How to Make ‘The Shallows’ a Better Movie

Written by Scott Edwards

I don’t hide from my opinions when it comes to liking or not liking a movie, but every once in a while, when I actually finish watching a movie that has left me longing for so much more, I lose sleep over it. In chatting with a couple of my horror movie loving friends after ranting about The Shallows, I see that they had the same opinion as I did. I always try to look for the good in a low budget movie, since they don’t have the funds for the greatest special effects and actors, but when a decent budget is laid down for a horror flick, I do demand results. With an estimated budget of seventeen million dollars (per IMDB), I would think that there would have been something that I could take away from this movie, but instead it left a hole in my heart and robbed me of ninety minutes of my life that I will never get back. So, wanting to be helpful to the studio, here are the changes that I would make to the movie to make it more enjoyable for horror fans round the world.

Since very little of the script is based on fact, like a once-a-day tide, a seagull that is not eaten, a gushing wound that does not affect how fast Nancy can swim, why not have a little fun with it. I would keep some of the same aspects of the movie that it focused on, like the whale, the high rock in the cove and the GoPro camera, along with the helmet, but also add in some driftwood and a menacing shark.

I was fine with the opening of the movie, Nancy running away from her life to try and find herself on the beach that her mother loved, that is all well and good. The surfing was pretty cool, so I would keep that as well. But where I would add a change, is I would have had the other surfers notice the birds flying around the dead whale and think that something was up at that point, as it was far from a fresh kill and then they could tell the 'Gringa' to make sure and steer clear of the area. Then when catching the last wave of the day, I would have had the shark come straight out of the water and bite Nancy’s leg clean off.  It’s okay, she is a med student and knows what to do to stop the bleeding.

When getting on top of the whale for safety from the killer shark, I would have had it used like a massive paddle board so the one-legged Nancy would be able to get to shore, or to the rock in the water, since there is no tide. While paddling along, the shark would be chomping down on the dead whale and while the paddle whale is getting smaller by the minute, Nancy has no other option than to lay up on the rock. With a piece of driftwood floating around the rock, Nancy would pick it up and at first think about making it a weapon to fend off the Great White, but then come to her senses that since she only has one leg, she would need to make herself another one, so she could swim to shore when the time was right.

Being able to eat a little bit of the whale during the night, Nancy sees her drunken friend on the shore and tries to get her attention. As her friend and new boyfriend are messing around, they finally spot the stranded surfer and try to call on their phones for help, but there is no signal. Thinking about how to get out to Nancy, they spot the surfboard floating in the water and the boyfriend swims out frantically to get the board, while Nancy is yelling at him that there is a shark in the water. I am pretty sure there would be a Stork joke in there at some point as well since the two love birds are drunk. When arriving to the board, the Great White attacks from right under the boyfriend, exposing its teeth and leaving a large blood streak. Nancy’s friend is now in shambles and tries to swim out to save her boyfriend and gets bitten in half with only her lower body making it back to the shore.  

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Now a mess, Nancy lies down and waits for her deadly fate to come as the shark continues to circle her and the small piece of whale that she has left. When morning breaks, her two surfer buddies come back and see her stranded on the rock and try to head out to save her. The Great White swims up behind them and picks them off one at a time, which is kind of what happened in the movie already. Seeing that the Great White is determined to eat her, Nancy comes up with a plan to make it back to shore. Attaching the driftwood to her former slender leg, she dives in and makes it only a few feet as the undertow is pulling her in the wrong direction. With the shark starting to close in as the tide is rising, Nancy sees the surfer’s helmet that has the GoPro attached and reaches down to pick it up and finds that the surfer's head and spine are still attached. Keeping the remains of her former surfer friend, a new idea comes into play.

With her driftwood leg and some pointy bones from her friend’s spine, she has a weapon and a way to beat the undertow. Getting up her momentum up, Nancy jumps onto her remaining piece of whale and kicks frantically heading towards the shore. While the Great White is quickly on her tail, her peg leg is bitten off, but the shark is not willing to leave it at that. Coming back for a second shot at the surfer, Nancy rolls off of the whale into the water while avoiding the massive bite. Under the water, Nancy lines up the spine and shoves it straight through the gills of the Great White. The shark whips and slashes its head around, trying to get the spine to dislodge and with the shark occupied, Nancy is able to make it to shore. 

Passed out on the beach from blood loss and dehydration, Nancy is found by the locals (which is what happened in the movie) and receives the proper medical care that she needs. Six months later on her local beach, you see Nancy with her new prostatic limb and her sister getting ready to go and catch some waves. As she has survived hell, there is nothing new that can phase her and while watching her little sister running to the water, Nancy sees a familiar fin making its way towards the beach. Yelling out to her sister that there is shark, Nancy sees her sister being taken into the great beyond by a shark with a spine and head hanging out of its gills.

Boom, there you go, that is what I would do to make this movie much better than it originally was.  When in reality, all that needs to be done is show the stinking shark and show the shark eating the people that invaded its space. And then have Nancy lose the leg as well, because there is no way her make do stitches would have held, much less be able to do anything when she loses more blood than the human body can hold. I added a lot more action to this to keep butts in the seats and while my changes may make the movie a little hokier, at least it has something going on while Nancy is trying to get her life in order.  Maybe this could be the 'true to life' sequel for The Shallows. I can see it in lights now, The Shallows 2: The Real Story. Until next time, Stay Scared.

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