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Silly shark flicks aren't usually SFX ’s bag, but this one is clearly set in an alternate universe: one where tornadoes only seem to pick up thousands of sharks (not, say, cars, or debris) and where rather than proving fatal this experience only makes the aquatic killers more feisty. In this parallel world it can be waist deep in your living room but barely moist underfoot outside the front door, furious storms take place in blazing California sunshine, and riffing on the Jaws line “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” is still considered witty.
Credit to blockbuster cash-in specialists The Asylum (never has a studio been so aptly named) for trying something “original” (well, if you ignore Sharknado ’s countless Hypershark vs Megasquid predecessors), but sadly, in no reality does Sharknado constitute a classic.
Yet somehow, despite its abysmal production values (hopelessly mismatched CGI and practical effects, swathes of stock footage, laughably bad “vehicle interior” shots) and general air of desperate critic-trolling (is there anything more pathetically try-hard than a B-movie that actively wants you to rip it to shreds on Twitter?), Sharknado remains surprisingly… bearable. You can see how, with a wittier script, it might even have been good.
It keeps piling on the insanity until finally your resistance gives way. The coups de grâce: the sight of a man leaping headlong into the jaws of a giant shark as it falls from the sky, then chainsawing his way out. At the very least, you’ve got to admire the nerve of the writer who typed that.
But enough now! After this, the only “crazy shark scene” we want to see involves one crashing into a meeting room and taking out everyone brainstorming “wacky” titles for future movies.
Extras:
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Ian Berriman has been working for SFX – the world's leading sci-fi, fantasy and horror magazine – since March 2002. He's also a regular writer for Electronic Sound. Other publications he's contributed to include Total Film, When Saturday Comes, Retro Pop, Horrorville, and What DVD. A life-long Doctor Who fan, he's also a supporter of Hull City, and live-tweets along to BBC Four's Top Of The Pops repeats from his @TOTPFacts account.
