Movie Info
Movie Name: Sharknado
Studio: Southward Films/Syfy/The Asylum
Genre(s): Horror/Action/Adventure/B-Movie
Release Date(s): July 11, 2013
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
The Sharknado is coming!!!
A hurricane is hitting Mexico and Southern California and pushing hundreds of sharks up the coast. When the storm picks up, Los Angeles finds its streets flooding with water…and sharks! Trying to protect his family, surfer Finley “Fin” Shepherd (Ian Ziering), waitress Nova Clarke (Cassie Scerbo), lifeguard Baz Hogan (Jaason Simmons), and barfly George (John Heard) are headed right into the storm to find Fin’s ex-wife April (Tara Reid) and his children Matt (Chuck Hittinger) and Claudia (Aubrey Peeples).
Directed by Anthonry C. Ferrante, Sharknado is a comedy action-adventure B-Movie horror film. The movie was a Syfy Channel original film and released on July 11, 2013. The airing quickly began buzz by fans of bad movies and soon the film became a minor sensation. The movie’s quick cult popularity led to a limited theatrical release for the film in special showings.
Sharknado began making internet waves as soon as its premise was released. Syfy has been airing and making bad sci-fi monster films for years (Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus, Mega Piranha, Sharktopus, etc.), but for some reason this film really got legs and caught on with the Twitter and internet crowd.
Squashed and eaten…the way to
The premise is as dumb as it proposes (intentionally so). Apparently if Los Angeles floods and sharks fill the streets, you can’t avoid them or get to higher ground. When tornados start and begin throwing them around, the sharks also apparently believe that they are still swimming and attack anything they see…unless you have a gun or a bomb and you can shoot them out of the air…plus, no one seems to know a storm is occurring until it is right on top of them. Fortunately, the sharks aren’t the only enemy since the characters just bicker through the whole movie (and there is a weird subplot where Nova likes Fin, but then ends up liking his son Matt).
The movie is back-up with wooden acting typical to these films. Like other films, the movie seems to love casting “as-beens” and this one brings in Tara Reid (who is more of a secondary role and she doesn’t do much) and of course there is 90210 alum, Ian Ziering as a surfer which is a bit ironic since he was the “anti-surfer” in that show. The irony continues with an appearance by Jaason Simmons as a lifeguard…which is what he played on Baywatch. The movie also features an appearance by Robbie Rist…aka Cousin Oliver of Brady Bunch fame.
…or you could have just moved out of the way of the falling shark…just sayin’
The movie looks awful, no it isn’t Birdemic-bad, but it is bad. Deep Blue Sea was made years ago, but the sharks in that even look more realistic. The sharks aren’t the only problem. The storm is horrible and the film was shot in broad daylight. The film was edited with a filter which just makes everything look yellowish…but it still doesn’t look like a storm.
Sharknado is what it is. Don’t go expecting the best film, but unfortunately, it isn’t entirely so-bad-it-is-good due to the boring pacing (though I do like the unrelated boat scene at the beginning). This is the type of movie that is only good with a group of friends so you can laugh and mock it. Due to is popularity, Sharknado was followed by Sharknado 2: The Second One in 2014.
Related Links:
Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014)
