Sand Sharks (2011)

Waste of Money.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Mark Atkins directs this 'ripoff' of any film from the JAWS franchise. To be exact, the story line is a typical mix of any handful of shark attack flicks. The idyllic island of White Sands is the scene of gruesome attacks by ocean creatures deemed to be 'sand sharks' that have the ability to 'walk on land' or swim through sand. Dr. Sandy Powers(Brooke Hogan)is called in to identify and verify the predators. Trying to bring back party activity to the area, a huckster named Jimmy Green(Corin Nemec)plans to organize the mother of all beach parties. However the teenage party-goers have no idea that an underwater earthquake has cracked open the ocean's surface unleashing menacing creatures. Two local cops, John Stone(Eric Scott Woods) and his daughter Brenda(Vanessa Evigan)try to clear the hapless fun seekers from the beach before they become meals for the 'sand sharks'.Over the top acting, terrible special effects and cheesy script make for a jaw breaking laugh riot. Embarrassingly funny. Also getting screen time: Gina Holden, Andrea Pineda, Julie Marie Berman and Robert Pike Daniel. Filmed primarily on Catalina Island, California. Rated R due to bloody violence.

When you have a story like that you have only two choices: You make a "serious" film and fail or you make a comedy out of it, which is the only way that works.Director Mark Atkins and lead actor Corin Nemec (far away from his Parker Lewis fame) made a good choice and turned it into a comedy. Especially Nemecs over-the-top performance is really worth to watch. What else should they do. I mean, sharks who can swim in the sand (!)- sounds ridiculous but the comedy style saves the whole film.The Special effects are typically for a SciFy movie but okay, yet they don't have the budget of Jaws or Piranha 3D which gives the film a special charm.Did I mention that Brooke Hogan is in it? She's the eye-candy in here. Spoiler alert: this is not a Horror Movie, it's a Comedy, so don't take it serious !

As a horror, this film is rated 1/10...and I'm the biggest wimp ever, Hot Fuzz gave me nightmares (go figure). If you choose to view this film as a comedy however, it's great! Me and my friends sat through this laughing our heads off at the terrible CGI, (at one point I'm sure somebody was wiggling a cardboard triangle along the bottom of the screen), and the cheesy lines said with such a serious manner are quite frankly hysterical. "She's thinking....out of the sandbox! >8O" Deary me. It's entertaining at least, major weakness though is the inability to feel any connection to any of the characters, they're all very stereotypical characters, the clever one, the courageous police, the nob-head, etc. Overall, it's funnier when watching in a group, good option for a chill-out movie night with mates!

Jimmy Green (Corin Nemec of Parker Lewis Can't Lose fame), a con-man always up for a quick buck whom convinces his dad the Mayor to hold a beach rave while sand sharks are gobbling up people, is the one (questionable) slightly bright-point in yet another Asylum made turd. His charisma makes one almost (but not quite) forget, or excuse, how shoddy this typical bad Asylum is. The thing is that it's still better than 98% of what that atrocious studio craps out year in and year out.I know, I know, not a ringing endorsement but with movies that premiere on SyFy, one has to go in with vastly diminished expectations in order to derive something, anything, good from said picture. Lest we go mad.My Grade; D