And you thought after Jaws, you're not gonna see another murderous shark again...
Unlike most films involving sharks, which are mostly just gorefests involving the shark attacking countless victims, The Shallows utilizes its own atmosphere, Nothing Is Scarier and Primal Fear to its advantage.As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- The shark. Twenty-one feet of predatory anger and terror, it seems to have it out for Nancy. Anyone else who ventures into the water is viciously attacked and torn apart by it.
- Remember all those Discovery Channel specials when sharks breach out the water to catch a seal? Well, it happens here, this time with one of Nancy's would-be rescuers.
- The death of the drunken man. He wades into the water to collect Nancy's surfboard and as he's paddling to shore, he's pulled underwater. We cut to a reaction shot of Nancy as she watches the shark mauling the man.
- For a split second, there is a Hope Spot, as we cut to the drunk crawling up shore. And then we see that he's crawling away and leaving his severed lower torso behind.
- The scene in which Nancy is trying to get the Go-pro helmet from the water. She turns in time to see the shark's massive jaws lurch out the water at her.
- Looking at the footage on the camera, there's a lovely shot aiming right down the shark's throat as it attacks the camera's previous owner. Pure Primal Fear, literally staring into the jaws of death.
- Nancy having to navigate through the jellyfish as a sort of shield from the shark. During this scene, their tentacles touch her several times.
- The corpse of the whale looks rather unsettling in general.
- Nancy climbs onto the dead whale to take refuge from the shark. A few minutes later, and the shark slams into the underside of the dead whale to knock Nancy off. Not only does this show the shark is strong enough to do something like that, but this also shows it's intelligent enough to do something like that.
- Just the fact that this is the fear of pretty much every surfer out there.
