It goes without saying that the 1975 release of Jaws set the bar high for shark horror films, especially those meant to scare you to death. There have been some good entries over the years, such as The Reef, The Shallows, and Deep Blue Sea, just to name a few. However, there have been far more below-average entries, even outright horrible films.
Sitting somewhere in between, with a healthy dip into the unremarkable, is The Bay. A strangely boring film that took an interesting idea, with some moments of actual tension, and drowned it in a wave of what felt like simply going through the motions.
The Bay Is Set at a Tiger Shark Sanctuary
Two friends, Emma (Francesca Eastwood) and Lani (Dani Oliveros), head to Thailand for a friend’s wedding. After some back-and-forth with the charming tour boat guide Mandal (Alexander Wraith) and Lani’s insistence on adventure, Emma is convinced to go on a boat. Things don’t go as planned when they, along with Mandal’s assistant, Ruhan (Ta’imua), end up in a tiger shark sanctuary.
It doesn’t take long for things to go wrong. When a tiger shark gets tangled in the anchor, a chain of events leaves the engine unable to start and causes minor damage, resulting in a slow leak. This leads to tough decisions, especially since no one is answering calls for help on the radio.
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The sanctuary is a great setting for tense shark moments. Unfortunately, those are few and far between. The sharks circling the boat in The Bay seem to be on vacation, too, as the fins in the background sometimes move so slowly you’d swear they hadn’t had their coffee yet.
That sums up most of the film’s problems. Whenever they manage to drum up some tension or drama, it’s almost always undercut by a silly, tension-deflating counterpoint that keeps dragging the film down, all the way to the ocean floor. This is compounded by some suspect acting and the horribly cliché lines they are forced to deliver. However, there are some fun shark death scenes.
The Shark Horror Film Ultimately Sinks
Writer-director Phil Volken seemed to struggle with the film’s pacing, even with a 90-minute runtime. Without spoilers, Volken saved the best fun for last. It’s too bad there wasn’t more of it throughout the rest of the film; it certainly couldn’t have hurt.
The Bay ends up being yet another ambitious idea that goes nowhere. While there are a few good scenes and some fun irony and humor here and there, there are simply too many that fall flat. The high stakes are hard to believe. In fact, there are times when the actors seem as bored as the audience, which is a shame. There was potential here, but it was dead before it even set sail.
The Bay is available on VOD in Canada and the U.S.
