Blood in the Water: Talking Shark Night (2011) & The Shallows (2016)

Horror Homeroom Conversations

In today's episode, we are diving into the depths of cinematic terror with Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Shallows (2016) and David R. Ellis’s Shark Night (2011). In The Shallows, a young woman on a pilgrimage to her late mother’s favorite surf haunt finds herself stranded on a rock as she faces off against a relentless great white shark. In Shark Night, a group of unsuspecting friends gather for a little lakeside R&R, only to find themselves being stalked by an assortment of toothy terrors. While both films ostensibly fall under the subgenre of ‘shark horror,’ their differing approaches have us considering the utility of the ‘shark as monster’ trope. Do these films offer up waters chummed with spine-tingling suspense and jaws-dropping scares? We’re finding out in today’s spoiler filled episode, so stay tuned!

CITED IN EPISODE

• BERGER, JOHN. "WHY LOOK AT ANIMALS?." LITERATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT; LEMNAGER, S., SHEWRY, T. EDS (1980): 32-42.
• CLASEN, MATHIAS. EVOLUTIONARY STUDY OF HORROR LITERATURE
• FUCHS, MICHAEL. LOOKING THROUGH THE BEASTS EYES?: THE DIALECTICS OF SEEING THE MONSTER AND BEING SEEN BY THE MONSTER IN SHARK HORROR MOVIES
• LATTANZIO, RYAN. JOHN CARPENTER HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE TERM 'ELEVATED HORROR' MEANS

RELATED REVIEWS AND ESSAYS OF INTEREST

• HORROR REWATCH: DEEP BLUE SEA (1999)
• JAWS, THE SLASHER, AND THE ENCOUNTER AT THE HEART OF HORROR
• JERSEY SHORE SHARK ATTACK (2012) REVIEW
• MAKO: THE JAWS OF DEATH (1976) REVIEW
• SHARKANSAS WOMEN’S PRISON MASSACRE GETS IT SOOO RIGHT
• SHARK HORROR, PART 1: NATURALISTIC HORROR
• SHARK HORROR, PART 2: THE SHARK IN THE HUMAN WORLD
• THE BLACK DEMON: SHARK HORROR MEETS FOLK HORROR
• UP FROM THE DEPTHS (1979) FILM REVIEW