You might think of “Jaws” whenever killer sharks are mentioned, but Renny Harlin’s “Deep Blue Sea” brings a distinct variety to the genre. A B-movie classic through and through, the film oscillates between suspense thriller and satirical parody while delivering exactly what it promises. The premise itself is a bit ridiculous: shark-obsessed scientists have developed a way to extract shark brains to cure Alzheimer’s disease, but these deep-sea creatures are mostly interested in turning people into dinner. And oh, these sharks are smarter than you think, perfectly capable of memorizing the layout of human bases and luring in their victims. The rest is thrilling and hilarious, which is enough to make “Deep Blue Sea” rise above similar genre entries.
Is Harlin interested in making a sequel to “Deep Blue Sea”? Not really, although his 1999 shark film was replaced by two direct-to-video sequels in which he wasn’t personally involved. While these sequels can’t be considered compelling in the conventional sense, they approach the shark carnage aspect through a schlocky lens. According to an interview in the October 2025 issue of SFX Magazine, Harlin doesn’t seem to care too much about these stories:
“They were already kind of like rip-off versions. I’ve never seen one, but they seemed very low budget to me and stuff. I think they were kind of… I don’t know, it was like they were selling them cheap. So I’m done with that.”
This is understandable, as Harlin’s film is a sincere exploration of the shark attack genre, boasting some artistry despite firmly planting itself in schlock territory. That said, Harlin seems excited about his next big ocean-focused project – “Deep Water,” which promises more explosive shark action than anything he’s done before.
Harlin’s Deep Water is meant to be a callback to ’70s disaster movies
Harlin’s upcoming “Deep Water” (not to be confused with the erotic thriller of the same name starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas) revolves around a group of passengers en route from Los Angeles to Shanghai who are forced to land in shark-infested waters. This is obviously a recipe for disaster, as the survivors must find a way to safety without being devoured by the sharks attracted to the wreckage. In the same interview, the director speaks of “the greatest plane crash sequence ever filmed” in an attempt to give the scale of the genre film in the vein of the disaster films of the 70s (like “The Towering Inferno” or “Earthquake”):
“It’s a very big epic film, a throwback to the disaster films of the 1970s. It’s like my ‘Poseidon Adventure,’ but with a plane in the ocean. The survivors think they’re lucky until they realize they’re surrounded by sharks, and then it becomes a bit like the story of the USS Indianapolis in ‘Jaws.’ It’s a very big canvas with a lot of characters, and it’s very moving. […] Honestly, I think it’s a very good film. I’m extremely excited.”
The film has a large cast of characters, including Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley, Angus Sampson, Kelly Gale and Madeleine West, among others. If “Deep Water” is anything like “Deep Blue Sea,” there’s hope for exciting shenanigans that are both emotion-driven and spectacle-heavy (where the tone can still retain a core of ironic levity). Hopefully this next shark extravaganza will be less boring than Harlin’s recent “The Strangers – Chapter 2,” which fell victim to hackneyed genre tropes and failed to justify its existence.
