budget there are some drone and cityscape establishing shots but I have no idea what relevance they have to the main part of the story.

'I can't pee, if you are looking at me'.......they are all stranded in the water at sea. Laugh out loud funny. Very nearly 'Showgirls, so bad it's good' bad.

Surly if your a film maker you would have watched other films of this ilk. Either because you like those sort of movies and it inspired you to try something different or you've done some research by watching or reading stories about being stranded with sharks. But alas it's the same old trope.

To be honest, it's fairly limited using this sub-genre. But with some clever thinking you could add some twists or tricks and you could make it a bit more interesting. For example they did have some basic equipment that they could have used in a clever way, but it is quickly forgotten and never mentioned or used again.

The research on the behaviour of sharks is wholly inadequate and inaccurate. Again, with a bit of thinking you could have applied real world experiences and observations in to the story, but nothing.

This movie ended up being a bit of a.