August 21, 2023

Blood in the Water: Talking Shark Night (2011) & The Shallows (2016)

55 minutes

In today's episode, we are diving into the depths of cinematic terror with Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Shallows (2016) and David R. Ellis’s Shark Night (2011). In The Shallows, a young woman on a pilgrimage to her late mother’s favorite surf haunt finds herself stranded on a rock as she faces off against a relentless great white shark. In Shark Night, a group of unsuspecting friends gather for a little lakeside R&R, only to find themselves being stalked by an assortment of toothy terrors. While both films ostensibly fall under the subgenre of ‘shark horror,’ their differing approaches have us considering the utility of the ‘shark as monster’ trope. Do these films offer up waters chummed with spine-tingling suspense and jaws-dropping scares? We’re finding out in today’s spoiler filled episode, so stay tuned!

CITED IN EPISODE

BERGER, JOHN. "WHY LOOK AT ANIMALS?." LITERATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT; LEMNAGER, S., SHEWRY, T. EDS (1980): 32-42.

CLASEN, MATHIAS. EVOLUTIONARY STUDY OF HORROR LITERATURE

FUCHS, MICHAEL. LOOKING THROUGH THE BEASTS EYES?: THE DIALECTICS OF SEEING THE MONSTER AND BEING SEEN BY THE MONSTER IN SHARK HORROR MOVIES

LATTANZIO, RYAN. JOHN CARPENTER HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE TERM 'ELEVATED HORROR' MEANS

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SHARKANSAS WOMEN’S PRISON MASSACRE GETS IT SOOO RIGHT

SHARK HORROR, PART 1: NATURALISTIC HORROR