Ozark Sharks (2016)

Really Surprised!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Have made no secret in the past of intensely disliking, and even outright hating a lot, a vast majority of SyFy's (near-universally maligned for good reason) output, though there is curiosity as to whether they are capable of making something good and compulsive about their output's badness. Admittedly, SyFy do have a small group of watchable films and the occasional (big emphasis on that word) above average one, unfortunately outweighed by the lacklustre at best and often dreadful films they churn out.Before anybody gets defensive, am well aware that films like 'Ozark Sharks' are not ones to be taken seriously, have been well versed enough seeing previous SyFy efforts to not expect that. Have seen my fair share of low-budget shark films, and any other kind of low-budget creature film, and will admit to finding some guilty fun in some of them (i.e. the first two 'Sharknado' films). There are far worse shark films certainly. 'Ozark Sharks' at least has occasional splashes of fun and some semi-decent scenery. There is also far worse acting in other low-budget shark films, not that that is saying much.Due to that the acting largely is pretty poor, with the usual mix of overplaying and blandness. Any few attempts to develop the characters results in padded and pointless scenes, development is at best flimsy and it's all overwrought and does little to make the characters endearing or care or learn enough about them.The execution of almost everything is severely underwhelming, not just being visually cheap and poorly acted and written even worse but what seemed like a decent, if very generic, idea was executed in typical SyFy shark movie fashion, with no imagination whatsoever and only occasional splashes of fun.Faring worse are the production values, story and writing. 'Ozark Sharks', aside from the scenery, is drably shot and sloppily edited, but it's the truly abysmal special effects that are the worst. As the sharks were made on a low-budget it would have been forgiven a little if it was not great, but when the effects for the sharks look as if no effort was given in making them without looking so goofy and unfinished-looking that is hard to ignore or forgive.Can say no better about the portrayal of the sharks either. They exude little personality either, no menace, not even any unintentional goofiness. Generally the attack scenes, apart from the odd mild amusement, are sloppily edited, too brief and devoid of suspense or sense of horror.Writing ranges between incredibly bad to appalling. Any comedy is incredibly forced and is so cheesy it is enough to make the eyes roll in disbelief, while the more serious moments are very awkwardly written and as trite as anybody can possibly go. The silliness goes well overboard as the film progresses and it becomes intelligence insulting even when one tries to take it for what it's trying to be.Really wanted to like the story here because the concept was intriguing slightly, but while it starts nicely the further the movie progresses the lazier, cheesier and more formulaic it gets, also making the mistake that most SyFy films make of trying so hard to be over the top and stupid but in a painfully predictable and less than fresh way that it becomes tiresome. The stupidity gets stale quickly and the film is lethargic generally in pace. Altogether, have seen worse but poorly done. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Backwoods terror seems to hold a place in the horror genre; and why is it fun to watch the rural variety? Misty Talley directs this out in the country tale that should feature some gators or crocs; but doesn't, let's have sharks for the killer chomps. Family and friends arrive at a resort in the Ozarks for some sun and relaxation. The first local they see is a died-in-the-wool survivalist with a harpoon gun mounted on his pickup truck. There must be a reason; damn sure!! Somehow a bunch of bull sharks have found their way into America's water system and have sneaked their way upriver into the Ozark Mountains.Of course, the Ozarks are mainly in lower Missouri and upper Arkansas; OZARK SHARKS is filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Those CGI sharks are a bit shoddy and change size compared to surroundings...but terror is in those shark bites, Babe! Cast of players include: Ashton Leigh, Thomas Francis Murphy, Heather Paige, Becky Andrews, Laura Cayouette, Dave Davis and Ross Britz.

The special effects used are, well, terrible. Understandably, it's on a budget but a freshwater shark scene with Ramoras attached to the shark while its swimming? Hello, quality check anyone? Many of the underwater scenes are rerunning the same shark swimming as well or the same section underwater.Acting - Not good. The "mother" was the most natural role played while the others, especially the son and boyfriend, were awkward and stiff in their deliveries. Actors obtained at bargain basement prices most likely.Plot - It's based on a realistic theme of bull sharks being able to live in fresh water so there is that.Compare and contrast - Planet of the sharks was much better in employing special effects, shark shots, and a much better plot with solid acting incorporated in it.

Heading off to a cabin, a family and friends on their Fourth- of-July vacation find that the areas is infested with man-eating sharks preying on the locals and try to get them to believe their tales in order to stop the creatures and get everyone to safety.This one was quite the fun and enjoyable effort. One of the better features here is the fact that there's the ever-present high amount of action present here for these types of films, and it manages to get a highly enjoyable series of scenes from that. The opening attack is quite enjoyable, with the kids slowly being picked off while no one's watching and then finally forced to escape when it's apparent something's in the water with them which gets this going rather nicely, a rather fun encounter with some swimmers on the water, a rather fine series of scenes where it attacks different people along the water and the rather thrilling series of encounters where they try to rescue the several groups of trapped outside while the sharks continually circle around to take out the different victims. Even with these fun scenes, the film's at its best when it comes to the rather frantic and highly enjoyable series of scenes within the race to get to the main being held on the water there which has the great confrontations along the way where the sharks start picking off the separated groups in fine fashion, the different battles against them where they fight to get them under control and leading up to the incredibly fun part of their attempts to curtail them at the festival which is the film's big action scene here which manages to get plenty of thrilling action out of their failed warnings which soon causes the disbelieving locals to start getting attacked by the swarm of creatures and requiring their fine rescue attempts as well as the first attempts to stop them with their weaponry which is quite a blood-filled riot with the crazy schemes devised to put them down for good while still managing a few rather nice bloody deaths along the way. All told, there's plenty of exciting action throughout here and that helps to give this such a charging pace that it really stays so enjoyable with all sorts of fun encounters that there's barely any down-time. As well, there's also the exciting fact that there's a great deal of fun with the different tactics devised to stopping them which really explores the backwoods do-it-yourself mentality to it's craziest extreme with some fantastic weaponry utilized here and it's quite fun here due to that. Along with the great gore, these here make this one enjoyable enough to really overcome a lot of it's flaws. The main issue here is the fact that there's the usual atrocious CGI utilized for the creatures. They look like the usually abysmal manners of the CGI that's always featured here, from the inability to react to their surroundings and the size changes within the dimension of the screen to the inability to really blend into the environment and they really give themselves away as being fake especially in the scenes where they interact with their victims on land in a few rare occasions when they launch themselves out of the water to attack. Aside with some rather curious and lame attempted comedy that doesn't really register at all, these here really hold this one down.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.