Review

Seven college friends head off to a mansion situated on an Island in the middle of a salt water lake. Actually looked more like a swamp to me, but then hey I'm not any sort of naturalist. The homestead is owned by Sara, the hot blond one, who has some psychological problems apparently, she hasn't dated in three years! Along for the weekend of, one expects, booze and outrageous sex are Nick (pre-med), Blake (blonde himbo), Malik (jock), Gordon (nerd), Beth (hot brunette), and Mya (who Malik intends to ask to marry him). Naturally the holiday destination is in the backwoods of Louisiana, and the group find themselves bikini deep in rednecks.

With water sports kicking in the group soon learn they aren't the only ones enjoying the water, Malik runs afoul of a shark and needs urgent medical attention. Naturally since their cell phones don't work, absolutely horrible coverage in horrorland USA, a couple of kids enlist the aid of some rednecks to go get help. That's when the trouble really begins, murderous rednecks with agendas, more than one sort of shark in the lake, and the local Sherriff who has walked in off the set of an Eli Roth movie. As the horror adage goes, who will survive and what will be left of them?

Director David R. Ellis gets his movie underway with one of the great homages to Spielberg's Jaws. A chick is swimming alone, naturally wearing a revealing white bikini (the Producers are pushing the PG13 rating as far as they can with this one), when she feels something under her. All we really needed was the theme and a bell ringing to really nail things. Thankfully it's just her boyfriend being a bit of a goose, as a false scare goes down. The audience are lulled into a false sense of security as the chick continues her swim, the boyfriend has headed back to dry land, and its right then of course that the first shark attack goes down, brutally and sudden. I was rocking on, love me a shark movie, and this one got out of the starting blocks like a wild night down the Cross. Actually the sharp eyed amongst us will also note a homage to Jaws 2 later in the movie.

While we could write off Shark Night as simply another attempt at remaking Jaws, and without the decency to go heavy on T&A ala Piranha, Director Ellis and Writers Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg have more on their minds than simple aquatic monkey see monkey do. Mixed into the meal are lashings of backwoods massacre fundamentals as well as a dash of slasher ethics. We have a group of rednecks who, for their own misguided reasons, are quite happy to prey on college kids and anyone else that looks at a Southerner in the wrong way. Equally twenty something teenagers cut off from adult supervision or any other sort of authority. Sure we get plenty of shark action, but we're not simply talking a repeat of the greatest shark hits from the various Jaws movies.

Got to love a movie that simply seeks to entertain without bothering to head into serious human evaluation

Of course this doesn't mean the post production CGI crew aren't up to some shenanigans with shark behaviour. I don't believe any species of shark leaps out of the water like an ground to air missile launching, but guess this would have worked for the 3D version of the movie, throwing a couple of jump scenes the Audiences' way. Shark Night star Sara Paxton has stated in interviews that apparently "people are going to be surprised at just how realistic the sharks are", I assume there's another version of Shark Night available as the post production CGI was very noticeably not "realistic". Actually I did snigger at one stage as one shark reminded me of the lead apex predator in Finding Nemo. Ellis does however follow Speilberg's lead in by and largely keeping his watery killers hidden for the majority of the movie, a fin slicing through the water toward a victim is nearly always more effective than showing some dodgy computer graphics. Actually not a lot of shark POV going down, always a highlight in a Jaws flick, I'm surprised Ellis didn't hit this requirement of shark movies.

I'm not going to talk overly long about the plot Shark Night throws our way, too much thinking there will cause imminent brain meltdown. What I would point out however is we don't really go into a shark movie for the intricate plot or insight into the human condition. We want some shark action, chicks in skimpy bikinis, and crusty old seadogs. Ellis throws two of those requirements our way and I for one was satisfied with that outcome. Though I would add they should have cut out the sub plot cantering around Sara's background with redneck antagonist Dennis that proved to simply be one of those "what the frack" moments, rather than adding to the viewer experience.

Another aspect of the movie I'm not going to comment on overly is the acting, let's be honest here none of the thespians, term used loosely, on display are going to be troubling the Academy anytime soon. Considering, besides the rednecks, we're in eye-candy territory here, that's not really a bad mark on the movie. What you were expecting Shakespeare in a movie called Shark Night?

About the only really problem I had with Shark Night was this one scene where Malik, who's like a sports orientated black dude, heads out into the water clutching a spear to get some revenge on the shark after it kills Mya. Sorry should have thrown a spoiler warning in there, but hey horror flick, black people, guess who's making up the victim numbers? Anyways the scene in question is either very clumsy or I'm just being a tad too PC about things. But considering earlier in the plot the subject of racism is raised and used to paint just how antagonistic the rednecks are, you have to wonder if Ellis and his writers can be trusted with social messages. Some viewers might feel somewhat uncomfortable over the themes on display, just pointing it out and doing my public service considering any stills this review is likely to be spruced up with will contain hot chicks in bikinis.

While the general tenor of the review might indicate Shark Night is strictly B grade and not worth your time catching, I'm going to state firmly that if you dig shark movies then this one is well worth catching. I was rocking along throughout, got exactly what I expected, and had a good feeling as the end credits rolled. Anyway going into a movie called Shark Night and expecting anything other than a couple of hours of mindless entertainment should maybe stick to the more serious end of the DVD shelve. Ellis delivers exactly what we want, full recommendation, you are going to have a blast with Shark Night.

Shark Night is being distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Icon, two thumbs up to Icon for selecting the movie, and should be available on DVD and Blu-Ray May 2012. For this piece I viewed the review copy, ergo cannot state what extras Icon will send your way. We're having a shark weekend later in the year, for sure Shark Night will be on the menu.