Synopsis: Arriving by boat at her family’s Louisiana lake island cabin, Sara (Sara Paxton) and her friends quickly strip down to their swimsuits for a weekend of fun in the sun. But when star football player Malik (Sinqua Walls) stumbles from the salt-water lake with his arm torn off, the party mood quickly evaporates. Assuming the injury was caused by a freak wake-boarding accident, the group realizes they have to get Malik to a hospital on the other side of the lake, and fast.
But as they set out in a tiny speedboat, the college friends discover the lake has been stocked with hundreds of massive, flesh-eating sharks! As they face one grisly death after another, Sara and the others struggle desperately to fend off the sharks, get help and stay alive long enough to reach the safety of dry land.
Release Date: September 2, 2011 MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genre(s): Horror,
Film Review
Production
The school semester has ended and what better way to let loose than a weekend trip to a lake house. For the group of friends from Tulane University it turns into a blood bath when, quite strangely, the lake is infested with sharks. Not just one shark, multiple types of sharks, and these sharks are hungry for young fresh meat.
There isn’t much you need to know about the plot of Shark Night as it is as basic as they come. One by one each character will become a gory mess in the lake water; their body parts ripped, gobbled, bitten, and torn to shreds by a specific type of shark. Shark Night overall is a terrible film to watch. It is also hilarious because of how bad it is and due to this fact somewhat enjoyable for a short stretch of time. When the enemy is no longer the sharks themselves, thanks to a plot twist that is quite twisted, the movie loses much of its appeal. Things are not as fun when the sharks are no longer feeding for the fun of feeding, but being manipulated by humans. In the film’s defense, if there can be a defense for Shark Night, the lines said humans mutter are written out of B-movie heaven–“That’s a mighty fine rack of lamb,” for example, is slurred by a pointed teeth local redneck who sharpens his fang-like teeth with a knife while relaxing on his boat, the Jambalaya, to one of the female characters.
Should you plan on heading out to see Shark Night expect it to be plagued with poor acting that consists of young actors furrowing their brows to show their emotional consternation, and lines that are delivered with zero regard for tone, tempo, emotional depth, or range. The film does have some great shark point-of-view shots from underwater, and a hilarious mention of “Shark Week” on cable. But with the PG-13 MPAA rating you can forget about any type of nudity, and have to settle for an overabundance of bikini clad rear-end close-ups. Same goes for seeing shark munching, the majority of the attacks cut away just when things could get really bloody good.
Special Effects
The sharks of Shark Night include the Tiger, Hammerhead, and the “big girl” aka the Great White, among others. There are not many exact close-ups of the sharks but there are enough fast-cut clips to get the point across that these are sharks, with large teeth and noses that quiver with the smell of blood. The sharks were created by Walt Conti and Edge Innovations and are animatronic–but the poor quality of said animatronics is shown early on in Shark Night. Things improve based on the scene, and what shark is being displayed, but the overall effect is one reminiscent of the Jaws ride at Universal Studios Hollywood–a shark made out of plastic-type materials that by method of mechanics moves its fins and body along in the water. These sharks do not scream realness for the viewer, and therefore the frightfulness of multiple rows of teeth on a Tiger Shark never surfaces. Laughter is more likely to occur when the sharks attack, or one lays dead on the sand looking downright silly in its poor state of creation.
There are obviously some scenes where animatronics were not used, and these are by far the best ones in the entire film as they appeal to the “fun” of watching a shark attack movie. Sharks fly out of the water, as anyone who is seated in a 3D movie would require, and the squeals of joy felt cannot be contained. Add to this the floating bubbles that fill the screen, and movie theatre, from the 3D effects, as well as the flying carnage that occurs from time to time and the 3D pays off. If a shark is going to attack having it happen in 3D helps numb the pain of an otherwise terribly scripted, acted, and all around produced film.
Scary Factor
To even have the thought placed in your head that Shark Night is remotely scary would be a complete joke. This is a comedy before it is a horror film, and that is because of how badly everything comes together in the film. The sharks never once promote a level of fear in the viewer nor do the actors make you believe they are in fact scared. Everyone is going to die one way or another, and there is no reason to be scared about how they will meet their end because you will be far to busy laughing.
Cast and Crew
- Director(s): David R. EllisMike FleissLynette Howell
- Producer(s): Will HayesJesse Studenberg
- Screenwriter(s): Sara Paxton (Sara)Dustin Milligan (Nick)Chris Carmack (Dennis)
- Story: Katharine McPhee (Beth)
- Cast: Chris Zylka (Blake)Alyssa Diaz (Maya)Joel David Moore (Gordon) Singua Walls (Malik)Donal Logue (Sabin)Dennis VirklerGary CapoJaymes Hinkle
- Editor(s):
- Cinematographer:
- Production Designer(s):
- Costume Designer:
- Casting Director(s):
- Music Score:
- Music Performed By:
- Country Of Origin: USA
