Once a horror (or creature feature) fan has seen Jaws, they have seen the ultimate creature feature with a shark as the antagonist. Orca was awesome in places (and is not a shark, obviously), but Jaws is the epitome of a masterpiece creature feature. It stands comfortably alongside The Creature From The Black Lagoon, and represents some phenomenal film making skills.
This work, on the other hand, attempts to bring the "mad scientist" ploy into a cheap, slip-shod version of Jaws, attempting to class with the Invisible Man, Frankenstein, or even Bats. Sadly, it does not measure up, even to Bats.
There are multiple problems with this work. The main problem I found (and there ARE many) is the simple lack of kills, on screen or off. However, a close second is the painfully wretched writing, and an even closer third is the utter lack of acting talent featured within this flick. Fahey is the best here...what does THAT tell you? Further, dialog delivery is so plastic it goes to cement somewhere after the first 20 minutes. And speaking of plastic, once you get a load of these characters, you'll completely understand the tone of this review. These characters are less than one-dimensional! Nothing about them is believable. Every single aspect of this work breaks the suspension of belief trust any good movie must engender.
More importantly, I feel, is that the believability is utterly destroyed once the premise is introduced. Sharks are not capable of being "trained and taught" as featured in this work. That's why the government used dolphins in their earlier debauchery in the first two World Wars, so the whole thing falls apart and leaves the viewer hanging there in the conundrum of a wholly unbelievable story, terrible acting, and poorly done sharks.
SO poorly done were the sharks, in fact, that even the FINS, which is basically all you see except for 3 or 4 times total, look like shiny plastic triangles. They didn't even bother to paint these things to make them look as if they had any texture whatsoever! All in all? This was pretty sad and a huge disappointment, as I love creature features! Even straight-to-video films can be entertaining, but this didn't offer a single moment of entertainment. Every single aspect of this work breaks the suspension of belief trust any good movie must engender. This film fails on all levels and really isn't worth your time.
It rates a 0.4/10 from...
the Fiend :.
