We’ve seen sharks in lakes, in tornadoes and on the moon (yes, someone actually made a movie called Shark Side of the Moon). Since Steven Spielberg’s great white in Jaws set the tone nearly 50 years ago, the killer fish genre has gone downhill, becoming increasingly wacky and essentially bled dry of critical appeal.

So, when Netflix announced its latest creature feature, Under Paris, which sees a shark wreak havoc in Paris’ Seine river, it seemed inevitable it would join the long list of ridiculously shlocky “how did that get there?” shark movies.

But it turns out the movie has teeth – in more ways than one.

Directed by Xavier Gens (most well-known for the French Netflix series Lupin), Under Paris follows a mako shark (known in the film as Lilith) who has sought refuge from the polluted Pacific Ocean in France’s Seine river. This will ring alarm bells for shark enthusiasts, who know makos can’t survive in freshwater. Therein lies the environmental crux of the film: human-driven climate change has caused Lilith to evolve into a much larger, self-reproducing killing machine that can thrive in any environment, even a murky Parisian waterway.

The hero of the story is Sophia (played by The Artist’s Bérénice Bejo), whose husband was killed by Lilith during a research expedition at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Three years later, she, alongside the river police and a group of shark-hugging environmental activists, is pulled into a mission to remove the super-charged mako from the Seine. As is the case in most shark movies, the stakes are heightened by the fact that the mayor is adamant the city’s triathlon, part of which is set to take place in the river, must go on, shark be damned. You can probably guess the rest.

It may seem like the film’s creators chucked a shark in the first river they could think of, but it was likely far more intentional. The Seine has been a hot topic recently, as Olympic organisers debate whether the triathlon event, which partly takes place in the river, should go ahead in July. Despite having invested over a billion euros into making safe swimming possible, heavy rain could lead to increased parasite levels in the river. Exchange harmful bacteria for a practically mutagenic shark and you have Under Paris.

Whether it was done deliberately or inadvertently, Jaws also ended up reflecting its social climate, with some critics arguing Spielberg’s bull-headed mayor was a stand-in for Richard Nixon post-Watergate. The disgraced former president tore through democracy the way Amity Island’s mayor allowed the shark tear through holidaymakers. Under Paris has its own stubborn mayor who is intent on a large-scale publicity event going ahead, afraid of what those above them (aka the president and the rest of the world) would otherwise think. Both films essentially ask the same question: can we trust politicians to make the right decisions?

Under Paris masters another element that made Jaws the genre-defining production it was: it leaves much to the imagination. Instead of inundating viewers with shots of poorly CGI-generated sharks (looking at you, Sharknado), it offers a quick glimpse of the marine beast, or even better, a mere shadow in the murky depths. Granted, its score pales in comparison to its iconic predecessor, but it still allows suspenseful notes to do the heavy lifting. It’s about time more horror creators made use of the unknown and out-of-sight.