SOMETHING IN THE WATER (2024)

Genre: Thriller
Director:  Hayley Easton Street
Cast: Hiftu Quasem, Lauren Lyle, Natalie Mitson, Nicole Rieko Setsuko, Ellouise Shakespeare-hart
Runtime: 1 hr 26 mins
Rating: M18 (Mature Content and Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 30 May 2024

Synopsis: A dream destination wedding turns deadly as five friends are forced to confront their fears and brave the open waters.

Movie Review:

If there’s one thing to take away after watching the latest shark thriller, Something In The Water. It’s life, one trauma after another.

A year ago, Meg (Hiftu Quasem) suffered a violent homophobic attack while on a night out with her love interest Kayla (Natalie Mitson). Still suffering from PTSD, Meg unwillingly reunites with her former partner at their best friend, Lizzie’s (Lauren Lyle) wedding at a Caribbean seaside resort.

At the behest of the free-spirited Cam (Nicole Rieko Setsuko) and together with the more intellectual Ruth (Ellouise Shakespeare-Hart), the five friends board a dinghy boat to a remote island presumably as an excuse for Meg and Kayla to amend their broken relationship. Sh** happens shortly or 30 minutes into the movie and Ruth finds that a shark has bitten off a chuck of her leg.

The other four struggles to bring her back to the boat but in a panicked rush to mainland, Lizzy crashes the boat onto a reef and the five girls find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean with a shark circling around them.

It has been a long long while since we encounter a shark thriller that is worth our time. Largely because every one out there is formulaic, familiar and frankly boring. Maybe it’s easier to work out a low-budget thriller simply by throwing a couple of unknown young stars into the ocean and see if the CGI sharks and fins can work out some cinematic magic.

While credit has to go to art director turned director Hayley Easton Street and and writer Cat Clarke for introducing some feminine perspectives and narrative into the whole ordeal, it’s very much the wrong genre to do so. Something in the Water examines a huge load of serious topics liked same sex love, homophobic, PTSD, friendship, jealousy and more. There’s plenty of drama and bickering between the five friends and you can tell the filmmakers are trying to make the characters far more interesting and dimensional that it should be.

Then again, the audiences are here for the shark.

We suspect it’s again the ultra-low budget that prevent Street from showcasing the thirsty, hungry sea monster in revealing it’s jaws and face throughout. So what you get are the heads of the various actresses bobbing in and out of the water, generous underwater shots of their kicking legs and wide drone shots of the clear, blue ocean waters. The deaths and attacks often occurred off camera or too swiftly for anyone to catch what’s going on. Even the logic of Ruth being attacked in shallow water seem ludicrous but I guess no one cares.

Just when you think there’s something “big” happening like a character pulling out a knife to confront the shark, the end result falls short. The same applies to the finale with Meg being stuck on a reef. Even with a slim runtime of 80 minutes, Something In The Water struggles to finish or end the movie on a high note. The biggest applause has to go to Meg however for suffering not one but two traumas in a span of a year. Her bravery should be commended though not this weak, shark-centric thriller.

Movie Rating:

(Yet again a poorly conceived shark thriller that boasts no tension and bite)

Review by Linus Tee