For those of you who may have seen my preview of my most anticipated movies of the 2011 summer season, you'll have seen a little movie called Shark Night 3D that has been slated for a September 2nd release. Now, there aren't many people who would be interested in a movie like this, but my friend Caitlin and I have been excited for it since the moment we first heard about it. I hadn't heard that a trailer had been released, but she informed me only moments ago, and after watching it, I felt immediately driven to create this post to share it with all of you. As is the norm with these trailer breakdowns, I've crafted a list of questions and observations that you'll see below the video:
And now, for my questions and observations:
1. Is it just me, or does every movie involving a group of college co-eds going on vacation tend to take a turn towards disaster?
When a movie starts with some twenty-somethings heading out to a place in the middle of nowhere, you're going to get one of two types of movies: a porn or a horror (although often times, the two are mixed a little bit - that's the vein of horror movies nowadays). Seeing as this film is entitled Shark Night 3D, I think it's safe to assume we're in for a little bit of horror and, hopefully, a lotta bit of gore. I'd say that's enough to consider it a bit of a "disaster" for all those involved.
2. Wait, there's sharks in a lake? Does that even make sense?
Strangely enough, it does despite the college co-eds' initial confusion about the subject. I've watched enough Shark Week to know that there are some sharks that travel into freshwater
basins, so the idea of a man-eating shark in a lake or a river isn't all that far-fetched. Is it going to serve this film well? We'll have to wait and see. However, an early tidbit of believability has slightly been presented. It looks as though one of the sharks (pictured at right) appears to be a bull shark, one species that does find its way to freshwater. So there's some real-life continuity with that particular choice. However, I'm pretty sure that I saw a great white somewhere in the trailer, and that's not something that's ever been observed. Let the ridiculousness resume.
3. Will this film achieve the same amount of success as 2010's Piranha 3D?
It's hard for me to imagine that creation of Shark Night 3D isn't a direct response to the success of last year's Piranha remake. While that film only grossed a $1 million dollar profit (it cost $24 million to make but made $25 million), it garnered very strong critical reviews. Online review aggregate Rottentomatoes.com says that Piranha 3D plays "exactly to expectations for a movie about killer fish run amok...dishing out gore, guffaws and gratuitous nudity with equal glee." Can Shark Night 3D pull in the same type of feel? My early guess is "no." The reason for this thought is this: Piranha was marketed as a horror-comedy while Shark Night is only being marketed as a horror. The reason Piranha was so good was because the audience was supposed to laugh at it. By posing as strictly a horror film, Shark Night leaves itself open to be laughed at rather than laughed with.
4. Will this film tribute Jaws or rip it off?
Let's face it - any movie involving a killer shark is automatically going to garner comparison to the bar that Jaws set thirty-six years ago. We've seen a slew of bad shark movies in the past,
including the sequels to that original 1975 film - at the end of the day, it'd take an act of sheer brilliance even to match the staying power of Jaws. Piranha 3D actually came the closest to doing just that (it was still a long way off, but it was closer than any other film I've ever seen) in that it served as a bit of a homage to Jaws without ever feeling like it was stealing from it. However, those were piranha. Shark Night is actually about a shark (or sharks), making the comparison direct. Even in the trailer, I've already seen one scene that looks like it's taken directly from Jaws (it's the scene where the shark rips a piece of the dock into the water - I have it pictured to the left). Shark Night is going to have to tread a very fine line if it wants to peek its head out of the shadow that Jaws already has over it.
5. Can a 21st-century horror film make it through its run-time without involving torture?
There's a scene in the trailer that looks like a redneck sheriff is lowering one of the co-eds into
the water on some kind of crank and pulley system (pictured at right). Can you say a sick and twisted bit of torture? I realize that the face of the horror genre was drastically changed by the creation of the Saw franchise, but that doesn't mean that every single horror movie has to involve torture. It's getting kinda old, and I don't think it has any place in a movie about shark attacks. Let the sharks do the torturing - we don't need Leatherface's cousin taking care of it for us.
6. The black dude dies first.
The trailer already proved this. I really don't have anything to say about it. I guess it just fits the mold of your standard horror flick. At least they're sticking with the necessary conventions. (If you're reading this and thinking I'm racist, then you're obviously not fluent in sarcasm.)
That being said, I cannot wait for this film to hit theaters over Labor Day weekend. I know I'll be seeing it on opening day, and I'm already ecstatic about the prospects for its terrible-ness. However, we shall have to wait and see.
1. Is it just me, or does every movie involving a group of college co-eds going on vacation tend to take a turn towards disaster?
When a movie starts with some twenty-somethings heading out to a place in the middle of nowhere, you're going to get one of two types of movies: a porn or a horror (although often times, the two are mixed a little bit - that's the vein of horror movies nowadays). Seeing as this film is entitled Shark Night 3D, I think it's safe to assume we're in for a little bit of horror and, hopefully, a lotta bit of gore. I'd say that's enough to consider it a bit of a "disaster" for all those involved.
2. Wait, there's sharks in a lake? Does that even make sense?
Strangely enough, it does despite the college co-eds' initial confusion about the subject. I've watched enough Shark Week to know that there are some sharks that travel into freshwater
basins, so the idea of a man-eating shark in a lake or a river isn't all that far-fetched. Is it going to serve this film well? We'll have to wait and see. However, an early tidbit of believability has slightly been presented. It looks as though one of the sharks (pictured at right) appears to be a bull shark, one species that does find its way to freshwater. So there's some real-life continuity with that particular choice. However, I'm pretty sure that I saw a great white somewhere in the trailer, and that's not something that's ever been observed. Let the ridiculousness resume.3. Will this film achieve the same amount of success as 2010's Piranha 3D?
It's hard for me to imagine that creation of Shark Night 3D isn't a direct response to the success of last year's Piranha remake. While that film only grossed a $1 million dollar profit (it cost $24 million to make but made $25 million), it garnered very strong critical reviews. Online review aggregate Rottentomatoes.com says that Piranha 3D plays "exactly to expectations for a movie about killer fish run amok...dishing out gore, guffaws and gratuitous nudity with equal glee." Can Shark Night 3D pull in the same type of feel? My early guess is "no." The reason for this thought is this: Piranha was marketed as a horror-comedy while Shark Night is only being marketed as a horror. The reason Piranha was so good was because the audience was supposed to laugh at it. By posing as strictly a horror film, Shark Night leaves itself open to be laughed at rather than laughed with.
4. Will this film tribute Jaws or rip it off?
Let's face it - any movie involving a killer shark is automatically going to garner comparison to the bar that Jaws set thirty-six years ago. We've seen a slew of bad shark movies in the past,
including the sequels to that original 1975 film - at the end of the day, it'd take an act of sheer brilliance even to match the staying power of Jaws. Piranha 3D actually came the closest to doing just that (it was still a long way off, but it was closer than any other film I've ever seen) in that it served as a bit of a homage to Jaws without ever feeling like it was stealing from it. However, those were piranha. Shark Night is actually about a shark (or sharks), making the comparison direct. Even in the trailer, I've already seen one scene that looks like it's taken directly from Jaws (it's the scene where the shark rips a piece of the dock into the water - I have it pictured to the left). Shark Night is going to have to tread a very fine line if it wants to peek its head out of the shadow that Jaws already has over it.5. Can a 21st-century horror film make it through its run-time without involving torture?
There's a scene in the trailer that looks like a redneck sheriff is lowering one of the co-eds into
the water on some kind of crank and pulley system (pictured at right). Can you say a sick and twisted bit of torture? I realize that the face of the horror genre was drastically changed by the creation of the Saw franchise, but that doesn't mean that every single horror movie has to involve torture. It's getting kinda old, and I don't think it has any place in a movie about shark attacks. Let the sharks do the torturing - we don't need Leatherface's cousin taking care of it for us.6. The black dude dies first.
The trailer already proved this. I really don't have anything to say about it. I guess it just fits the mold of your standard horror flick. At least they're sticking with the necessary conventions. (If you're reading this and thinking I'm racist, then you're obviously not fluent in sarcasm.)
That being said, I cannot wait for this film to hit theaters over Labor Day weekend. I know I'll be seeing it on opening day, and I'm already ecstatic about the prospects for its terrible-ness. However, we shall have to wait and see.
Great write up.
ReplyDeleteI believe in the trailer at around the 1:17 mark, they state that it's a "salt water lake". It maybe my lack of lake knowledge, but I've never heard a salt water lake.
Anyways, I'm excited to see the film and it could be a fun watch in 3D.