The Reef

"You look like a seal in that, sharks love seals."

In a thriller like this one you have to be careful about what you leave to the imagination and what you show. Thankfully The Reef finds the balance and manages to perfectly capture despair and isolation without sacrificing pacing or disappointing the audience with a lack of sharks.

I liked this film a lot, its only problem was being a little too derivative. It's very similar to both Open Water and its sequel. However, it takes the ideas presented in those and ramps up the events. Whereas Open Water's screentime was largely devoted to two people floating in the ocean, The Reef leaves four people isolated and picks them off one by one. It makes for a much more traditionally entertaining experience, but it's well done in a way that doesn't make it typical. There's actual suspense and build-up to the scares.

The shark scenes are done well, mixing real footage of a great white with our actors. When I heard this was how the effects were done before seeing the film I was iffy on the concept. However, it's nearly perfect. The digital compositing of the people into the shark footage and vice-versa is flawlessly done. There's only one shot that stands out as a bit unreal, but it's very brief and doesn't take away from the experience.

If you were one who enjoyed this directors other film Black Water, or enjoyed the concepts presented in Open Water (or the film itself), than The Reef is definitely a film worth checking out.

Critical rating- 7/10
Entertainment rating- 7/10
Shark movie rating- 8/10

5 Things More Likely to Kill You than a Shark Attack

To combat the negative portrayal this blog might give for sharks, I've decided to compile a list of 5 things more likely to kill you than a shark attack.

Each year there are about 100 reported shark attacks, with only about 4 causing death. According to The Shark Attack File  17 people were killed from a shark attack in 2011. This was an increase in number over previous years, but still nothing compared to the following ways of death:

5.) Malfunctions While Scuba Diving
You're more likely to die under water from complications with scuba equipment than being attacked by a shark. Over 100 people die every year from scuba divining incidents like these. Almost 6 times more likely than being attacked by a shark!

4.) Death From Jellyfish
The jellyfish is the true ocean-dwelling killer. Over 40 people die yearly from jellyfish attacks, and many, many more are injured from the creatures.You probably know someone who's been stung by one! I'm not in the least afraid of sharks, but if I see a jellyfish in the water you better believe I won't be back in there for a while.

Far scarier than Bruce!

3.) Falling Coconuts
Even more than jellyfish, if you're visiting the beach this summer you need to be on the look out for coconuts. Often a comical scene in television programs, the danger of falling coconuts is very real. So watch out next time you decide to relax underneath a palm tree!


2.) Cow Attack
More deaths from cow attacks are reported each year than any shark attacks. Perhaps they're tired of us eating them and their children!


1.) Defective Toaster
In 2007 there were 791 people killed by toasters.

So while you may think sharks are scary, this is what you really should be afraid of.

2-Headed Shark Attack

"Two heads is twice as many teeth!"

Thank you Asylum, you finally lived up to one of your film's titles. The promise of an entertaining shark attack movie was actually fulfilled, complete with blood and nudity!

2-Headed Shark Attack feels like a legitimate movie. The plot is thin but coherent, and the pacing is good, never getting nearly unwatchable like Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. The acting is, of course, terrible, but there are some recognizable people among the cast which somehow makes it slightly more tolerable.


Brooke Hogan gets stuck in between the heads of the vicious beast.

and the effects! They're actually really neat! They're totally awful, but in a self-aware way. There's an actual animatronic shark in this, instead of relying on CGI (which it also has a lot of). The film still has some annoying Aslyum-esque editing going on during the action/attack scenes, but it's much more entertaining than anything else I've see by them so far.

I was left with a sour taste in my mouth after Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, but 2-Headed Shark Attack made me a little less hesitant to try out whatever shark movie Asylum comes up with next.

Critical rating- 3.5/10
Entertainment rating- 7/10
Shark movie rating- 7/10

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

The Asylum must have spent 70% of their budget creating the cover for this movie. I should have learned my lesson after Titanic II, but the title of this movie caught my attention. How can you avoid something named "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus"?

Well you should, first off, the characters look nothing like they do in that artwork, and second they only show up for about 3 minutes of screentime in an excruciatingly painful 90 minute movie.

To put this simply, I hated every part of this movie that didn't have a shark or octopus on screen. There were admittedly a few entertaining sequences, like the infamous plane attack, but overall I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. Just look up clips of the two fighting on youtube and save yourself the trouble of sitting through 90 minutes of this crap!

Critical rating- 1.5/10
Entertainment rating- 2/10
Shark movie rating- 2/10

Blue Demon

Are you familiar with those straight-to-"video"/made-for-tv shark movies? I don't see how you couldn't be, there's like a hundred of them. This one isn't special. It's boring, has only a few deaths, and whenever the sharks appear all they do is swim towards the camera. The acting is bad, but it could be a lot worse, so be thankful, it's actually watchable. The story is silly and filled with cliches and rip-offs from everything, but again, it could be a lot worse. One thing I really love, however, is the title! Blue Demon sounds so cool and promising yet this movie does not live up to that promise.


It isn't all bad though. Overall, this film is not the worst choice for a fun night with friends, but you could do better...


Critical Rating- 3.5/10
Entertainment rating- 6/10 (there's lots of laughs, some even intentional!)
SHARK MOVIE RATING- 5/10

CAST
Deedee Pfeiffer
Randall Batinkoff
Danny Woodburn
Josh Hammond
Jeff Fahey
DIRECTED BY
Daniel Grodnik

Deep Blue Sea

Deep Blue Sea, one of the more famous shark movies, and one of the better ones... The story is alright, and works well. It puts the sharks in a human environment, and most of the time it works. It's pretty scary seeing sharks swim through flooded corridors to attack humans. Imagine if this happened in Titanic or Poseidon Adventure, it would've been cheesy(and historically inaccurate for one), but pretty scary.

Perhaps the film's greatest asset is its production values. The sharks all look great, thanks to a good blending of practical and visual effects. The shark attacks are well done and unexpected. It's a fun game trying to guess who's going to be killed next.

"Please don't kill me!"

I really enjoyed this movie, it's one of the more well made shark movies out there. It's a solid, fun action/adventure movie.

Critical rating- 5/10
Entertainment rating- 8.5/10
Shark movie rating- 8/10

Cast:
Thomas Jane
Saffron Burrows
LL Cool J
Michael Rapaport
Stellan Skarsgård
Samuel L. Jackson
Jacqueline McKenzie

Director:
Renny Harlin

Writers:
Duncan Kennedy
Donna Powers

Jaws

The one shark movie that basically everyone knows about...Jaws. This is one of my favorite films of all time. It's truly scary, and some parts freak me out every time. Like the Kinter boy attack, and the shark-in-the-estuary scene. The story is so good, everything works perfectly, the acting is awesome, some of the best. The shark itself looks pretty good for the time, and through Spielberg's masterful directing we never think twice about this thing being real.


The most haunting image in the film. 

Jaws changed films. It introduced us to the concept of the Hollywood blockbuster. Big budget action movies made for a wide audience. It also changed the way people thought of sharks. The great white became a symbol of terror, and for many it scared them away from the ocean for years. More recently Spielberg and author Peter Benchley have come forward as supporters for the great white and the movement to take back the portrayal of a violent killer. It is after all just and animal, and not one very interested in human flesh.

In any case, it's too late now. The image of a brutal killer is cemented in movie-goers minds, and many films continue to capitalize on this image.

Critical rating- 9/10
Entertainment rating- 9.5/10
Shark movie rating- 10/10
It doesn't get any better than this!
CastRoy Scheider
Richard Dreyfuss
Robert Shaw

Screenplay
Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb
Music
John Williams
Producer
Richard D. Zanuck & David Brown
DirectorSteven Spielberg