“Back to the Future Part II” (1989) imagines “Jaws 19” hitting theaters in 2015. Rather surprisingly, that franchise didn’t have another entry after the fourth in 1987, but there have been plenty of shark movies without the “Jaws” moniker. “Shark Night” (2011) is at least the 19th.
Paxton wades back into horror
Though no masterpiece, it’s not the least of them. I was drawn to it like a shark drawn to chum after seeing Sara Paxton in “The Innkeepers” as part of my Ti West catch-up. A working actress from a young age, Paxton has one of the most striking skill transformations from awful to quite good.
Paxton retains her short hair from her adorable role in “The Innkeepers.” But, not surprisingly, “Shark Night” asks less of her. Paxton’s character, conveniently named Sara, is among a handful of college buddies vacationing at her Louisiana lake island home.
“Shark Night” (2011)
Director: David R. Ellis
Writers: Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg
Stars: Sara Paxton, Dustin Milligan, Katharine McPhee
On Tuesdays this summer, Reviews from My Couch is highlighting classic (and not so classic) shark horror films through the years.
They are initially lazy archetypes, but they grew on me to the point where I felt bad when they get eaten by sharks. To name a few: Dustin Milligan is a Nice Guy to pair with Sara’s Nice Girl, Katharine McPhee smoothly transitions from “American Idol” (she took second place in Season 5), and generic stud Chris Zylka comes over from “The Secret Circle.”
Director David R. Ellis, who helmed the two worst “Final Destinations” and the better “Snakes on a Plane” and who died in 2013, positions “Shark Night” somewhere between the silliness of a SyFy Channel romp and the shock horror of Eli Roth.
A neat setting
The Louisiana lake setting is neat, peppered with sandbars and trees poking out of the water. Boats and jet skis blast through channels. For reasons that will amusingly be explained, the lake is infested with a smorgasbord of shark species.
“Jaws: The Revenge” made the mistake of giving sharks human-like motivations, but in “Shark Night” — theatrically released in 3D like “Jaws 3” – the animals are merely weapons. Entertainingly perverse humans utilize them. Chris Carmack (“The O.C.”) and Donal Logue (“Gotham”) are among the locals who may or may not be trustworthy.
“Shark Night” starts yawningly, with standard scenes like the lanky funny dude (Joel David Moore) flailing after McPhee and failing. But when Malik (Sinqua Walls) gets his arm ripped off while wakeboarding, his friends try to rally to save him, and I started to like this bunch.
They can’t stay out of the water
In addition to dreaming up the bad guys’ creative scheme, writers Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg do another smart thing: They make it so our heroes have to be on the water. Sara and friends don’t stupidly wade into the feeding grounds. (Well, except when pissed-off Malik lures a hammerhead into a fistfight. But like the tiny tiger shark in “Jaws,” this ain’t the one he should be worried about.)
Lacking cellphone service, our vacationers must attempt boating to the nearest hospital in order to save Malik.
This movie could’ve been called “Speed Shark”; the animals attack so fast there’d be no time for a John Williams build-up. The kills range from weak (a person goes under and red food coloring replaces them) to epic (a shark gets so much air it could win a dunk contest).
And the characters are reasonably likable … or at least swimsuit-clad. “Shark Night” is a ripple in the ocean of shark flicks, but it’s still better than two of the official “Jaws” sequels.