Deep Blue Sea (1999) 1h 45m

Something that I love with horror is that when it comes to science we have this "bigger, better, stronger  faster" approach to everything.  There's no isolation of a single piece like how real life scientists cloned an ear on the back of a mouse.  No!  It's all or nothing!  If it were a horror film then they would've been trying to clone their dead child on the back of a rat and we would've ended up with something looking like a TMNT villian (I'm talking original cartoon, not this Michael Bay/Nickelodeon stuff).  Don't get me wrong.  I think that there are some crazy labs somewhere out there that are making a real life Bebop and Rocksteady under an ice cap or something, but horror really pushes science above and beyond.  Like with today's film!

I don't know how I haven't watched Deep Blue Sea until now, but strap the fuck in because here we go!  In the middle of the ocean is a marine biology lab where their attempting to grow a specific section of shark brains in order to harvest the tissue and possibly cure Alzheimer's.  It's a valid pursuit, except that they violated certain standards and in the process created super smart murder sharks!  Throw in Samuel L. Jackson and LL Cool J and you get a movie full of murder sharks and those guys!  Don't get me wrong, Mr. Jackson adds a lot, but LL Cool J is just random.

It was nice to see what all the hype was about finally.  My only major issue with this film is that it's very dated.  Granted, it's almost 20 years since this came out, but films from the 1990's just have this weird aura around them.  You know they're from the 90's based on characters, music, filming, or content.  It's like an entire decade had a slime dumped on it that dried and everything just has this odd film to it.

Otherwise, Deep Blue Sea still delivered.  The CGI looks good for the time with a few questionable moments, Sam Jackson is Sam Jackson up until he gets eaten by a shark, and I don't really remember any of the white people in this movie.  They're all kind of forgettable.

I give Deep Blue Sea 3 bottles of Cool Water out of 5:

Day 12: 12 Days of Terror (2004) 1h 26m

You know what was an awesome and under appreciated TV show?  Sliders.  It was one of Jerry O'Connell's great TV works before his acting career took off (aside from My Secret Identity, and not counting Stand By Me).  He isn't in this movie, but John Rhys-Davies who played Arturo is in it!

Speaking of TV, 2004's 12 Days of Terror was a made for TV movie about a shark attack on the Jersey Shore in 1916.  Think of it as old-timey Jaws with less of a budget... and a worse script... and some take-it-or-leave-it acting.  I'm personally to the point where I wish I could go back in time to see how people acted in certain time periods.  This film made everything seem so forced to be from 1916.

There wasn't even 12 solid days of terror, I think there were two shark attacks and then 12 days later some other ones.  This movie also pushes the idea that it was a baby great white that did the attacks but apparently the real shark or sharks were never identified.

This film did have one great scene though which I felt exemplified America, even to this day.  There was a shark attack in a creek (or "crick" as Rhys-Davies keeps yelling) and men and women just lined the edge of the creek firing guns into the water.  There wasn't even a sign of the shark there, they were just shooting guns into the water.

Someone on IMDB reviewed this movie and said that it should be Oscar worthy.  I feel more like it's bad, but not even bad enough for a Razzie.  That makes it the worst kind of movie.  Where you can't have fun with it, but you can't enjoy it either.

I give 12 Days of Terror 1 squeaky shark out of 5: