Director: Tim Ritter
Year: 2021
Country; USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Sharks
Plot:
Following a rash of murders, a small-town detective finds the culprit is a serial killer looking to sacrifice bodies for a shark goddess ceremony and burying the bodies in a cornfield patrolled by vicious sharks and must team up with several operatives to stop everyone from carrying out their wishes.
Review:
Overall, this was a highly impressive and enjoyable effort. One of the film’s better aspects is the highly unique and creative setup that mixes a serial killer story and a cult film with a creature feature setup. Having the psychopath here who fetishizes sharks, and Great Whites in particular, to this degree, is a highly original touch, especially when it focuses on his use of shark tools and features for his kills. Making use of his fascination with the creations to the point of mimicking their killing patterns that also hide his identity gives this a solid framework to go off of before introducing the sharks. Working a fine way to integrate the incredulous nature of their origin and appearance around the town with the connection to the cult, this all comes off incredibly well here.
As well, the film’s other enjoyable facet is the cheesy and over-the-top attacks. The opening ambush on the couple in the cornfield is a silly enough precursor to the later scenes including the shark stalking the mobsters searching for their stolen prize or the ambush on the family. The other brief sequences with the sharks grabbing victims out of the cornfield in rather bloody shock ambushes are quite fun, and when it gets to the finale featuring the cult’s ceremonial ritual and transformation taking place amidst the goofy shark action that has a fun atmosphere overall. With the solid exploits of the serial killer going through the motions of his rampage in the community for some fun stalking scenes as well, this has a lot to like that hold it up over the negatives.
There isn’t much really wrong with this one, and they aren’t that detrimental either. The one main drawback comes from an overly complex and convoluted storyline that doesn’t need to be as involved as it gets. The storyline involving the secret agent meeting up with the mobsters over the shark fetus takes u quite a bit of the running time before finally explaining itself as for what they’re doing and goes hand-in-hand with the connection between the cult, Stonehenge, and the various residents around the town trying to keep the events in the cornfields under wraps. This all seems to take up too much time in the film than it should despite the impressive setup. The other issue here is the ties where it comes off quite obvious about its low-budget which can put some off, yet there’s little else to hold it down.
Overview: ****/5
It is a highly enjoyable cheesy genre effort with a slightly too complex story that rams in too much for its own good, the positives here are far more impactful, which has a lot to like here. Fans of this kind of cheesy shark film, a lover of indie cinema, or the creative crew will have plenty to enjoy here while viewers who are unappreciative of any of those factors should heed caution.
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