Bait (2012)

Bait is special because it takes a gloriously simple creature-feature idea and stages it somewhere you’ve never seen before: a flooded supermarket turned into a floating maze, where every aisle feels like a dare. Kimble Rendall leans into the B-movie spirit with confidence—tight pacing, splashy set pieces, and a gleeful sense that the movie knows exactly what kind of ride you came for—while still giving the cast (Xavier Samuel and Sharni Vinson especially) enough human stakes to keep you invested between jolts. The vibe is high-concept, high-tension popcorn horror: part disaster movie, part survival thriller, with the kind of crowd-pleasing escalation that makes you laugh, wince, and lean forward all at once. It’s not for viewers who need realism or subtlety, but if you want an R-rated, blood-in-the-water good time that fully delivers on its bonkers premise, Bait earns its bite.

Bait is trying to be a lean, high-concept survival horror ride: a natural disaster turns a supermarket into a flooded cage match with a great white shark, and on that pulpy premise alone it mostly delivers. The problem is everything wrapped around it—thin characters, clunky dialogue, and a string of predictable beats that make the tension feel manufactured rather than earned. It also leans hard into silliness, so if you want grounded shark horror or smart disaster storytelling, you’ll likely spend more time rolling your eyes than gripping the armrest. If, however, you’re in the mood for a loud, gory B-movie with a few decent set-pieces and don’t mind logic taking a long swim, it can be dumb fun.