Super Shark

SUPER SHARK is another nonsense B-movie monster flick that comes to us courtesy of the SyFy Channel. This one's directed by cheese specialist Fred Olen Ray, so you have some idea of what to expect from the quality: it's ridiculous, nonsensical, and barely hangs together as a proper movie.

The inspiration behind this one, as with so many, seems to be PIRANHA 3D, with the camera repeatedly ogling bikini babes and generally putting to the audience a kind of fun-loving, hedonistic lifestyle. Into this nonsense comes a prehistoric shark which has grown to gigantic proportions and seeks to wreak havoc on the local population. The efforts of the typically evil corporate villains only serve to increase the menace.

You know exactly what to expect from a film like SUPER SHARK, so here we go: bad acting across the board, terrible CGI effects, and a general lack of cohesion. This one's played out in a tongue-in-cheek fashion which at least gives it a mildly campy air. Still, the effects of the giant shark really are terrible, and this is slim pickings indeed for monster lovers.

Super Shark (2011)

** (out of 4)

Offshore drilling is to blame for a giant shark that gets set free and goes on killing rampage.

Fred Olen Ray directed this low-budget creature feature that's certainly not an Oscar-winner but then again the goal wasn't to win awards. Ray is an expert when it comes to these types of movies so he knows what his fans want and that's pretty much what he delivers. I mean, if you're willing to sit through a movie called SUPER SHARK then I'm sure you want to see a shark, correct? Well you're going to get plenty of shark action because the director gives us all sorts of action scenes and plenty of shark footage.

Yes, the CGI shark looks fake but then again all of these movies feature fake looking sharks but for the most part this one here looks good enough. There are plenty of scenes with the shark attacking people, jumping through the air and even crashing onto land. Just wait until the end when the shark does battle against a really fake looking tank. Tim Abell and Catherine Annette are good enough in their roles and for the most part the characters are entertaining.

Obviously SUPER SHARK isn't a masterpiece but for this type of movie it's entertaining enough to watch.

Ahhhh….Supershark, it can fly, it can walk, it can swim! What do three horny lifeguards, a marine biologist and a loser beach bum in a cowboy hat have in common? They all have an encounter with Supershark in their destiny. Fred Olen Rey, a director with three decades of proved hits under his belt—like "Bikini Girls from the Lost Planet" or "Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers"—proves once again what he can do with a low budget, and it's not very much. This movie lacks everything that might interest you, good acting, good writing, good special effects; it is almost laughably bad, but not quite, in other words it's just bad bad. It does have one unique feature, as it gives us the answer to the question: "What ever happened to JJ "Dyn-O-Mite" Walker, former TV star from the series "Good Times"? Then again, some questions are better left unanswered, and Supershark is one film best left unseen.

Unfortunately for this movie, I am calling it jaw-droppingly bad. I did my best to keep an open mind, as I could tell from the title that the film was not necessarily going to be good but had the potential to be a guilty pleasure. That is if they had tried putting effort into components like the story, script, characters and effects. Every single of those are done abysmally here in my opinion. Super Shark is a very poorly made movie, with effects looking so fake that I got the sense they were rushed through in construction. Even the editing manages to have a choppy feel to it. The music is a little better, but there is nothing outstanding about it either and it could have been more atmospherically used, to me it felt too obvious at times. The script doesn't feel natural whatsoever, it all feels very cheesy and stilted, while the story is ridiculous, suspense-less and completely unsurprising, complete with a pointless romance that is in danger of slowing Super Shark down. The characters I didn't give a tuppence about, they are little more than walking clichés that don't do much other than acting foolish. The shark of the title is cheap in look and not menacing at all, while the attack scenes are choppily edited, unintentionally funny and as far away as thrilling or scary as you can go. Of the acting, Sarah Lieving is the only one who looks as though she is trying, all the others look bored. Overall, jaw-droppingly awful. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Pretty obvious the only reason to watch a movie titled "Supershark" on the SyFy channel is that you just need a good laugh. These knock-off movies of other stuff (in this case, Jaws) are the cable TV equivalent of the old Drive-in 2nd feature; made quickly and on the cheap, and it gives a few actors and tech people a chance to pay the rent.

Lead actress Sarah Lieving hopefully will get some better roles; she's definitely easy on the eyes, and not half-bad an actress, either (even with a ridiculous script like this). She plays a rogue scientist who got the boot for weird ideas, and now wants to find a big shark and yell at some big companies about being more green to the environment.

I love how the army sends about five guys to combat a monster killing people left and right: a captain and a few grunts. Their most powerful weapon is a tank designed to walk on feet. The director's idea of an army is not the only thing exposing the $99.99 budget; he also skimped on the FX, they're pretty much home PC grade CGI. The actors aren't given much guidance on what he wants them to do. It was humorous to see that the shark only ate dumb people that stood there on the beach waiting o get devoured. There's also a gabby DJ that talks to people on the radio as they're getting killed. Judging from how annoying he was, they may have been better off.

Utter nonsense, but good for a few laughs.