Greetings again from the darkness. It’s a tradition that began with JAWS (1975). Every summer gets a new disaster or shark movie … something to put a bit of doubt into the minds of beach vacationers everywhere. Of course, Spielberg’s original film (from Peter Benchley’s novel) remains the best, and in addition to the slew of movies, it’s been joined by Discovery’s “Shark Week” and even the absurd “Sharknado” movies. In fact, there have been so many through the years, that we are ready for the blending of disasters like we get with this latest from writer-director Tommy Wirkola (the underappreciated VIOLENT NIGHT, 2022).
The small coastal town of Annieville, South Carolina is bracing to take a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricane. Most of the town has evacuated, yet some remain. Among those are pregnant Lisa (Phoebe Dynevor, ANNIVERSARY, 2025; “Bridgerton”), whose boss made her work, and young Dakota (Whitney Peak, “Gossip Girl”), who is home alone, grieving the loss of her mother and dealing with stifling anxiety. We get a countdown to impact, and Dakota’s Oceanographer uncle (Djimon Hounsou) has promised her he’s on the way.
A massive hurricane, along with the storm surge, flooding, and high winds is not enough this time. Along with all of that comes bull sharks and great whites that are swimming (and eating) their way through the town, including the flooded houses. A t-boned meat truck dumps a ton of blood in the streets to ensure we have enough shark attacks to keep these stragglers in danger. Dakota and Lisa share a story, while three foster kids just outside of town get their own – although for the three kids, it turns out their foster parents may have been the real sharks.
Wirkola’s film has plenty of tension and gore for the genre, and enough storytelling to keep us interested. We see the danger involved with rescue efforts when folks ignore the advanced warnings. In a previous review, I mentioned that Phoebe Dynevor is a rising star, and I’m sticking to that.
Movie Reviews from the Dark 