SWIM (2021)

SWIM (2021)

Tagline: Nope

(Action, Horror, A Shark) [PG-13]

Note – This movie didn’t get a theatrical release, but if it had, I would throw it in the PG-13 range just for language. There really isn’t any gore. 

In this one, a family is on vacation in CA and rents a house on the beach. In spite of knowing there is a massive storm approaching, they underestimate its power and it doesn’t take long before a shark gains access to the house. With all attempts at rescue made worse by the storm, can the family survive the terror?

First off, the reviews for this movie are far worse than the actual movie. If you want to see some total crap you are going to have to head over to HOUSE SHARK (which I turned off after the first 35 minutes) or SHARK EXORCIST.  The only bit of acting I just can’t stand it this all comes from Andy Lauer who might be great in other things, but is just annoying and flat in this thing. I could not wait for this dude to get off the screen. 

The storyline here isn’t great. It’s basically the same plot as DEEP BLUE SEA in the sense that a storm is coming, this family is basically trapped where they are and the shark has access to the building they are in. Only this movie isn’t near as awesome or well-thought-out as DEEP BLUE SEA was, so don’t get too excited. This is a Tubi original which is cool because Tubi is probably the single best free streaming source for movies right now. They do have commercials, but the interruptions are minimal and they carry a lot of stuff. Anyway, this movie while it is on Tubi, it’s actually made by “The Asylum” which means almost every time you are going to get total crap CGI, and 99% of the time you are going to get sub-par acting. I mention all that so that you can manage your expectations. The sharks in this thing are about as un-intimidating as going to sea world and seeing them in a tank. There is also an instance where Becky (played by Addison Bowman) gets bitten by a shark and her friends use a cloth to wrap the wound. As they are all walking away the wrap clearly falls off on screen and there is no blood at all on her leg where it was. It’s pretty nuts, you couldn’t at least put some fake blood underneath that cloth even if it did fall off. That kind of horrible attention to detail as an editor would get a LOT of people fired. Not asking anyone to fire anyone here, but damn. 

Outside of Andy Lauer, the acting is fine for this type of movie, but like I said earlier, it is sub-par. The most well-known actor in this is Joey Lawrence who is probably still best known for the TV show “Blossom”. He plays the father of Charlotte Sampson who is just trying to get to the house to make sure his daughter and wife are okay. Jennifer Field plays Lacey and is basically the lead actress in this. Field isn’t someone The Asylum just pulled off the street. She’s been involved in over 76 projects and is best known for the TV show “Artificial”. Brett Hargrave plays Charlotte and she’s actually pretty good. Brett is okay in this as are both Daniel Grogan and Addison Bowman both of whom have more roles coming up, so it will be interesting to see if their careers blow up. 

When you start piling up the “shark movie” watches this one is definitely not at the bottom like I mentioned, but it is really rough in the “production” department and that lack of effort, plus the script which isn’t good especially when it comes to character development, you can see we’ve already got a pile of issues. The good news for this one is as bad as the shark effects are, this flick does not suffer from the same “bad-plot” issues that movies like “JAWS THE REVENGE” do. I still can’t score this better than a 3 out of 7 and feel good about it. It’s not “barely watchable”, but it’s definitely not “solid”. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE ASYLUM AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless.