Editorials
‘The Meg’ vs. ‘Meg 2: The Trench’ – Which Film Has the Strongest Bite?
The following contains major spoilers for The Meg and Meg 2: The Trench.
Sharksploitation movies live and die based on the strength of their bite. In order to make us afraid to go in the water, genre filmmakers usually deploy a barrage of visual and practical effects to bring to life the ocean’s most feared predator: the shark. Of the many aquatic horror films to hit the screen, few have featured teeth so big and vicious as The Meg.
Jon Turteltaub’s action-packed shark film brings to life Otodus megalodon, the largest predator the world has ever known. Thought to be extinct, a group of oceanic explorers discover this prehistoric shark species lurking beneath the thermocline, a temperature barrier near the ocean floor. A box office hit, The Meg won over audiences with its splashy energy, dynamic special effects, and a captivating performance from action star Jason Statham. Five years later, the giant sharks are back in a new film directed by Ben Wheatley.
Opening with a prehistoric Meg decimating a Tyrannosaurus Rex followed by a baby Meg living in captivity, Meg 2: The Trench doubles down on everything that made Turteltaub’s film a surprise success. But which has more teeth? Let’s break down each sharkstravaganza in a series of head-to-head matchups to find out which Megalodon outing has the strongest bite.
Beneath the Thermocline vs. Inside the Trench
Though both films begin with death-defying escapes, the trouble kicks off in earnest due to exploratory trips beneath the thermocline. Turteltaub begins with a jaw-dropping tour of Mana One, an oceanic research facility led by Dr. Minway Zhang (Winston Chao). Billionaire investor Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson) joins the team just moments before launching a mission to explore the deepest reaches of the Mariana Trench. Having ventured below the thermocline, the entire crew gazes in awe at this newly discovered stretch of ocean before a mysterious predator attacks the institute’s submersible. The three scientists trapped inside must wait until rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) can bring them back from the ocean floor.
Set several years later, Wheatley’s film introduces us to a crew now accustomed to these dangerous missions. Having previously completed 26 trips beneath the thermocline, Mana One oceanographers embark on another exploratory journey in two submersibles outfitted with predator-repelling technology. However, these heightened defenses don’t protect them from nefarious humans. Along the trench, they stumble upon an illegal drilling operation which promptly explodes, sending dangerous debris rocketing across the ocean floor. With no rescue in sight, the stranded crew dons exosuits to walk across the trench to the nearest man-made shelter.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
Our first trip down to the ocean depths may be exciting, but, like the crew, we view most of the mission from within the sub. Of course this builds to a stunning reveal just moments later, but it’s difficult to get our bearings in these exploratory scenes. In a sharp contrast, Wheatley spends a significant portion of the film on the ocean floor. Not only do we see exciting underwater explosions and dangerous terrain, but we get to enjoy the stunning beauty of the trench as the crew slowly makes their way back to the station.
Morris vs. Driscoll
Though massive megalodons are the ostensible villains, both films see corporate greed take center stage. Morris appears supportive, relying on the expertise of Zhang and his team. However, after several run-ins with the newly discovered Meg, he decides to surreptitiously take matters into his own hands. Hoping to avoid lawsuits while capitalizing on this surprise return on his oceanic investment, Morris pretends to notify local government authorities, but secretly commissions his own team to kill the giant shark. Perhaps predictably, the mogul’s ill-informed plans go disastrously wrong and he winds up killed by the very teeth he hoped to collect.
Five years later, the research facility is now run by Dr. Zhang’s son Jiuming (Jing Wu) along with wealthy financier Hillary Driscoll (Sienna Guillory). Unfortunately, her zeal for marine conservation hides a darker greed. With the help of a spy lurking among the researchers, Driscoll has been using the drilling operation to mine lucrative resources from the ocean floor. Having revealed her true colors, this short-sighted villain attempts to kill everyone on board the Mana One to maintain her oceanic gravy train, not to mention her image as a glamorous philanthropist.
WINNER: The Meg
While neither of these villains is particularly competent, Morris’s plot line at least has some substance. Though it’s an incredibly fun film, the biggest strike against Meg 2: The Trench is its shallow villain and her flimsy motive. Driscoll’s eventual death at the hands of the very teeth she intended to exploit may feel cathartic, but her story essentially boils down to “rich lady gonna evil.” Played by the charismatic Rainn Wilson, Morris feels like a believable mogul. Armed with little more than money and a knowledge of Shark Week, his incompetence not only sets up a logical final act, but delivers a fun moment of well-deserved comeuppance.
Squid vs. Octopus
In addition to massive, tooth-lined jaws, both films include their fair share of tentacles. When oceanographer Suyin Zhang (Bingbing Li) attempts to rescue the stranded crew herself, she encounters another dangerous predator near the ocean floor. Giant tentacles wrap around the hull of her sub as a giant squid tries to devour the underwater vehicle. Moments before these strong appendages can smash the ship’s glass sphere, the squid releases its grip. Suyin gazes up in wonder as the Megalodon swims above her with the colossal squid locked in its even bigger jaws.
While Turteltaub uses the squid for a thrilling reveal, Wheatley saves his monster for the finale. As the scientists struggle to walk back to Mana One, murky tentacles drift through a rupture in the thermocline. What’s later revealed to be a giant octopus eventually follows the Megs to feed on obnoxious swimmers at a nearby resort called Fun Island. Lurking just below the surface, this giant cephalopod reaches up through the wooden docks and tosses people around like toys. Jiuming takes on the beast and stabs it with a homemade bomb, but not before it can terrorize a handful of swimmers and take down a passing helicopter. The resulting explosion leads to an underwater battle that sees two Megalodons fight the squirming cephalopod.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
Turteltaub’s squid provides a fantastic introduction to the film’s aquatic star, but Wheatley’s octopus handily takes the victory in this matchup. Delivering on the promise of vague tentacles drifting up to the surface, Wheatley centers much of the final battle on this creature’s destruction, providing one of the most exciting sequences of both films.
Heller vs. Montes
Before breaching the thermocline, both films begin with a window into Jonas’s past. The Meg features a flashback to a doomed mission to explore the Mariana Trench. Attacked by a mysterious predator, Jonas was forced to save the rest of the crew by leaving two divers behind to die. Fellow survivor Dr. Heller (Robert Taylor) believes Jonas imagined the shadowy monster, caving under pressure and creating an unbelievable story to avoid the guilt of abandoning his friends. When Jonas arrives at Mana One, he’s shocked to find Dr. Heller serving as the facility’s medical officer. Remembering their past encounter, Dr. Heller reports that he is mentally unstable and tries to keep him from diving to rescue another crew. Dr. Heller may be an early antagonist, but he apologizes to Jonas once he realizes that the traumatized diver was right all along. He also sacrifices his life for another colleague, diverting attention away from the Meg so that his friends can swim to safety.
Rejoining Jonas five years later, we learn that he has become a trusted member of the research team. However, he moonlights as an eco-terrorist, sabotaging corporations dumping toxic chemicals into the ocean. Heading up Dricoll’s illegal drilling operation is Montes (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), a mercenary once sent to a Manilla prison by Jonas’s investigations. The hardened criminal still holds a grudge and spends most of the movie trying to kill his old nemesis. Compared to Dr. Heller, Montes turns out to be a much more formidable foe. He callously kills his employees by blowing up the underwater mine and tries to murder Jonas several times throughout the film. Despite his physical prowess, he proves to be no match for the Megs and winds up suffering the same fate as the well-meaning doctor.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
It’s a tough call because Dr. Heller is a much more developed and believable character. We learn basically nothing about Montes aside from his grudge against Jonas and his relationship with the duplicitous Jess (Skyler Samuels). He essentially serves as a human shark, lurking in the shadows and waiting for his moment to take Jonas out. However, based simply on the fierceness of his bite, we’re giving this one to the mustache-twirling villain.
Tracker Dart Swim vs. Jet Ski Harpoon
After setting the table with scientific discoveries, both films get down to the meat and potatoes of shark horror. Having reached the surface, Jonas and his respective teams find themselves tasked with stopping the sharks before they can make it to shore. Turteltaub begins the action-packed chapter with a plan to place a tracker on the fin of the Meg. Hoping to avoid the gaze of the massive fish, he’s able to swim to within 100 yards of the beast and land the tiny tracking dart before the wench pulling him back to the boat catches the shark’s attention. Jonas narrowly escapes the massive jaws and gnashing teeth before his friend Mac (Cliff Curtis) pulls him back onto the boat.
The second film sees no less than three Megs pursuing our fearless hero. With only one jet ski available on the Fun Island shores, Jonas sets off with a trio of homemade harpoons strapped to his back. This thrilling chase follows Jonas as he zips through waves narrowly avoiding gigantic jaws at every turn. Not knowing whether the makeshift devices will work, Jonas takes his shot. He plunges one of the harpoons into the Meg and blows off the top of its head.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
Taylor’s initial swim with the Meg is no doubt impressive. However, it pales in comparison to this thrilling chase. Not only do we get the speed and splash of the jet ski, this action sequence proves to be one of the highlights of the film and ushers us into a final act of non-stop creature chaos.
Boat Bash vs. Station Destruction
The gargantuan fish in these films don’t just rip through the bodies of those unfortunate enough to fall into the water. The first boats to encounter the original Meg, three shark-fishing vessels, are completely destroyed by the apex predator, a fitting punishment for heinous animal cruelty. Unfortunately, Dr. Zhang’s own boat faces the shark’s wrath as well. After Suyin nearly dies in a shark-proof diving tube, the team sets a trap for the Meg that winds up toppling the ship’s heavy cranes. Having hoisted the carcass up on the deck, the crew of the Mana One take a moment to relax before bringing the huge specimen back to the lab. They’re celebrating their victory when a second, even larger Meg surges up from the deep, smashing the boat and sending its passengers flying out into the water.
Among the many hazards of walking across the ocean floor, limited oxygen in the exosuits quickly becomes a deadly concern. Spying a station for the illegal drilling operation, Jonas and the remaining survivors hurry into enemy territory hoping for breathable air. Moments before entering the station, they’re attacked by a swarm of prehistoric dinosaur/fish hybrids who’ve managed to survive for 65 million years alongside the Megs. Known in Steve Alten’s source material “The Trench” as Kronosaurs, these snapping nightmares disorient the crew and draw the attention of two large megalodons. With sharp teeth at every turn, these creatures bite, rip, and smash the station which rains down on the frightened survivors as they rush towards the open gate.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
The underwater station collapse is the clear winner in this matchup simply because of the sheer amount of teeth involved. Are these Kronosaurs real? Who cares! They add an element of the unknown to this aquatic adventure story and keep Wheatley’s sequel from merely rehashing the plot of the first film.
Crowded Beach vs. Fun Island
In addition to teeth, any shark film worthy of the genre needs an exciting “GET OUT OF THE WATER” sequence and both directors conclude their films by following the humongous predators to crowded beaches. Turteltaub’s Meg attacks a shoreline filled to the brim with intertubes, rafts, and obnoxious crowds. We begin from the fish’s point of view as the enormous animal surveys the tiny humans floating at the surface. Turteltaub also gives us ominous overhead shots in which the massive predator can clearly be seen swimming beneath the oblivious crowds. Catching itself on the heavy chains anchoring a series of floating docks, the shark begins to chow down on swimmers, kicking the carnage off in earnest. Luckily, it’s not able to eat too many vacationers before Jonas and his team arrive.
Mirroring the final act of the first film, Meg 2: The Trench stages a sequence of aquatic chaos on the sunny shores of Fun Island. After taking out an entire booze cruise, the Megs make their way to shore and begin to tear through divers. Wheatley doubles down on the brutality, as hordes of people are chomped, ripped in half, and swallowed whole by the hungry Megs including a brutal POV shot from inside the cavernous jaws. Not to be outdone, the Megs must contend with a giant octopus vying for its own prey as well as the ambulatory Kronosaurs who chase their victims out of the water and onto dry land.
WINNER: Meg 2: The Trench
There’s really no contest here. Turteltaub’s beach invasion is a savage moment of horror compounded by the sheer size of the Meg’s gaping jaws. However, Wheatley outdoes himself with a terrifically frightening sequence of non-stop chaos on land and sea. This outsized final act may defy logic, but it’s the cinematic equivalent of throwing all your toys into the swimming pool and staging your own aquatic Royal Rumble.
Propeller Stab vs. Submarine Slice
The surrounding circumstances may vary wildly, but both films conclude with Jonas using a damaged vehicle to take out the last remaining Meg. While trying to fire a torpedo at the gigantic animal, Jonas realizes that his sub has been damaged. With the Meg barreling toward him, Jonas maneuvers the ship and drags the twisted metal arm along the underside of the shark’s belly, spilling blood into the ocean. Exiting the sub, he stabs the Meg in the eye with a harpoon then swims away as hundreds of oceanic sharks devour the hemorrhaging creature.
Amidst the chaos of Wheatley’s Fun Island massacre, Jonas spots two of his friends in trouble. Jiuming rushes to drag the injured Mac out of a downed helicopter before it can sink too far underwater. Spying the Meg just yards away, Jonas swims toward the wreckage to divert the shark’s attention. Reaching the tiny outcropping, he grabs a stray propeller and prepares to strike. He raises the long blade in the air just as the giant jaws close in for the kill, impaling the Meg and driving the makeshift weapon through the back of the fish’s head.
WINNER: The Meg
The original climactic showdown is not only thrilling but somewhat plausible. Turteltaub’s gigantic shark jumps high into the air with Jonas riding the wave of water just inches away from its gnashing teeth. There’s a haunting beauty in the Meg silently falling to the sea floor with clouds of blood billowing through the water not to mention the poetic justice of nature restoring the balance and taking care of its own.
GRAND CHAMPION:
The Meg – 2
Meg 2: The Trench – 6
One of Turtletaub’s best characters is the charmingly cautious DJ (Page Kennedy), pilot of the facility’s underwater rover. This non-swimmer provides much of the film’s humor by insisting they remain at the station and reminding his teammates that swimming was not a part of his job description. Vowing to quit at the end of the first film, DJ returns to Wheatley’s Mana One ready for battle. He’s spent the past five years acquainting himself with the water, learning hand-to-hand combat, and creating an emergency pack that he carries wherever he goes. DJ’s transformation mirrors the comparison between The Meg and Meg 2: The Trench. Turteltaub’s original is arguably the better film with a logical plot and reasonably developed characters. However, Wheatley’s sequel turns the action knobs up to 11 and floods his film with ferocious predators to compensate for weaknesses in the script.
Both films rise to the top of a vast sea of shark horror, but Meg 2: The Trench brings these titanic predators back with a vengeance along with plenty of toothy friends.
After fifty years of continuous writing, Stephen King has become a genre unto himself.
The unrivaled Master of Horror made a splash in 1974 with his debut novel Carrie and has been terrifying readers ever since. Two years later, Brian De Palma brought this shocking story to the screen with an equally electrifying horror film that remains a genre classic and a prototypical example of “Good For Her” horror. This dual debut seemed to open the floodgates, unleashing endless waves of Stephen King films.
From the highs of Misery, Cujo, and The Shawshank Redemption to the schlocky fun of Cat’s Eye, Creepshow, and Children of the Corn, the last five decades have seen just about every notable horror creator take a stab at the author’s massive collection.
In recent years, this singular subgenre has begun to burst at the seams, expanding to include Stephen King-esque fare. In 2016, brothers Matt and Ross Duffer debuted Stranger Things, a sci-fi series heavily inspired by two of King’s most famous books. The Netflix series remixes Firestarter and It by following a little girl with psychic powers and an intrepid group of kids on bikes who must battle an otherworldly foe and a sinister government agency. With its clever blend of modern effects and comforting nostalgia, this gateway horror series paved the way for Andy Muschietti’s It adaptation which remains the highest grossing horror film of all time.
Four years later, Mike Flanagan would create Midnight Mass, a spiritual adaptation of King’s second novel Salem’s Lot. Published in 1975, the book sees a tiny New England town torn apart by a centuries-old vampire. Though Flanagan’s story is perhaps more tender, both iterations of the classic horror tale follow close-knit communities shaken to their core by the presence of an ancient evil.
In addition to these recent hits, 2025 was a banner year for the Master of Horror. Audiences delighted in six mainstream adaptations, including the massively popular It: Welcome to Derry which chronicles earlier cycles of the titular clown’s reign. With this boost to King’s cultural cache, it’s no surprise that we’ve begun to see more unofficial adaptations of the author’s work and horror creators who build their own unique castles in King’s creative sandbox.
So what defines a Stephen King-esque story?
For the past fifty years, the prolific author has dipped his toes in nearly every subgenre from supernatural stories and grisly gore to western fantasy and science fiction. Including his vast catalogue of short fiction, King has tackled ghosts, demons, werewolves, zombies, aliens, mutants, and self-driving cars, not to mention bizarre monsters of his own creation. But what truly unites this vast array of horror is King’s focus on relatable characters. In his 2000 memoir/instructional text On Writing, the prolific author describes the amusement he finds in writing disparate characters, placing them in horrific scenarios, then exploring the ways they try to survive.
An unofficial Stephen King adaptation may take place in the author’s native New England — bonus points if it’s set in Maine — and reference his well-known heroes and villains. But what makes the King connection unbreakable is a character-driven story about average people who band together in the face of abject terror.
Weapons Captures Small Town Stephen King
Following his 2022 shocker Barbarian, Zach Cregger returned with Weapons, a sprawling story that begins in a doomed elementary school. On an otherwise ordinary day, Justine (Julia Garner) arrives at her desk to find that all but one of her students have disappeared. As the mystery grows increasingly violent, Justine and Archer (Josh Brolin), the father of a missing boy, find their way to the home of Alex (Cary Christopher), the class’ only surviving student. In some ways reminiscent of Salem’s Lot, Weapons swings wildly through the unfortunate town, introducing us to its flawed inhabitants as we watch their lives fall apart.
Cregger’s setup nods to a pair of King short stories. Both “Suffer the Little Children” and “Here There Be Tygers” tackle monstrous presences in elementary schools, but as Weapons reaches its final act, Constant Readers may remember another Stephen King tale. Featured in his 1985 collection Skeleton Crew, “Gramma” introduces us to George, a little boy tormented by an aging witch. On an afternoon alone with his sickly grandmother, the frightened child gradually realizes that the imposing old woman has been waiting for an opportunity to cast a spell that will extend her own life by possessing his body.
Alex finds himself similarly tortured by his aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan), a garish witch who orchestrates a desperate plot to sustain her own strength. Transforming humans into mindless weapons, Gladys has taken over Alex’s family home and lured his classmates to the basement. Holding them in a comatose state, she syphons off their energy to extend her own supernatural life.
Vastly different in many ways, both “Gramma” and Weapons hinge on a sinister witch who uses horrific magical spells to sacrifice the bodies of her vulnerable prey.
Hokum Echoes The Shining and 1408
It’s nearly impossible to watch a film about a haunted hotel without thinking of King’s third novel, The Shining. This icy story follows Jack Torrance, an angry writer struggling with his sobriety and a shameful incident haunting his past. Accompanied by his wife and young son, Jack has taken a job as the winter caretaker for the Overlook, a haunted hotel situated high in the Rocky Mountains. Snowed in, Jack finds himself tormented by dangerous ghosts who amplify his greatest fears.
Damian McCarthy’s Hokum follows a similarly troubled figure. Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) is a surly writer who travels to the Bilberry Woods Hotel in rural Ireland to spread his parents’ ashes. Haunted by his own tragic past, Ohm finds himself trapped in the honeymoon suite, a decaying room that’s been permanently closed to protect visitors from a dangerous witch trapped within its walls. Visual nods to King’s text abound with woodcut figurines and an animated clock, mirroring ominous descriptions found in King’s text.
Another terrifying sequence sees Ohm staring with horror at a closed door, the only thing separating him from the approaching witch. As the door knob slowly turns, Constant Readers remember Jack’s narrow escape from the ghostly woman in room 217. And Ohm’s popular Conquistador books directly reference King’s long-running fantasy series The Dark Tower which follows a gunslinger named Roland Deschain tasked with protecting the nexus of the universe.
In addition to these thematic comparisons, Hokum bears striking resemblance to King’s terrifying short story “1408.” Collected in 2002’s Everything’s Eventual, the terrifying story follows Mike Enslin, a dejected writer who’s risen to fame penning essays about his adventures in haunted locations. Mike arrives at the Hotel Dolphin and bullies his way into the titular room, despite the manager’s dire warnings. McCarthy nods to this story with an ominously misplaced hotel room door, reminiscent of King’s entry to 1408, an unsuspecting portal that appears to move each time Mike looks away.
However, McCarthy’s most direct reference lies in a minicorder Ohm uses to capture notes. Trapped inside the dreaded honeymoon suite, this device offers well-timed messages while sitting next to a decomposing corpse. Mike records his time in 1408 with his own trusty minicorder. Described for the reader, his tape has captured the man’s slow descent into madness as the room prepares to swallow him whole. With conclusions that differ wildly in tone, both Ohm and Mike find their lives irrevocably changed by encounters with the supernatural realm.
Widow’s Bay Builds Its Own Version of Castle Rock
Katie Dippold’s Widow’s Bay has taken the idea of an unofficial King adaptation and turned it into an art form. The Apple TV series sees the residents of the titular island plagued by a curse that dates back centuries. Not only does the picturesque hamlet not accommodate wifi connections, those born on the island face certain death should they ever try to leave. Desperate to modernize the tiny town, Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) draws in waves of tourists just as a new cycle of terror begins.
Blending horror with deft comedy, Dippold makes cheeky references to King’s body of work. Tom warns that, “there’s something in the fog,” reminding readers of King’s 1980 novella The Mist. And Loftis’ own stay in the town’s haunted hotel sees him tormented by the ghost of a murderous clown. We even spy a vintage King hardback peeking out of a local book trade box.
In many ways Widow’s Bay feels like a new iteration of the author’s Little Tall Island, a tiny village off the coast of Maine. In addition to the 1992 novel Dolores Claiborne and a handful of harrowing short stories, this quaint fishing village is also the setting for King’s 1999 teleplay Storm of the Century. Premiering on ABC primetime, this tragic tale follows a terrified group of islanders who batten down the hatches for a dangerous Nor’easter only to find a more sinister threat lurking within.
Constant Readers may also be reminded of Castle Rock, the author’s favorite fictional town.
First introduced in the 1981 novel Cujo, the charming village becomes the star of Needful Things, King’s satire about consumerism. After several Castle Rock stories, we’re reintroduced to its residents as they gossip about the arrival of Leland Gaunt and the grand opening of his curio shop. Anything their hearts desire can be found in his varied inventory, so long as they’re willing to pay the price. Pitting cantankerous neighbors against each other, Gaunt ignites a wave of grisly violence by exploiting long-held resentments and feuds.
The town’s only defense against this supernatural threat is beleaguered sheriff Alan Pangborn. Still grieving the deaths of his wife and younger son, Alan struggles to connect with his older child and pick up the pieces of his shattered life. Also a widower, Loftis struggles to raise his own restless son and explain the strange details of his wife’s tragic death. Attempting to unravel the island’s dark secrets, Tom is aided by quirky residents including a surly fisherman named Wyck (Stephen Root) and Patricia (Kate O’Flynn), an earnest Town Hall employee. King’s own novels feature many of these proactive alliances with disparate characters combining their strengths to overcome insurmountable odds.
With Widow’s Bay renewed for a second season and Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series on the horizon, the future seems bright for new King adaptations, both spiritual and directly pulled from his catalogue. The prolific author also shows no signs of slowing down with two publications nearing release. His upcoming novel, Other Worlds Than These, is the long-awaited third Talisman book which teases direct ties to his Dark Tower world. Holly Forever will be a new installment of his crime series, offering a different kind of genre fare.
This embarrassment of riches spawning multiple worlds seems ripe for spiritual adaptation and will likely inspire horror creators for decades to come.
Kate O’Flynn, Stephen Root and Matthew Rhys in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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