In this blog entry for the Herald, I mark the success of Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Shallows by citing the best shark movies to have come before it. That aren’t Jaws

The new Blake Lively shark film The Shallows opens in New Zealand this week following a modest degree of box office success in America earlier this year.

The commercial success of the film is encouraging, as it’s just the kind of movie that Hollywood seems less and less interesting in making these days: mid-sized, glossy thrillers with few intentions beyond providing well-crafted tension.

It’s the latest in a string of similarly effective efforts from Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Non-Stop, Orphan), an underrated filmmaker who repeatedly re-affirms his status as Hollywood’s finest purveyor of contemporary thrillers.

One of these days he should make a Neo-Yuppies In Peril film, he seems like the perfect man for the job.

Despite the high-concept innovations of The Shallows, just like every other shark movie, many critics dismissed it as yet another Jaws rip-off. Which seems a bit harsh.