The Big Picture

Something in the Water
attempts to blend serious themes with a shark attack but falls short emotionally and narratively.
The film’s attempt to portray painful past trauma is marred by odd humor, stiff performances, and an ineffective shark antagonist.
Despite aiming for a blend of terrifying shark narrative and emotional depth,
Something in the Water
can’t stay afloat in any meaningful way.

When it comes to schlocky horror movies about sharks, there are only a handful outside of Jawsthat are even remotely scary, let alone good. And yet, in a post-Sharknado world, it seems there will always be those trying to create a surprise hit based on our fears of the underwater creature. Forget your more measured documentary that lays out the actual reasons why sharks attack people, we’re going to get Jason StathamMeg movies until either morale improves or we all die just so it will end, whichever comes first. Any shark movie, no matter how serious-minded it may imagine itself to be, will have to deal with this ocean of baggage and audience expectations to even have a chance of staying afloat.

Something in the Water, the feature debut of director Hayley Easton Street and writer Cat Clarke, definitely is attempting to be in the more thoughtful category. It isn’t just big shark attacks and shoddy CGI, though there is eventually quite a bit of that. No, this is a movie that is attempting to also be about dealing with past trauma, a wedding with a strangely high amount of genital jokes, and a group of friends whose lives are about to be upended. For all the ways the picturesque destination may initially recall the sharp recent horror film Influencer or the series The White Lotus, no surprises are waiting in what proves to be a generally stodgy experience. Not only does it feel particularly tactless when it comes to dealing with the more serious topic of trauma, the shark encounter comes far too late and delivers far too little. It’s just not up to the task in either arena, ultimately sinking to the bottom.

Something in the Water (2024) During a serene getaway at a lakeside retreat, a couple stumbles upon strange occurrences linked to the water’s unnatural properties. Their vacation turns into a fight for justice and survival as they uncover a sinister conspiracy involving the water supply, facing formidable foes determined to keep their secrets submerged.Release Date May 3, 2024 Director Hayley Easton Street Cast Hiftu Quasem , Lauren Lyle , Natalie Mitson , Nicole Rieko Setsuko , Ellouise Shakespeare-Hart Runtime 86 Minutes Writers Cat Clarke Studio(s) StudioCanal Distributor(s) Samuel Goldwyn Films

What Is ‘Something in the Water’ About?

This all begins with the accidentally humorously named Meg (Hiftu Quasem) who is about to deal with something deeply unhumorous. While out with Kayla (Natalie Mitson) one night, they are the target of a violent homophobic attack. Meg is launched down the stairs and beaten. A year later, she has found a way to navigate the PTSD and everyday stress that comes from traveling to a destination wedding where she is reuniting with her friends. Oh, and she has also had a bit of a split with Kayla. The reason for this is related to the attack, which is where the film already begins to struggle with the emotional nuances of this more serious topic.

While any movie, even a horror film about a shark attack, can engage with more painful real-world topics, just giving your character a traumatic backstory without much care put into it will only make it all feel superficial. Considering how quickly this then gets swallowed up by the subsequent shark attack, it only makes it feel that much more thoughtless. All you need to know is that Meg, Kayla, Lizzie (Lauren Lyle), Cam (Nicole Rieko Setsuko), and Ruth (Ellouise Shakespeare-Hart) go out to a remote island in what is meant to be a comically dingy boat. When a shark takes a bite out of Ruth as they’re playing in shallow waters, they try to speed back to get her to safety. The only problem is they take a wrong turn and puncture a hole in the bottom of the boat.

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The rest of the runtime is then them and the film itself treading water while a shark supposedly circles. There are occasional moments where Meg will get flashbacks to the attack, but it mostly is just a monotonous slog as we wait for something significant to happen. Instead, the film remains both narratively and emotionally inert. We get lots of shots of the characters desperately kicking their legs under the water, the classic visual language of these types of movies, and increasingly start to panic. Even when a fin begins circling, the film keeps undercutting itself with odd humor and rather stiff performances. The result is a tonal mess where it wants to be a more harrowing and honest depiction of a crisis though without bringing even close to the necessary levels of tact to pull it off.

It tries to take a plunge into more complicated questions of morality and healing, though just continually skims along the surface. For all the times it will crank up the cloyingly sentimental music, nothing ever lands how it seems to want to. Making a movie about a shark that is essentially a serial killer stalking its prey and a more emotionally grounded portrait of a group of friends trying to survive is something that could work, though Something in the Water is not the film to prove this to be true. Everything is too pat with characters either shouting out lines that tell us what we need to be feeling or saying how they need to take a wee to cut through whatever minimal tension was building. When this shifts into bickering between characters, it feels like the film is attempting to fill time. That there is a surprising “revelation” thrown in just comes across as forced rather than genuinely interesting. However, that is not the biggest problem of the film by a long shot. Instead, it’s the shark itself.

The Shark of ‘Something in the Water’ Is More Silly Than Scary

That the film attempts to show a decent amount of the shark without the necessary buildup or robust effects to ensure it leaves an impact just makes the whole thing feel increasingly absurd. Whether it is in some overhead shots that look like a bad mobile game you’d pull up for your cat to play with or when the film tries to hide some of what is happening in darkness so you don’t notice the iffy effects, none of it works.

It isn’t the worst shark movie out there, but that’s not saying much. By the time we get to the “big final confrontation,” it loses a handle on what it was going for. Every moment where the creature jumps out of the water is comical and immediately takes you out of the whole thing. One sequence near the very end where it does this multiple times in a row while a character tries to climb to safety is admittedly very funny. However, in a film that was perpetually adrift without anywhere to go, it still never takes a bite out of anything more.

Something in the Water (2024) REVIEWSomething in the Water is a poor shark attack movie where the attempts at both the horror and the emotion all end up sinking to the bottom.ConsThe handling of a traumatic backstory is not given the care it needs, becoming superficial as a result.Though it attempts to be more serious with its story, most of the film feels like it is just filling time without any substance behind it.The shark itself is silly rather than scary, making the increasing looks we get at it more humorous than horrifying.

Something in the Water is now in theaters in the U.S. and available to stream on VOD. Click below for showtimes near you.

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