3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): The Reef: Stalked

2022, Andrew Traucki (The Reef) -- my mom's TV; I don't recall what cable channel 

One night this past summer, while I was home visiting Mom & My Brother in Nova Scotia, we found a night sitting all together in the living room with nothing to do. The family reunion was done, and we were back in her apartment. My brother loves cheesy movies, while my mom is not fond of tension filled horror movies, so she kept popping in and out asking to be caught up, provided what I call, "Subtitles for the Not Paying Attention". Who is that? why are they there? Oh gawd, why are they DOING that ?!? It used to annoy me to no end as a kid, but now it was kind of familiar nostalgic comfort.

Speaking of horror movies, I need to clean up this queue NOW, as it's almost time for October, and we know what that brings! <drum roll> 31 Days of Halloween 2022 !

I sat down thinking I had seen the original, but after a brief look at IMDB, nope. Traucki's original Australian(s) trapped by sharks movie must be at least a well enough know commodity that I was aware of it. That said, I didn't have much faith this follow-up would be good. And was it? Not really, but neither was it terrible. It was a middling to lower grade emotional tension filled thriller, less about the monster shark and more about the people trying to get away from it.

Nic and her friends are typical Australian IG girls, swimming and paddle boarding and diving in the beautiful coastal waters off North Queensland, Australia. In the pre-amble, Nic misses/ignores all the signs and her little sister is murdered by an abusive boyfriend. Almost a year later, she returns home having run away abroad to escape guilt and memories. Her friends, and her other sister, have planned a kayaking excursion, where they will island hop for a few days, ending up at a high end resort.

It's interrupted by a shark.

Unlike all the other shark horror movies, this one is not predicated on the shark having some sort of malevolence toward the girls. OK, maybe just a little. But most of it is predicated by a shark acting outside the expected behaviour, in that after it catches a meal, it sticks around to get more.

The movie is more about surviving trauma than the shark itself. It's about not letting yourself become overwhelmed by a situation, or a past one, and taking control. Survivors need to survive. The tension is decent enough, and the exploitation is at a minimal -- these girls are typical 20sumthins of this area, not IG models in expensive bikinis just looking to pose. Its decently shot, and acted, and only a few of the canned shark shots look out of place. It was a good way to pass the evening away as my mom hummed and hah-ed delightfully in the background.