It seems to be our misfortune this Shark Month to have very few shark appearances in films ostensibly about sharks. Instead what we get is a series of shady characters with questionable motives. Is it so much to ask–is it really? To reflect the anarchy of our world in a bunch of senselessly violent CGI shark attacks?
Apparently so. If you’re looking for bloody shark murder content, this week’s film ain’t it–despite promising gore in the title.
The Film:
Blood in the Water
Director:
Dominic Nutter
The Premise:
Waking up chained next to a shark-infested pool, a group of strangers must rely on each other to escape death…or not.
The Ramble:
After waking up chained by the ankle next to a pool, a man pleads for his life to an unseen voice over a speaker. The man is Henry, a lawyer with sketchy dealings, and those seem finally about to catch up with him. Escalating things extremely quickly with an escape attempt involving jumping into the pool and cutting his own foot off…turns out to be unwise. An unknown creature in the pool attacks and kills Henry. And, of course, that creature is a shark.

Unfortunately for a group of seemingly unconnected strangers, Henry is not the last victim of the voice/pool shark. Troubled young woman Hannah is abducted, finding herself chained by the ankle along with 5 others. It’s not long before the group realizes they are all linked by Henry, who had been secretly recording many of his clients.

Of course, Henry is not the only connection the strangers share, and the voice is fixated on getting all of the victims to confess their sins before time us up and the shark is unleashed. Uncaged? In a fairly uninspired Agatha Christie knock-off plot, all of the victims’ crimes are related. To be honest, though, the only mystery that held my attention at all was how every single character managed to be so boring, whether engaging in illegal activities or dying by pool shark.
The Rating:
1/5 Pink Panther Heads
This is a rather incoherent mess, all told, and I’m not feeling particularly forgiving. I got bored, so the only thing I can do is be overly critical about unimportant plot details. A few questions that will doubtless keep you up at night:
- What is the setting for this film? The accents are a confusing range of American, British, and somewhere in between? They somehow all sound fake.
- People call Henry a lawyer (American), but…
- the Brooklyn(?!) cop pulls over a guy whose steering wheel is on the right side of the car (defo not legal in the US). Pretty sure, anyway. I can’t be bothered to rewind and confirm.
- Is the pool full of salt water? That feels difficult to maintain long-term, though admittedly this is a rather short-term murder plot.
- I expected some kind of explanation for the choice to go to so much trouble to murder people by shark. I remain dissatisfied.
- Above all, why so little shark action?!?!?