Shark horror movies are cycling back into the mainstream, and Renny Harlin is returning to the genre that defined a key moment in late-1990s creature features. Nearly three decades after directing Deep Blue Sea, Harlin is back with Deep Water, a survival thriller that blends disaster-movie spectacle with underwater predator suspense. The first Deep Water trailer positions the film as a high-concept survival story: a commercial flight forced into an emergency landing in shark-infested waters, leaving a small group of survivors stranded inside a sinking aircraft.
The teaser opens aboard a transpacific flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai, piloted by characters played by Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley. Severe turbulence escalates into catastrophe as the plane loses control and crashes into the ocean. While the trailer suggests that many passengers do not survive the initial impact, the central threat emerges after the crash: sharks circling the wreckage, drawn to the disturbance in the water.
The Deep Water trailer leans into high-intensity visuals rather than extended creature reveals. Brief glimpses show passengers being pulled from the aircraft amid chaos, echoing the sudden, fate-driven shock beats associated with films like Final Destination. The damaged fuselage, with a torn opening resembling a gaping mouth, visually reinforces the predator theme without fully showing the sharks themselves. That restraint may be strategic, preserving suspense ahead of the film’s release.
Harlin’s earlier shark film, Deep Blue Sea, arrived during a period when studios were revisiting aquatic horror after the enduring cultural impact of Jaws. While Deep Blue Sea embraced B-movie energy and exaggerated science-fiction elements, Deep Water appears to shift toward a contained survival setup, closer in structure to disaster thrillers set in isolated environments. The midair-to-ocean transition also evokes comparisons to high-concept ensemble thrillers such as Snakes on a Plane, where the confined setting amplifies the threat.
According to the official synopsis, the story centers on international passengers who must cooperate to survive after their emergency landing in dangerous waters. The ensemble cast includes Molly Wright, Angus Sampson, Kelly Gale, and Li Wenhan, rounding out a mix of Western and international performers that reflects the film’s cross-continental setting.
Deep Water also marks a return to creature-driven storytelling for Harlin after working on projects like The Strangers reboot trilogy. His renewed focus on aquatic horror does not stop here. The director is reportedly developing another marine thriller, Black Tides, centered on killer whales and starring Melissa Barrera and John Travolta. That suggests a sustained interest in ocean-based survival stories rather than a one-off return.
