Grab a chair, because I’ve got an absolute banger of an opinion when it comes to filmmaking, horror is by far the hardest genre to tackle. Even with a snug budget, there are minimal chances to produce a good horror film. There has to be some inexperienced director out there who is thinking that he’s going to shake things up in this industry because once you make something aimed at a wider audience, it’s bound to be a multi-million hit. Kind of like the Blair Witch film with its awful shaky camera work; which I think was horrendous but people still flocked towards the cinema to watch it.
Bad fish worked with maximum effort but their minimal resources held them back in certain areas announcing the end product as a low grade. But for a brief moment, they tangentially skimmed the real point, what needed to be excluded in order to obtain a remarkable result?
So the movie commences with the particular sequence where a pregnant woman is introduced. I found this particular sequence even entertaining, she goes to a beautiful beach, swims, and screams afterward, I am not so sure why she is screaming though. The scene does seem a bit panic-inducing but it is not clear if she is being chased or she is agitated by something else, which remains ambiguous. She starts shouting while on her knees in shallow water, but this segment is not so poorly done due to the background music. This is when the audience is directed to the opening credits, or at least when the film makes use of the specific piece of ocean geography that is around the seaside town, while the exact date remains unspecified. Following this, there’s a beautiful soundtrack quite contrary to what I expected from them.
What I have noticed to this point in a low-budget production also in a way or so impressed me.
In not too much detail I want to mention that there are some factors that made me deviate from the rating I gave the film, this film is considered in a slightly different light to the majority of B-grade film viewers. Yes, it is something a tad different and yes, it does have some good elements to it but they really miss the mark in regards to one of the most salient features in a gore-oriented horror movie the death scenes are poorly done as well as suspenseful scenes and the part in particular where the puppeteer monster is finally revealed to us is also poorly done, and that raises questions about just how small their budget is.
There was clearly prudence in spending money but if there is one thing that low-budget horror flicks have taught me is even the most pitiful horror films with the bash actors, invariably have this blood and guts thing and it is going to be definitely fun. I still find it in a way interesting why they have chosen this part and did it so: banal.
The coastal town in the story relies on fishing for survival. But, the residents are bothered by the absence of fish. A sailor reports over the radio to the sheriff that his two crew members have been brutally murdered after being kidnapped from the ship. His claims seem a little wild and bizarre. The cops arrive and find the Captain fully sloshed with bloodstains all over his clothes. An easier-to-understand explanation is that Sauzy accuses him of beating her while he was intoxicated before taking him into custody. Eventually, the captain is found to have no wrongdoing as the story portrays which is not ideal, and he is still left with a fishing shortage. They then resort to calling a “John” a biologist in hopes that he will be able to throw light on all the myriad issues of the fish-less scenario.
In a film that practically looks cash-strapped, invincible Jonny Lee steps up in the role of John and does a convincing job portraying this character. The rest of the cast, including the extras, also give a commendable performance which is surprisingly uncommon for films of this genre. However, the script presented has a multitude of stagnant gaping holes in it. Such as in one scene John is depicted as searching for a captain alongside the locals who inform him that he can find him at a bar in town, to get more context about it, John attempts to reach out to a captain who had a similar bad experience of being stranded on the sea with his crew. On top of this the Johny Lee leading film, even struggles with the set ideas and costs.Multi-film projects also push the film time up to 90 minutes in order to cross over a single-hour mark. As the film reaches its conclusion the John is portrayed as chasing after a captain who had as previously stated bad luck on the sea, and just like him, this other captain lost his crew too.
As John walks into the pub without a second thought. Yes, in as much as people were pre-registered, it is a good place. People in there are friendly and such like. The interiors seem well maintained and would not be the kind of place which people in reconnaissance polls would consider as a dive where the owners should get people. While it may be trivial, within the narrative, this establishment was portrayed as an invasive asset to the community. But when we finally land on it, it’s not so bad after all. And especially since John is shown to have barged into this pub at the beginning of the story, I do not really understand why they had to include this detail.
They probably thought to themselves, “Oh snap! Didn’t we have some characters, in the beginning, tell the viewers that this bar is a really dark place? Well, it does not feel dark at all!” And then, after doing so, they reach a point of John revisits that bar, which makes sense only to some extent since he gets into one of the most ludicrous brawls I’ve ever seen in any film. There seems to be an effort towards making this happen, because the script already had some holes that needed to be filled up and this was one of them. Very amusing that is, I guess, but it just makes them look dumb.
I’m not even kidding when I say this, I personally believe Abby from the movie plays a very ugly character, which makes absolutely no sense when Abby is supposed to be an attractive individual, according to Oregon’s fishing community. But considering the actress portraying the character is really unattractive, it begs the question of why even cast her in such a horrendous role. When my friend and I were watching the movie, both of us were rather baffled as to why we were so ugly in contrast to Abby. Neither of us are looking to get signed for model contracts, however, considering the context of the film, am attractive enough to say that neither of us are overly good looking. She is rather dull and plain compared to other people I have seen who are her age. I still think 6 out of ten is pushing it for someone like Abby and it feels like she’s been in the industry long enough to appreciate the honesty. It is safe to say that if someone writes in a screenplay and claims someone is ‘the most beautiful’, then it can be assumed that the casting and selection criteria are markedly flawed, assuming she was even cast. In all honesty, I’d rather someone being blunt with me instead of sugarcoating and lying, but even then, it’s not my go to language so you’d have to excuse me for all the crudeness.
I think there’s one scene which is well executed and which begs the audience to question why the director was not informed about it during the shoot, and why it was not used in the film more extensively. John’s assistant who is a marine biologist is shown jogging on the beach in one scene. At this point in the film, the viewers are put to rest with a broader question of ‘who or what is the evil that has been introduced!’ and while the woman jogs along the beach with headphones on, we see something shifting behind her, though this is not all that straightforward and it is foggy, but it hints towards progress. They frequently change the position of the camera, however, every time we see a close-up of the jogger’s faces, the joggers are in the back and there is something in the still-background moving in. This sense of impending doom is so elegantly done that it’s almost heartbreaking to watch the scene unfold. It’s safe to assume that “whatever that is” would eventually accompany her, but in the meantime, one has to make do with a hazy figure of that “whatever.”
Thus, this was carried out effectively, and there is no doubt that for this purpose, this video is truly more than worth watching. Nevertheless, had they resorted to this movie technique much more frequently than they did, in my opinion, this film would have increased a lot.
Sadly, most of the film is simply unwatchable, and when the time comes for the greatest revelation, the reason for the evil doesn’t make any sense as to why no one in this town had a clue. If it is indeed an issue, then most of the inhabitants must have been aware of it. This poor sheriff constantly accuses other people of being bumbling drunks, but hey, maybe that really is an actual problem over there… who knows!
Is this worth watching?
To put it candidly, probably not. Now that I have watched the trailer, I have noticed that the part that attracted me the most, and almost all of the praise I have received, is which is in the trailer, so yes, it is entirely conceivable that they were aware of the brilliance of that particular part of the picture. The development of the plot, for example, which in my opinion is a lot, is also in that trailer.
This is why I think this movie deserves a rating of 3.3 or even lower. Frankly speaking, this film is worth skipping, and after looking at the rating given by IMDB which is a dismal 3.3 out of 10, I think the internet users feel the same way. The only way this should be ignored is the fact that a director underrated himself with just about a shoestring budget and actors that are above average given the limited finances they were working with. For many, this film is a failure as it does not depict anything scary or novel enough to be considered entertaining in any shape or form. This would only be for those who appreciate horror films made with no budget and bashed the details to the point they are almost good.
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