By Scott Menzel
47 Meters Down was a total fun and unexpected summer surprise. This shark suspense thriller stars Mandy Moore (This is Us) and Claire Holt (The Originals) as two sisters that take a trip to Mexico to get away for the weekend. The girls decide it will be fun to go cage diving for sharks with two locals but their fun little getaway quickly turns deadly when the cage support cable breaks and leaves them stranded 47 meters below sea level.
Shark movies seem to really hit big with audiences so its great to see a film like 47 Meters Down that completely embraces people’s fears of sharks as well as claustrophobia. The film doesn’t take long before it becomes incredibly suspenseful and it left me gasping for air. Mandy Moore normally doesn’t star in Horror films so it was refreshing to see her take on a role that she has never done before. She shares the screen with Claire Holt, who is very good as well. They both have a nice sister dynamic and I felt the fear that each of them were feeling while stuck in a cage on the bottom of the ocean.
47 Meters Down, Claire Holt and Mandy Moore
We got to sit down with Claire Holt and Mandy Moore to discuss the film as they talked about shooting the film and spending so much of their time underwater. Holt stated, “We shot for eight weeks at eight hours a day. We had a week above water, in the Dominican Republic, but the majority of this film, about 90 to 95% of it is underwater, and we did do all that.”
Moore responded with “I don’t think either of us knew how physically taxing it was going to be, just all that time underwater, even just the littlest movements or the seemingly simple days. We would get out at lunchtime, and I’m not usually a napper, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open, I was so exhausted. You just expend so much energy, and there was so much screaming and hyperventilating, and fast movement. It was exhausting physically and emotionally.”
47 Meters Down is a fast paced thrill ride. It will have you on the edge of your seat and will leave you stunned. I was shocked by the film’s ending and what ultimately happens. This is a smaller film but one that has a lot of bite.
The film also stars Matthew Modine, Yani Gellman, and Santiago Segura. 47 Meters Down is in theaters June 16.
