Sharknado (3½ Stars)

This is the second film in my Halloween Challenge month.

"Sharknado" is a film that's fascinated me ever since I first heard about it. The posters were enough to attract my attention: sharks flying through the air being carried by tornadoes. The images were so ridiculous that I just had to watch the film. I don't know why I've waited so long. My Halloween Challenge month is just the push I needed.

The film begins with a hurricane driving a school of sharks towards the coast of California. When the water rises and the waves batter the shore sharks are washed into the coastal area, swimming in the flooded streets and attacking people. This in itself is difficult to accept, but it goes a step further. Tornadoes form over the bay, lifting sharks into the air, swirling them around, then dropping them from the sky miles from the coast.

This is a silly film, but it's so ridiculous that it's good. I would have enjoyed it more if the special effects had been better. The sharks looked like they were made of rubber. Of course, the shark that appears in the 1966 Batman film also looks fake, but that's different. The whole film was intended to look camp and artificial. In "Sharknado" it's obvious that the film makers were attempting to make things look real, but they didn't have a big enough budget to succeed.

The film has its share of gore. Nobody is safe from the sharks that fall from the sky. The severed limbs look more realistic than the sharks which bite them off. It's no good warning people not to go in the water, because if we don't go in the water the water will come to us.

There's a human story going on in the film. There's a father who's struggling to be accepted by his adult children. I wasn't interested in the family drama. It was an unnecessary attempt to make the film look respectably artistic. For me it was all about the sharks.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de