Director: Mark Polonia
Year: 2017
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Sharks
Plot:
Working on a top-secret research project, a scientist discovers the original purpose of the experiment was outfighting sharks with the ability to live on land for a military operation, but once the shark escapes she’s forced to team up with a fellow doctor to stop it before it gets loose.
Review:
Overall, this is a pretty solid and enjoyable cheesy shark film. That this one manages to highlight this feat from the opening attack is quite impressive as there’s no doubt the campy nature of this one is obvious from the start. The use of the practical shark puppet, the constant changing into the distorted fish-eye lens to showcase the creatures’ point-of-view stalking his victims and the indie-style blood spurting all over the place become obvious early on here with the type of attacks present throughout here. That includes the various attacks here of the ambush on the fishermen out on their boat, the janitor of the facility or the photoshoot getting interrupted out in the desert which are all quite silly and cheesy. With a finale featuring a battle at the desert tunnel that’s over-the-top and inherently goofy, the film’s got plenty of silly shark fun to enjoy.
As well, this sense of goofiness and cheese extends to the ludicrous storyline here that manages to set up these wild attack scenes. Focusing on the somewhat cliched notion of the scientists working on top-secret formulas for classified research on sharks and the outcome of which turns them into ravenous killers capable of living on land and hunting people, there’s a fine familiarity that develops here through this process enabling the outlandish idea of a shark living out of the water to seem somewhat believable. Going above and beyond the traditional research into military-grade weapons research to adapting them to live on land and forcing the issue with capturing the escaped sharks on their own, this comes off incredibly well with the cheesy action making it come off rather enjoyable and giving this a lot to like.
There aren’t a whole lot of issues to be had with this one. Most of the film’s problematic areas are centered around the low-budget padding that comes about with numerous scenes added here simply to pad out the running time. The numerous conference calls over video-chat to the supervisor or their debates about the ethics and morality of the experiments are just part of the overlong padding here, much like the constant switching to shark-vision for the stalking scenes or showing them wandering through areas with monitors trying to track the creature. Much like the practical puppet, it’s all quite obvious about the low-budget on display which can be somewhat of a detrimental to some. Aside from this, the film’s cheesiness and inherent goofiness come into play as those might not be appealing for viewers, making up this one’s few issues.
Overview: **.5/5
Despite being overly silly and cheesy and obvious about its low-budget origins, there’s a lot more to like here than expected playing into those tropes which make for a wholly enjoyable effort in that style. Give this a look if you’re into these cheesy killer shark movies or are a fan of the creative crew while all others who have no appreciation or affection for this type of film should heed caution.
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