Into the Deep is a 2025 horror thriller directed by Christian Sesma.  It is being made available on Digital Platforms on 27 January and on DVD and Blu-ray from 3 February.

Since Jaws transformed the way blockbusters are perceived and marketed in 1975 shark movies have remained a permanent part of the movie landscape, or more appropriately seascape.  However, none have come close to having the cultural or even financial impact the first movie had.  The original franchise fizzled out after an unremarkable first sequel and B Movie type third and fourth entries.  Deep Blue Sea was probably the next most popular entry in the 20^th century but was followed up by direct to video sequels.  Recently there has been a glut of Asylum mockbusters like Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (2009) and Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark (2014) but also some hits more in the spirit of the original ‘Jaws’: Open Water (2003), The Shallows (2016), 47 Metres Down (2017) and Under Paris (2024).  It is against this backdrop that ‘Into the Deep’, a film of medium resources and ambition is released.   

Into the Deep riffs on previous shark movies but also draws from staples of other action films.    The heroes run into a group of villainous pirates patterned on the bad guys of Die Hard (1988) and Under Siege (1992).

Cassidy (Scout Taylor-Compton), a marine biologist trying to come to terms with the death of her father during a shark attack revisits the site of his death near Madagascar with her new husband Gregg (Callum McGowan) and some other divers.  The group intend to dive for sunken treasure but run into a group of sinister pirates led by the psychotic Jordan (Jon Seda) who intend to use their resources to raise a sunken shipment of 80 kilos of heroin.  The great white sharks in the area make the situation increasingly complex.

The film has many of the hallmarks of a movie in its budget range.  There are no real current stars.  The headliner Taylor-Compton has a solid background in TV and horror movies like the Halloween franchise and the 2008 April Fool’s Day Remake.  The most notable player is Richard Dreyfuss, a former star of Jaws but the frail-looking actor (now 77) overcomes any potential misgivings over stunt casting by giving a measured, sensitive performance as Cassidy’s grandfather Seamus in a series of flashbacks.  In fact, the whole ensemble acquit themselves well, particularly Jon Seda as the pirates’ leader Jordan.  Clearly patterned after Tommy Lee Jones’ psycho terrorist in ‘Under Siege’, Seda seems to be channelling Mickey Roarke more than anyone else.

The sharks themselves are well realised and the movie seems to use real animals more than animatronics or CGI.  Digital effects seem to be mostly limited to the very gory-feeding frenzy scenes.

Into the Deep has received some rather poor notices which is unfair as this is a generally well-paced, characterized and acted thriller.