Into the Deep

Sharks, schlock and silliness collide in 'Into the Deep,' a so-bad-it’s-good gem for The Schlock Vault."

A great white shark and Richard Dreyfuss - sounds like the recipe for a cinematic classic, doesn’t it? If you were talking about “Jaws,” you’d be right. Unfortunately, we’re diving “Into the Deep,” which sinks far below those lofty waters. But what it lacks in quality, it makes up for in so much ridiculousness that it earns a place firmly inside The Schlock Vault.

Most people get excited at the end of the year for award-seeking films that drift into theater, but for me, January is close to the top of my list of favorite movie months. January is when studios drop their weird and quirky releases - films that don't quite fit anywhere else, like a land of misfit flicks searching for a home.

"Into the Deep" is a film that shouldn't make you laugh. I mean, we're talking about drug smugglers, pirates, parental death, best friend death, yet it's so schlockingly bad I couldn't help but giggle with glee. But before we get into why, let's break the film down a little.

Cassidy (Scout Taylor-Compton) is an expert diver who is haunted by the loss of her father at a young age by a great white shark. Her life up until now has been trying to move past this fear, and guiding her has been her oceanographer grandfather, Seamus (Dreyfuss). This is accomplished via flashback scenes, and it's easy to tell which actor in the cast has an Oscar in their name.

She returns to the area where her father died with her boyfriend Gregg (Callum McGowan) to hunt for sunken treasure. They hook up with Gregg's buddy Benz (Stuart Townsend) and a few of his friends for what they think will be fun diving and spending some time in the sun.

This quickly goes sideways when one of them is attacked by a great white and then quickly come upon by pirates looking for sunken drug parcels. The two groups quickly collide with ex-Navy Seal Jordan (Jon Seda), who seizes their vessel and commandeers Cassidy and the rest to fetch his "treasure" in the shark-infested waters.

The rest of the movie is filled with the typical cliché troupes and dialogue and some of the worst CGI effects I've seen in a while. The sharks look terrible, with one exception. The CGI blood in the water is laughable. The acting is pretty awful, and I love every second of it.

The most "what the hell is going on" moment comes toward the movie's end when the sharks are munching on anything that enters the water and Jordan makes Cassidy don her gear one more time to get his packages.

Once under the water, all her grandfather's teaching coalesces into an epic showdown with her peeling off her goggles and mouthpiece and floating face to face with one of the great whites.

This is the only time the shark looks pretty damn epic, to be honest. The menacing features would strike fear into almost any person – but not Cassidy. She decides to pet the shark; the two bond, and now they are besties. Eat your heart out, Taylor Swift!

The best part of the film is, without a doubt, Dreyfuss's performance. Surrounded by a lot of ridiculousness, Dreyfuss delivers a very solid performance and gives the film some weight when he's on the screen. I love watching really good actors work their craft, and Dreyfuss has been one of the best throughout his career.

He also delivers an impassioned plea for shark conservation that runs the entirety of the film's end credits.

While it is no cinematic masterpiece, I would lovingly put it on any shelf in The Schlock Vault and have no problem doing so. Even the film's poster screams schlock. Remember the legendary tagline from 1979's "Alien" – "In space, no one can hear you scream?" Well, apparently, the filmmakers do too, as the tagline on "Into the Deep" is "Under water no one can hear you scream." It's little touches like that that almost instantly move you to the front of the line for admittance into The Schlock Vault.

“Into the Deep” never breaks the surface of being more than a campy, schlocky thriller. It may not be a masterpiece, but its ridiculousness makes it a perfect fit for The Schlock Vault, offering just enough fun for fans of so-bad-it’s-good cinema.