Film Review: 'From the Depths'

For the past year, Liz (Angelica Briones) has had her life unraveled by recurring nightmares and painful grief. Even after all this time, the memories of the brutal shark attack that killed her sister Payton (Marissa Godinez) and boyfriend Seth (Taylor Jorgensen) are fresh in Liz's mind. While Liz has a good support system in therapist Kristen (Liz Fenning) and loving girlfriend Roberta (Terra Lyons), it seems her road to recovery isn't going to be an easy one...

And things only get harder when Liz's nightmares segue into full-on hallucinations. Not only is she starting to see sharks everywhere, but visions of an undead Payton and Seth are showing up to pester her. Disturbed by her hallucinations and the old wounds they've ripped open, the already fragile Liz begins to spiral even further. Can Liz reclaim her sanity before she truly loses her mind?

Not to sound hyperbolic, but whoever designed the above-pictured poster should be harpooned for such gross false advertising. With that actiony cover art and tagline, you'd think From the Depths is going to be an indie take on Shark Night or The Shallows. Instead, the film follows a more personal story of a woman dealing with her deteriorating mind in the wake of a horrific shark attack. The misleading poster is frustrating enough, but that outright dishonest tagline is what really gets under my skin with how it alludes to a completely different story. There's plenty of other things that are wrong with From the Depths beyond its promo material, from its story down to the special effects. It's a shame that the former goes so awry towards the end, as it happens right when it seems the movie has recovered from its rocky start and is moving towards a stronger finish.

One big point in From the Depths' defense: it's pretty excellent in terms of representation--a stark contrast to the disaster that was last on my review plate. In addition to having an openly bisexual lead heroine in an interracial relationship, From the Depths doesn't make Liz's sexuality its primary focus. Her struggles are purely based on her past trauma, with hardly any comments (positive or negative) being made at all about her being in a relationship with a woman. Jose Montesinos' great handling of his LGBTQ lead characters almost makes up for where his script falters elsewhere. While the story is mostly a decent "Protagonist Questions Their Sanity" drama, it gets off to a very sluggish start and is peppered with chunks of clunky dialogue.

It's unfortunate that most of those chunks land in Angelica Briones' lap, given her status as the weak link of the cast. While she has her good moments throughout Liz's mental decline (making her character's breakdown arc a believable one), Briones has plenty of scenes where her delivery is painfully stilted. The most notable instance of this is when Liz opens up about the details of the plot-triggering shark attack. Even accounting for the fact that Liz might be emotionally numbed by this point in the story, Briones makes her sound way too clinical for someone describing a traumatizing near-death experience.

It's fitting that Briones' performance should improve as Liz begins to seriously question her sanity. That's also precisely when the story begins to take a turn for the better. With the introduction of Ghostly Payton and Seth, From the Depths takes on a new energy. After twenty-odd minutes of meandering drama, Payton's appearance brings elements of dark comedy to the mix that liven things up (pun unintended). Marissa Godinez is lovably dark and snarky as Payton, as is Taylor Jorgensen's Seth to a lesser degree. Briones' performance feels more emotive and natural as Liz has to deal with her ghostly visitors, their troubling demand, and the equally troubling memories their arrival stirs up. While the atmosphere Payton and Seth create could've been utilized to greater effect, Jorgensen and definitely Godinez work well with what they're given.

Lastly, we have Terra Lyons and Liz Fenning as Liz's allies Roberta and Kristen. While neither woman is a particularly dynamic character, Lyons and Fenning each give solid performances as Roberta and Kristen do their best to support and aid Liz during her ordeal. Lyons especially packs a lot of emotion into the scenes where Roberta affirms her love and devotion to Liz, making up for where Briones stumbles in giving Liz and Roberta chemistry. A subtler strength in Lyons and Fennings' acting here comes through the nuances they give Roberta and Kristen. While they both say they only want to help Liz, there are brief moments when you might doubt the validity of their benevolence. Through minimal overt expressions, Lyons and Fenning cloak their characters in a shroud of suspicion.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

Tragically, their efforts are left mostly for naught by From the Depths' letdown of an ending. With all the "I'm not as innocent as I look" hints being dropped by Roberta and Kristen, I was expecting a big climax where one or both women's true intentions would be revealed. So imagine my frustration when instead, the movie suddenly reveals that Liz never really recovered from the shark attack, with all the film's events being a product of her mind prior to her death on the operating table (with Roberta and Kristen revealed as the doctors in charge of her treatment). While this Cruel Twist Ending mostly makes sense in hindsight, it doesn't change how thoroughly unsatisfying and anticlimactic it as a conclusion to Liz's journey.

(It doesn't help that this ending is kicked off with a cheap and poorly rendered jump scare. While all of the CGI seen in From the Depths is pretty bad, that final scene is memorably terrible)

Spoilers Over

It's a shame that From the Depths has such a heavy load with its conclusion. After coming out of the gates trudging along, it seems the story is starting to get its bearings when Payton and Seth arrive to give it a jolt of inspiration. But between its uneven lead actress, subpar pacing, and that near rage-inducing ending, From the Depths ultimately struggles to keep itself alive as the anchor-like weight of its flaws threatens to drag it to a watery grave. Thankfully, it has an otherwise strong cast and likable supporting characters to act as life preservers and provide some entertainment before things go south. Just be sure to brace yourself for a finale that fails to make the rough waves leading up to it worthwhile.

Score: 4 out of 10 fourth-grade bee stings.