The Shape of Water Red Band Trailer (2017)

Red Band Trailer for The Shape of Water.

In 1962, a mute janitor and her colleague work in a government laboratory and eventually discover an amphibious creature in a water tank. The janitor, out of loneliness, befriends the creature.

The Shape of Water is already receiving critical acclaim. It premiered at the Venice film festival and critics were raving, with many declaring it Del Toro's best film since Pan's Labyrinth and particularly praising Sally Hawkins' performance. The film even received 4 awards at the 4th Venice Film Festival: Golden Lion, C. Smithers Foundation Award, Future Film Festival Digital Award, and Soundtrack Stars Award.

Doug Jones plays The Asset in The Shape of Water, a role he is familiar with. He is the go to actor for very slim creatures. He also played Fauno/Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth and he played Abe Sapien in both Hellboy films. Another link is that now all four of these films were Directed by Guillermo del Toro.

This story is similar to many we have seen before where a person finds and befriends a potentially dangerous creature and hides it from authorities who want to kill it or use it for scientific purposes...a la The Water Horse, Monster Trucks, Pete's Dragon, E.T., The Iron Giant. While this is true, I still think Del Toro's take on it looks very intriguing.

In this trailer we get to see much more on the interactions outside the lab along with Colonel Strickland's (Michael Shannon) rage in his pursuit to retrieve The Asset. And boy does Michael Shannon always do a great job at making you root against him in his films.