However, he rises above the nerd/gamer/pick-up artist stereotype and puts himself in danger to serve as Beth’s bodyguard. Gordon begins the film as the devil on Nick’s shoulder, encouraging him to ignore his studies and hit on Sara. Dustin Milligan helms the large ensemble and seems to be developing the loveable goody two-shoes persona we would come to love on Schitt’s Creek. However, as the plot thickens, many emerge from the pack and prove to be much more than clueless coeds.Įllis avoids merely recreating a soulless monster movie with a smart script and an impressive cast. The first few scenes admittedly play out like a clumsy assemblage of college stereotypes. Arriving at her lavish house, the friends relax with beer pong and water-skiing before a lake full of flesh-eating sharks crash the party. On the water, Sara races boats with Officer Sabin ( Donal Logue), the lake’s law enforcement who treats her with the goofy affection of an older brother. Red ( Joshua Leonard) and Dennis ( Chris Carmack) are local divers who resent the city folk who flaunt their wealth throughout town. Back in her hometown for the first time in three years, Sara bumps into familiar faces from her past. Along with his roommate Gordon ( Joel David Moore), friends Beth ( Katharine McPhee) and Blake ( Chris Zylka), and Malik’s girlfriend Maya ( Alyssa Diaz), they take a road trip to Sara’s ( Sara Paxton) house on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. To celebrate passing an important exam, football star Malik ( Sinqua Walls) insists his shy tutor Nick ( Dustin Milligan) join him and a group of friends for a weekend trip to the Louisiana Gulf. It’s a fun, but brutal homage to a classic and the perfect introduction to a film in which the sharks are deadly, but the human monsters prove to be the bigger threat.Įllis then shifts focus to our main cast of shark bait. In a sly wink to the iconic opening of Jaws, she thrashes back and forth in a rapidly growing pool of blood before disappearing under the surface. After tossing his girlfriend’s bathing suit out into the lake, this obnoxious man wanders back to shore for a sandwich while the unseen shark approaches to finish the job. Rather than the shark, she’s first attacked by her boyfriend who insists on taking her top off despite her pleas to leave her alone. After gliding along the lake’s murky floor, We approach a bikini clad bather standing in shallow water. Shark Night 3D begins with a bit of cringe. Ellis’s 2011 film manages to combine the teeth of aquatic horror with the slasher structure to create a bloody adventure that feels like swimming into the jaws of a Shark Week special. Though it eventually becomes necessary to show the face of the monster, the first person point of view creates an overwhelming sense of danger anytime a character ventures into the water, or the Myers house, or Camp Crystal Lake, etc. This technique is frequently seen in slasher films as well, used to conceal the identity of a killer lurking in the shadows. Bruce, the finicky shark star of Jaws, famously malfunctioned on the water, causing Steven Spielberg to film many attack scenes from the shark’s point of view. Featuring the underwater predators as their villains, these movies vary widely in quality and usually sink or swim based on the verisimilitude of their special effects.Īs sharks–even the fake ones–are notoriously difficult to direct, filmmakers are often forced to get creative. Each summer’s horror offerings usually bring with it one or more films of the Shark Horror subgenre. This annual event has been going strong for the past 35 years, working its way into the public consciousness to become a household name. In 1988, Discovery Channel launched Shark Week, a seven day block of programming filled with nature documentaries, celebrity cameos, and aquatic reality TV designed to explore the wide world of sharks. While great whites get most of the attention, any aquatic killer with sharp teeth will usually quench our collective thirst for marine menace. Ever since the 1975 horror blockbuster Jaws made us afraid to go into the water, America has had an obsession with sharks.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |