Doll Shark

After killing a sacred shark, a fisherman gifts his estranged son a shark toy from his favorite show as a present, but when a series of deaths around them occurs come to believe the doll is possessed by the spirit of the shark he killed and is out for revenge forcing him to save his son from the creature.

This was an exceptionally goofy and cheesy genre effort. That starts with the opening premise here where the means of bringing the sharks' spirit into the doll plushy is so inherently goofy and silly that it's nearly impossible not to think how ludicrous the whole thing is. That extends nicely into the means of how the bits involving its possessed nature continue to go unnoticed as this setup plays out with the doll eating food unknowingly, scaring away others from the property, or appearing in areas where no one last left it. Given a snide remark to signal the next victim, this creates a perfectly endearing setup. As well, that carries over into the attack scenes which are just as goofy and cheesy throughout here. Not only keeping the same style and energy of action as the other scenes here, the silliness of a puppet coming to life and killing people, but the outcome of these scenes also provides such outrageous scenes like the attack on the swingers, the massacre of the robber who breaks into the house or taking out the group of dates arrive looking for a fun time. Providing some goofy gore effects to go along with this type of action, these all manage to provide quite a lot to like here featuring this style of content. The main factor here for the film's cheesiness, though, beyond all of this is the wholly cheesy and silly effects featured here. The main shark is obviously a normal plushy puppet manipulated by camera movements and other handheld tactics which is exactly the kind of work necessary here due to the type of film this is. It only enhances the overall cheesy atmosphere by showing off the cuddly plush toy as the main creature, either as the normal version of the creature or as the demonic version that appears once it changes form, that may or may not be an enjoyable factor for some who might not like the overt cheesiness. Outside of this feature, there are some rather big issues to be had with the film. Outside of the aforementioned cheesiness, there's the usual assortment of factors in these types of films ranging from nonsensical editing choices, bizarre technical factors that showcase a rushed guerilla-style production value, and just generally favoring absurdity at the expense of any form of logical human behavior. Some of this might be completely off-putting due to the shoddy nature of it all, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the content within, but it's all to be expected here as it falls in line with other work of this type.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

This is literally Chucky but with a shark... and without everything that makes Chucky watchable. I can feel brain cells committing suicide in droves, like lemmings sprinting for a cliff. Mark Polonia has 80 credits to his name, and the handful I've seen has shown no growth. These aren't movies; they are tax shelters. A lot of these backyard, zero-budget, friends and favors, DIY movies have some charm to them. You can see that they are having a fun time making it. That despite a lack of money and experience, they have passion. That is lacking in Mark's movies. They all look flat and lifeless, with actors who didn't get hired at a local car dealership commercial who seem to be trying to remember their grocery list rather than the script. You can see them unable to express anything or understand that half the stuff they are saying is supposed to be funny.