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The Shallows

Published April 5, 2026

The Shallows

Film info

  • Title The Shallows
  • Director Jaume Collet-Serra
  • Year 2016
  • Run time 1hr 26m
  • Genres Horror, Thriller, Drama
  • Tagline What was once in the deep is now in the shallows

While surfing on a secluded beach, Nancy finds herself in the feeding grounds of a great white shark. Though stranded only 200 yards from shore, survival proves to be the ultimate test of wills, requiring all of her ingenuity, resourcefulness, and fortitude.

Live blog

Time Comment
4:00 Never heard it called Irish Flu before.
5:32 Anyone who has seen or read The Beach knows you don’t go looking for secret beaches.
18:31 Why is there so much slo-motion? I get it, surfing is cool.
24:17 I’m not sure climbing on a dead whale is a safe option.
28:28 Nice visuals to show how isolated she is.
33:31 Always saw jewellery as more of a hazard than a way of sewing yourself up after a shark attack.
35:48 The seagull is like her Wilson.
42:58 Well at least now she knows if it’s still there or not.
47:40 This is one hungry shark.
51:06 Orthopaedics on a seagull.
1:00:06 Stephen Seagull.
1:06:13 Aww, she’s saying ‘come back’ like Rose.
1:12:47 That was gruesome, even for a shark film.
1:14:59 Phew, the seagull survived.

Thoughts

This popped up on iPlayer to watch for free and so I gave it a go - I love a good shark movie but I’m not sure I would have paid for this one. It’s good, but not great. There’s not a lot of depth to it, even with trying to shoe-horn in the backstory about grief and medical school. It’s obvious the plot is being stretched, with an over-use of slow motion but as I mentioned above there are some good visuals - just a girl alone in a sea of danger. Entertaining enough, but not worth going out of your way for.

Rating: 3 / 5

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