History Film / TheShallows

''The Shallows'' is a survival-horror released on June 24. 2016 and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (''[[Film/HouseOfWax2005 House of Wax]],'' ''Film/{{Orphan}},'' and ''Film/NonStop.'')

''The Shallows'' is a survival-thriller released on June 24. 2016 and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (''[[Film/HouseOfWax2005 House of Wax]],'' ''Film/{{Orphan}},'' and ''Film/NonStop.'')

* AnimalCompanion: For the bulk of the film Nancy has an injured seagull for company.
* ApocalypticLog: [[spoiler: Nancy records a video intended to be one of these on one of the dead surfer's [=GoPro=] camera, apologizing to her father and sister and stating that she intends to fight to the end before throwing the camera in the ocean to drift to shore. Fortunately, this is actually subverted as she survives the events of the film, due in part to that recording being found by a young boy who runs for help.]]
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: The drunk man who, upon seeing a woman stranded out from shore? Steals her money and things. Not many tears shed when he gets into the water to retrieve her surfboard and the shark takes care of the rest.]]

** Subverted at the end, as despite her outright saying that gangrene is setting in to the wound on her leg, it's intact. While complete amputation might not have been necessary, the dead flesh would have been excised--she'd have a much worse scar than she does, possibly even a huge chunk of her leg missing. For that matter, even a "bump-and-bite" from a twenty-foot Great White should probably have taken her whole leg. . . the wound she has is bad, but very minor compared to what ''should'' have happened.

** The repeatedly shown oil from the whale carcass. [[spoiler: Nancy uses her last flare to start a fire and try to kill the shark]].

** Likewise, the hook embedded in the shark's mouth that Nancy notices earlier comes into play near the end when it snags onto a metal railing while the shark is attacking the buoy. [[spoiler: This buys Nancy enough time to set up a trap that kills the shark once and for all]].

* DarkestHour: [[spoiler: When Nancy gets trapped on the buoy. Her attempt to signal a ship with a flare gun fails, the shark is circling her, and she's farther away from shore than she was when she was stranded on the rock.]]
* DeadlyDodging: [[spoiler:How Nancy ultimately kills the shark, by luring him to the bottom of the ocean and making it impale itself on some rebar]].
* DeathByMaterialism: [[spoiler:The Intoxicated Man is not satisfied with stealing Nancy's phone and cash as she is stranded on the rock, he tries take her abandoned surfboard too. He ends up attacked and killed by the shark]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Nancy had to go through a lot before finally being rescued.]]
* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: Despite the film being rated PG-13, it features quite a bit of blood, grievous wounds [[spoiler: and a man crawling away from the severed lower half of his body. . .ONSCREEN.]]

* FlareGun: Nancy uses one to signal a ship in the film's final act. [[spoiler: When this fails she uses the last flare on the shark, setting it on fire momentarily.]]
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Lampshaded when talking to her younger sister. Nancy reminds her that she is supposed to be the responsible one, while Chloe is meant to be foolish one.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Carlos refusing to take money for giving Nancy a lift shows that he's a good-hearted guy [[spoiler: who will come running the second he hears of someone in distress]].

* GoryDiscretionShot: The film focuses in on Nancy's reaction as [[spoiler: the drunk is mauled by the shark.]] We can hear the act, but not see it. However, this is partly averted due to the FamilyUnfriendlyViolence example above.

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler: The drunken man who tried to steal all of Nancy's valuable stuff is bitten in half by the shark.]]
* HopeSpot: Poor Nancy gets several. [[spoiler: First a drunk man on the beach, then the two surfers from the day before -- all of whom are killed by the shark. She sees a ship passing nearby and fires a flare, which turns out to be a dud, and the ship moves out of sight]].

* JawsFirstPersonPerspective: Used a couple times. [[spoiler:First being a subversion, as it was just a dolphin going for a jump over Nancy]].
* JumpScare: The movie contains a bunch, naturally. One of the most jarring, however, has to be when the shark suddenly emerges from the water after Nancy [[spoiler:retrieves the camera.]]
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Nancy tries to get a drunken man in the beach to help her by shouting at him and pointing out where her bag is so he can use her phone to call for help. Rather than help, he proceeds to steal her things, but as he gets into the water to steal her surfboard, the shark attacks him and bites him in half.]]
* KillItWithFire: Nancy [[spoiler: tries to do this to the shark. It just pisses it off more.]]

* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Pissed off at the shark, Nancy fires her last flare at it, and the surrounding oil from the whale's carcass nearby sets it on fire. Cue the burning shark leaping into the air... and immediately landing back to the water, which extinguishes it. Cue an OhCrap from Nancy]].

* NothingIsScarier: We don't get to see [[spoiler: the shark mauling the drunk]], but we get to hear the splashes and screams as the camera focuses on Nancy's horrified reaction. We do, however, see the [[HalfTheManHeUsedTobe gruesome]] [[{{Gorn}} aftermath]].

* OhCrap: Nancy has one when her attempt at [[spoiler: burning the shark to death only makes the shark angrier and attack the buoy more ferociously.]]

* PrecisionFStrike: Nancy utters one [[spoiler: right before she sets the whale oil on fire.]]

* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler: The shark. First, it's shot in the face by a flare, then set on fire after Nancy ignites whale blubber/oil with a flare, and then finally impales itself on rebar at the bottom of the ocean.]]

* SeeWater: She was somehow able to see a series of [[spoiler: metal spikes near the buoy's anchor, 20 feet down, which she uses to kill the shark.]]

* ShooOutTheClowns: Before Nancy tries to swim to the buoy, she sets the seagull, which had provided some levity throughout the film, on a piece of broken surfboard and sends it ashore. [[spoiler: It doesn't reappear until after Nancy kills the shark.]]

* SuperPersistentPredator: The shark seems to have it out for Nancy, and anyone else that attempts to get in the water nearby. It keeps at her for a course of more than a full day, even after eating two other people and presumably a whole lot of whale meat. It's implied that the shark isn't so much trying to eat Nancy because it's hungry, but because she intruded on its feeding ground. Also, the shark has a bad history with humans, as indicated by the spear stuck in its side.

* ThreateningShark: A gigantic great white that really, really wants to eat Nancy. Judging by the wound on the shark's face, it's very clear this shark has [[FridgeHorror gone after humans more than once]].
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: In the films' final act, Nancy decides to stop attempting to get to shore and instead fight the shark.]]

* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: As if the shark wasn't bad enough, Nancy faces a swarm of jellyfish between her and the buoy...[[spoiler:until she sees a way to turn the situation to her advantage.]]

* PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: Nancy will carry the scars--and the memories--for the rest of her life.

* {{Fanservice}}: Subverted. Nancy spends the majority of the movie in a bikini. [[SubvertedTrope Which allows us to see all the wounds]] she collects throughout the movie in [[FanDisservice graphic detail]]. (A lengthy closeup shot of one of Blake Lively's thighs is normally great. But when said thigh has ''lots'' of blood flowing out of it due to a long shark-generated bite... not so much.)

** Subverted at the end, as despite her outright saying that gangrene is setting in to the wound on her leg, it's intact. While complete amputation might not have been necessary, the dead flesh would have been excised--she'd have a much worse scar than she does, possibly even a huge chunk of her leg missing.

* ApocalypticLog: [[spoiler: Nancy records a video intended to be one of these on one of the dead surfer's [=GoPro=] camera, apologizing to her father and sister and stating that she intends to fight to the end before throwing the camera in the ocean to drift to shore.]] [[spoiler: Fortunately, this is actually subverted as she survives the events of the film.]]

* ActionSurvivor: Nancy starts out as an med-school dropout who's out to surf, by the end of the film [[spoiler:she's forced to her limits to kill a shark hounding her]].

* WhatAnIdiot: While Nancy can't be expected to be a marine biologist, her paddling to the nearby whale corpse that already has huge chunks bitten out of it and not worry about possible predators in the area somewhat makes her this.

* {{Fanservice}}: Nancy spends the majority of the movie in a bikini. [[SubvertedTrope Which allows us to see all the wounds]] she collects throughout the movie in [[FanDisservice graphic detail]]. (A lengthy closeup shot of one of Blake Lively's thighs is normally great. But when said thigh has ''lots'' of blood flowing out of it due to a long shark-generated bite... not so much.)

* DeadlyDodging: [[spoiler:How Nancy ultimately kills the shark, by luring him to the bottom of the ocean and making it impale itself]].

* Played straight in that she isn't sunburnt, which someone in that situation would undoubtedly be.

* {{Determinator}}: Nancy doesn't give up, no matter how bad things get. [[note]]Bitten by a shark, severe blood loss, dehydration, malnutrition, exposure, infection, fever, stung by fire coral and jellyfish...''and'' almost drowned.[[/note]]

* ThreateningShark: A gigantic great white that really, really wants to eat Nancy. Judging by the wound on the shark's face, it's very clear this shark has [[FridgeHorror gone after humans more than once]].

* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: In the films' final act, Nancy decides to stop attempting to get to shore and instead decides to fight the shark.]]

* HopeSpot: Poor Nancy gets several. [[spoiler: First a drunk man on the beach, then the two surfers from the day before - both of whom are killed by the shark. She sees a ship coming at her and fires some flares, but to no avail]].

** Played straight at the end, as despite her outright saying that gangrene is setting in to the wound on her leg, it's intact. While complete amputation might not have been necessary, the dead flesh would have been excised--she'd be covered with scars.

* JawsFirstPersonPerspective: Used a couple times. [[spoiler:First being a subversion, as it was just dolphin going for a jump over Nancy]].

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler: The drunken man who tried steal all of Nancy's valuable stuff is bitten in half by the shark.]]

* GivingThemTheStrip: Nancy uses the remaining sleeve of her wetsuit to hang from the bouy she's stuck in order to retrieve some flare ammo that are floating in the sea. Later the shark attacks the buoy, but since her wetsuit is still attached to the buoy, Nancy is forced to remove her wetsuit in order to survive and combat the shark. Also qualifies as a BattleStrip.

* ThreateningShark: A gigantic great white that really, really wants to eat Nancy. Judging by the wound on the shark's face, it's very clear this shark has [[FridgeHorror done so more than once]].

* ThreateningShark: A gigantic great white that really, really wants to eat Nancy. Judging by the wound on the shark's face, it's very clear this shark has been going after humans for some time.

* UnlikelyHero: The boy who found the [=GoPro=] camera-helmet washed up on the beach. It turns out that Carlos (the guy who drove Nancy to the beach at the beginning of the movie) is his father, and he really does live nearby. [[spoiler:Carlos drags Nancy's unconscious body out of the surf and presumably gets her to a hospital.]]

* PopUpTexting: Whenever Nancy is using her phone to look at old pictures and read messages, it's shown as a separate pop-up that takes half the screen.

* PopupTexting: Whenever Nancy is using her phone to look at old pictures and read messages, it's shown as a separate pop-up that takes half the screen.