“Hallucinations have no logic.”

Story: A year ago, Liz survived a brutal shark attack that claimed the lives of her fiancé Seth and her sister Payton. Liz has been suffering from extreme survivor’s guilt ever since; barely sleeping, seeing visions of huge sharks coming for her, even having visions of Seth and Payton. But will her new love Roberta be able to finally turn Liz’s sleepy frown upside-down?

Subgenre: Sharkey Shark With Ghosts And Stuff
Release Date: 2020
FX: Cheesy CGI, but fun makeup
Some Clichés/Tropes: Ghosts Gonna Haunt’cha Til You Do What You’re Told, Dream Sequences, Sharkey Shark
Where I Watched: Amazon Prime

Spooky or Nah?: This mashup of Jaws, American Werewolf in London, and Jacob’s Ladder is a brilliant use of an ultra-low budget. Now don’t get me wrong, this ain’t Citizen Kane. But it’s a helluva lot better than several other low-budget sharkey films I could mention. Writer/director Jose Montesinos is a bit of a low-budget guru of sorts, having cranked out over ten feature length films in as many years. So you know exactly what you’re getting with this one; it’s gonna be hilariously low-budget, with just about everyone in front of the camera delivering their best “first time in front of a camera” performances, and edits that want to be artsy but just feel odd. Shout out to Terra Strong, whose Roberta feels a bit too good for this film. Hey, everybody’s gotta get their SAG card somehow, right? (She has gone on to small roles in Westworld and NCIS: Los Angeles, so here’s hoping someone will give her a juicy role she can really sink into.)

Depths is a really interesting idea that uses “homages” so heavy-handedly it takes all the fun (and suspense) out of things. I mean, there’s even a scene that harks back to SNL’s Landshark. Oh sure, the basics are switched up a bit, but anyone who’s seen the OG bit will know exactly what’s coming. I’d like to say this film gets a boost from me for delivering an interesting ending…but all I could do is just think about where I’d seen that reveal before. If Montesinos had dug into the characters backstories a bit more, left “interesting” edits on the cutting room floor (for example, that “match cut” that didn’t line up with anything in the next scene), and perhaps played with the characters’ motivations? It could have been something really compelling. As it is, it’s firmly in the “that’ll do, pig” section of my horror streaming selections.