I’ve watched the trailer for The Shape of Water about six times now.
It only hit the internet an hour ago.
If you’ve been following this blog for a while you know how much I love Guillermo del Toro and his films. Since it was announced I’ve been waiting for information about this film: sketches, screenshots or costume design. But as per usual del Toro runs a tight ship.
That being said, the premise of the film was released fairly early on. A fairy tale/fable like story about a merman that takes place during the cold war. Colour me interested.
With the trailer we got an updated summary:
In 1963, in a hidden, high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa is trapped in a life of silence and isolation. Elisa’s life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda discover a secret classified experiment.
Cold War, secret labs and monsters, all things that I love. But when it comes down to it, it’s not just the story that makes me fall in love with del Toro’s films every time. It’s how they look. And from what we see in The Shape of Water trailer, he doesn’t disappoint:
The first thing that stands out to me is the fairy tale like quality. I loved the clash of art deco patterns with the dull uniformity of the military base. The use of colour and music manages to frame the research facility in a fairy tale feeling. There is a sense of artificiality in the world that our character Elisa lives in. A heightened reality.
The trailer doesn’t offer too many shots of the monster, but that’s to be expected. From the glimpses shown the internet has already started to draw parallels between this creature and Abe Sapen from Hellboy. It’s not really a far jump since both of them are played by the amazing Doug Jones.
The Shape of Water has received an R rating from the MPAA but del Toro has gotten a head start on explaining his film.

Clarifying this from the beginning it seems.
It makes sense after the genre confusing of his previous work Crimson Peak that he feels the need to explain the genre of his work. In an age where 95% of the mainstream Hollywood movies are adaptations, franchises and reboots it’s nice to have variety. Especially ones that define genre.
The Shape of Water will hit theatres on December 8th 2017.
Assorted Thoughts and Musings
- The trailer gave me some Bioshock vibes. It might have been the mixing of art deco, the water themes and the music… but now want del Toro to adapt Bioshock.
- I’m interested to see how the film will blend its science angle with the religious overtones.
- Elisa looks a lot like Ofelia from Pan’s Labyrinth.