The 3rd Film In This Killer Shark Movie Trilogy Is Almost Here

Get ready to plummet back into the depths of the Deep Blue Sea.

A new trailer recently dropped for Deep Blue Sea 3, another installment in the franchise that launched which director Renny Harlin's 1999 B-movie horror classic and continued with a direct-to-video sequel in 2018. The new flick, like the sequel, will be fielded by an all-new creative team, and tell a standalone story, only loosely connected to the events of its predecessors.

The new spot promises plenty of shark-y action from its opening shot of three dorsal fins, in tight formation, making a beeline for a small island. This island, for the last few summers, has been home to a conservationist crew led by Dr. Emma Collins (Lost's Tania Raymonde) who have been studying the effects of global climate change on the local marine life. But they're interrupted by a group of interlopers led by marine biologist Richard (The Originals' Nathaniel Buzolic), who are looking for a group of rogue bull sharks thought to be responsible for some recent attacks.

It turns out, of course, that these are no ordinary sharks. They've been genetically modified to be leaner, meaner, faster, and smarter (although it's not spelled out explicitly, it's likely that they're the same group of sharks that escaped into the big blue at the conclusion of Deep Blue Sea 2). Soon, everybody is on the menu, and the trailer features several quick shots assuring us that this third flick will give us what we've come to expect from this franchise: sharks leaping out of the water like nobody has ever seen an actual shark do, wisecracks interrupted by huge jump scares, terrifying close calls, and lots of blood and gore.

Since the Deep Blue Sea movies are basically connected only by the concept of genetically modified super-sharks, it's really not necessary to catch up on the entire series before taking in the third installment, and it must be said that Deep Blue Sea 2 is pretty fun, but relatively weak. If you've never seen the first movie, though, you'll really want to remedy that as soon as possible, because it's an absolute blast.

Director Harlin is responsible for such action classics as Cliffhanger and The Long Kiss Goodnight, and the flick's cast is about as good as it gets for a late-'90s actioner: it features Saffron Burrows (You), Thomas Jane (The Predator), Stellan Skarsgård (Thor's buddy Erik Selvig in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), and Michael Rapaport (Chuck). Also on board: LL Cool J, who nearly steals the entire movie as a Bible-quoting cook whose best friend is his pet parrot, and Samuel L. Jackson, whose customary big, fiery speech midway through the movie is interrupted by one of the flat-out greatest "gotcha" moments in film history.

Sure, the movie plays fast and loose with genetics, the laws of physics, the biology of sharks, and... well, just about everything else. But Harlin's expert direction, the commitment of the cast to the schlocky material, and some surprisingly cool-looking late '90s CGI sharks combine to make Deep Blue Sea one of the most awesome popcorn flicks of its era. The sequel may have been hit-and-miss (mostly miss, if we're being honest), but the third installment looks to be carrying on the proud, gonzo, B-movie tradition of the first, and we're pretty darned excited.

Deep Blue Sea 3 is directed by John Pogue (The Quiet Ones) and also stars Emerson Brooks (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Bren Foster (The Last Ship), and DeVille Dannik (The Last Days of American Crime). The flick is slated to premiere on VOD platforms on July 28, with a Blu-ray release to follow on August 25.