From the Depths (2020) Movie Review - The Worst Shark Movie Ever!!

Welcome to Knockout Horror. It’s January and it is cold so I have decided to try and warm up a bit with some sunny beach movies. Today we are going to be reviewing, what might be, the worst shark movie ever – 2020’s From The Depths!

Before we start ranting about this movie. I have put together a From The Depths Ending Explained article because, let’s be real, the ending is a bit strange. If you want to check that out, click the link but, be warned, unlike this review the ending explained article is not spoiler free. 

Is It My Fault?

It might sound a bit ridiculous and, I suppose it’s on me a little. But when scrolling through Prime Video looking for a nice summery shark movie to help me escape the bleak, January, perma-rain that Wales is currently experiencing (shout out to my recent list on 15 Summer Horror Movies that will Wipe Away the Winter Blues – RANKED). I stumbled upon a movie titled “From The Depths” that featured a cover image of a half naked woman about to become a snack for a giant shark.

I thought to myself “Sweet, this is exactly what I am looking for! Beaches, sunshine and a big toothy bastard hell bent on thinning out the earth’s population of humans.”. So you can imagine my surprise when I get about ten minutes in to this pile of liquid shark faeces only to find out that it is actually a drama movie about a woman suffering from hallucinations and nightmares related to a terrible looking CGI floating shark! Silly me, I suppose. I should have seen it coming.

This Is NOT a Shark Movie

I mean, I guess I could be forgiven for thinking that. You know, given the Jaws rip off cover and all. Oh and the tagline that reads “This vacation’s gonna bite.” But It was obviously staring me in the face the whole time. I was just failing to read between the lines. 

It was obvious all along that this wasn’t a shark movie. This is clearly a melodrama about an annoying, poorly acted, and frankly obnoxious middle 30s woman coming to terms with the loss of her ex-boyfriend and sister to a shark attack. Again, silly me!

Please don’t expect any beaches in this movie. Don’t expect to see anyone being stalked; beyond some poorly structured nightmare sequences that is. Don’t expect scantily clad women swimming in the ocean or speedo wearing dudes being eaten alive. None of this happens and you will just be disappointed.

Boring, Repetitive and Oh So Silly

So now we have that out of the way, we can get down to the nitty gritty of what this movie is about. A woman lost her ex-boyfriend and sister in a shark attack. She is now going to spend the next 85 minutes boring us as she tries to come to terms with it. She has nightmares, she visits a shrink, she moans to her girlfriend, they kiss horrifically noisily and she has a few hallucinations. REPEAT AD NAUSEUM.

Now when I say hallucinations, you are probably wondering how somebody would hallucinate a shark, right? Well, she hallucinates a shark in the only way anyone possibly could. By seeing it floating in mid air, hiding behind windows, jumping out of puddles and even swimming in her glass of water.. Seriously! My fiancée actually predicted the last one which I was rather impressed by. Swimming out of a glass of water!!

Just So Bad!

It is completely ridiculous and utterly farcical. This goes on and on, as well. She has the same dream every night and wakes up in the same way. She sees the same poorly animated shark constantly, she complains about being tired all the damn time. And she snogs her girlfriend so much that I can only imagine the director had a very specific fetish and was watching, mouth agape, stroking his nipples the whole time. It is so repetitive.

Writer and director Jose Montesinos tries to mix things up by getting creative with the hallucinations but it never works. It never progressed beyond being completely terrible. It goes a little bit “Burying the Ex” for a few moments there but in a way that never makes sense and never amounts to anything. The less said about the extended, super awkward, getting high scene the better. Casual warning here; if you suffer from psychosis you are going to want to stay away from weed. At least until you have a decent medication profile to control your hallucinations or delusions.

It’s all just so damn bad. This movie doesn’t even work as a drama. It is poorly paced, the story is incredibly weak, it doesn’t have a likable character throughout and it is jam packed with silliness. That’s without mentioning the twist ending which they obviously intended to be some “Holy SHIT!!” moment and instead floats away like a fart in the wind. This is a movie without merit.

Awful Acting and a Terrible Script

Angelica Briones, as Liz, is tasked with carrying this movie and she is far from capable. Her line delivery is terrible. Almost as if she is confused about why she is saying the things she is saying. She has no emotional range, she frequently resorts to talking in an almost toddler like manner and has no ability to evoke sympathy from the audience. She has an almost “why am I here?” quality about her performance. A question that I was left asking, as well.

Marissa Godinez does a better job in her brief role but her character is a confusing addition that feels shoehorned in. Terra Strong, as Liz’s girlfriend Roberta, is painfully saccharin in most of her line delivery but I blame that mostly on the awful script. The writing here is beyond remedial. Some of the lines will have you gritting your teeth for how unnatural they feel. Montesinos should have hired a script writer as it is clearly not one of his strengths.

Montesinos’ direction in From The Depths is okay. Some of the shots don’t work but he doesn’t have an overly antsy filming style and is fine with lingering on a shot for a decent amount of time. The special effects are among the worst I have ever seen. If you thought Asylum’s shark movies had bad effects, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Apparently Montesinos is allergic to practical effects outside of some terrible “zombie” makeup, as well, which does the movie no favours.

Should You Watch From The Depths?

First thing’s first – this is not a shark movie. There is a shark in it, the shark has eaten people, but this is not a shark movie. It is a movie that attempts to deal with the part about shark attacks that nobody gives a monkey’s toss about. The recovery of the survivors. From The Depths is poorly acted, features a terrible script, no scares, a boring and repetitive story and some of the worst special effects I have ever seen. This is the worst shark related movie I have ever watched and I have watched the ridiculously poor Shark Huntress so that is saying a lot. Avoid it, simple as.

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