20 Horror Movies Nobody Expected To Be Good
18. The Shallows (2016)
Ever since Steven Spielberg terrified multiple generations with his 1975 masterpiece Jaws, sharks have become a prominent part of horror cinema. Although some of the shark-infested outings that emerged over the years managed to tap into a similar primal fear of the water, the vast majority of these flicks tended to be outrageously schlocky creature features in the vein of Sharknado and The Meg.
The bar was set low for 2016 survival-thriller The Shallows, but director Jaume Collet-Serra succeeded in blowing expectations out of the water.
The feature stars a sublime Blake Lively as Nancy, who arrives at a secluded Mexican beach to go surfing. Her tropical getaway soon turns into a fight for survival when she's bitten by a great white shark, stranding her in the shallows.
With the apex predator never far away, Nancy's forced to use her wits to find a way to get back to shore. Although The Shallows is guilty of indulging in some melodrama and overusing slow motion, the combination of a smart and capable protagonist alongside its grounded approach to storytelling ensures the tension is maintained throughout its lean runtime.
The Shallows is exactly what a shark film should be.