u/GiraffesForHigher

You could of really loved it while the ratings are mixed/negative or you could have really disliked it while the consensus is it was good/great.

Mine is Jason Takes Manhattan. It has an average score of 2.1 but I gave that baby a 4! I love that were out of the woods and the isolated unique location. The kills, while edited down to hell, still come across as brutal. The whole movie is just a vibe and very fun. It is dumb and I totally get why people rate it low but this film has always been a blast to me.

'Deep Blue Sea' (1999) - This is a classic and very fun. Fun performance, fun plot, fun shark action. Very 90's and an all around fun time. Most of us have seen it and enjoy it. LL Cool J's rap at the end? Fun. If you haven't seen it. I recommend

'Deep Blue Sea 2' (2018) - Pretty much just a two cent remake of the first film. Similar plot. Similar location (Lit differently throughout to make the location look way bigger and more vast). Similar characters. The CGI is not great which is unfortunate and limits what they can do with the sharks so there's no real fun shark action. Just a waste of time to be honest. You can honestly skip it.

'Deep Blue Sea 3' (2020) - This movie is surprisingly fun. Better performances and some decently likeable characters. The CGI while not incredible, looks remarkably better then 2 and allows for more shark stuff and better shark action/sequences. The main location is pretty and used well. There is a subplot that's not really needed but doesn't take up too much time and doesn't distract from the main plot. Definitely a fun time. Not as "good" as the first film but a fun, entertaining sequel nonetheless. I recommend

'Something in the Water' (2024) - Not great. Our lead has this unneeded tragic backstory which was pointless. Some decent minor gore here and there but overall nothing impressive. The CGI is not great, it does drag for a good amount. No surprises here. Just generic and not really fun to watch. Skip it.

'The Reef' (2010) - A favorite of mine. Very bleak, straightforward, and harrowing. The plot is very simple which I liked. The performances are perfectly fine, characters are thin though. The success of this film is majorly because of the shaky cam realistic cinematography and the usage of REAL footage of sharks spliced into the scenes with our actors. Some decent gore, fairly bloody and definitely makes you feel trapped and isolated. Great suspense and tension. A bleak non fun movie that I enjoy that if you're a shark fan, will enjoy. If you haven't seen, I recommend.

'The Reef: Stalked' (2022) - A pretty dissapointing sequel to one of my favorites that's surprisingly made by the same writer/director. Our lead character has this pointless sad backstory again. The performances aren't anything special, the CGI is not great (Not real footage of a shark again) and our characters are constantly in and out of the water which takes the fear out of this movie for me. >!Also only one out of our four characters die.!< Just lame. Don't recommend

'Shark Night 3D' (2012). A fun time. Nothing awful nor great but you do get what you want from it. Could it hsve been actually great under better hands? Yes, but it's fine. A wide variety of sharks, some fun sequences and a decent anount of blood.The performances are fine, the characters are thin, but that doesn't really matter. I recommend more then I say skip.

'Beast of War' (2025) - While I didn't LOVE it. I feel like this is the second best well made film on my list. It's set during World War 2 in Australia. A group of soldiers are stranded on a piece of drifting wood after their ship is blown up. A great white shark starts picking them off one by one. The movie looks great, has solid performances and good character dynamics. A threatening shark that looks great (I believe it's a practical animatronic most of the time). Pretty bloody and gory throughout. A good time. Didn't love it solely because of the war being the center of the story. It doesn't overstay or take over it's main plot just not my preferred backdrop. I'd still recommend though.

'Fear Below' (2025). Well made but I don't really care about this one. Similar to Beast of War. The film is about a group of criminals who hire divers to retrieve their gold from the bottom of the river. It's a period peace with criminals and gangsters where the shark stuff is "secondary" if that's the right phrasing? Performances were perfectly solid and the characters were fine but the shark action was ok. It's depicteded realistically which was just kind of boring to watch. Not in the way The Reef depicted it's attacks but managed to be harrowing and effecting. It's just fairly quick and standard. Not my type of shark movie. If the plot sounds interesting to you, go ahead. I personally wouldn't recommend.

'Shark Bait' (2022) - A fun time and my second favorite off of this list. A group of college friends are on vacation in Mexico and become stranded in the middle of the ocean after running jetski's into each while playing chicken. IDIOTS. But as someone who love slashers, I was definitely into this movie. I think it's well shot and pretty colorful. The performances are fine all around. No one is great nor awful. The shark doesn't look too bad which is good. Mostly CGI with some minor practical at the end (Which doesn't quite match up but that's ok). It's pretty bloody, has some good gore here and there and the practical makeup moments look good. There's decent tension and suspense here and there which I liked. The pacing is fine and the last ten minutes had me surprisingly like "OMG get out of the water. Go! Go! GO!". I felt pulled in. It's a dumb straightforward shark slasher film that I had fun with it. I recommend!

'Great White' (2021) - I thought this movie was ok. I'll never rewatch it but I didn't hate it. It is stupid though. Performances are fine, characters are fine. There is one character thing during an introduction that i thought was sweet. The CGI during the first attack looked pretty bad but then was better throughout. I think there was some animatronic sparsley used. That one guy's death looked crazy when we see the shark jn it's full size breach when he's attack. CGI wasn't great but visually just looked crazy. The movie does drag and there us one moment where I thought "Well that was fuckn crazy", and not in a good way. More boring then actively bad. Wouldn't recommend.

If you don't care about my individual reviews. The ones I recommend (In order of how much I liked them are as follows). 'The Reef', 'Shark Bait', 'Beast of War', and 'Deep Blue Sea 3'. Enjoy!