SHARK SEASON (2020)

SHARK SEASON (2020)

Tagline: 3 miles offshore... and a great white in-between!

(Action, Thriller, It’s a Bay Dad) [PG-13]

Note: This is a made-for-TV movie that is given a TV-14 on streaming services. That is about the equivalent of the MPA’s PG-13 rating. 

In this one this photographer Jason wants decides to take two girls out on the ocean to an island he knows will be gone in a few hours due to the rising tide. One is going to do the modeling while the other is the makeup artist. For some reason, they aren’t going out on a boat, they are kayaking 1.5 hours to this place because that is how it’s done when you want to get to a photo shoot and have plenty of energy to do your shoot I guess? It doesn’t take long before they encounter a shark and end up trapped on the island as it’s slowly being overtaken by the tide. 

What’s to like about this thing? Well, there is a SOYLENT GREEN reference at the beginning of the movie. It seems really out of place, but it shows at least that the writer has seen a movie or two. There is also a SHARKNADO reference in this, but that isn’t shocking at all because THE ASYLUM made that series. I like that the characters are not totally unbearable. We get a bit of background but it doesn’t come across as being corny or like it’s being said just to move the story along. There is one line in here that is pretty cringe and clearly was written by a perv, but nothing is all that over the top. Another great thing is that the shark shots are all pretty solid. I think they used real footage for the most part, but there are a few sections where they are clearly giving us mediocre CGI. I also liked the concept in this one. There are apparently 1,000 ways to do a shark flick and you don’t see many “sinking island” ideas thrown out there, so hats off for adding that tension. I also like the fact that they spent so much time getting out to the photoshoot location that they are too exhausted to really mount an escape. It was just a nice realistic touch. 

Acting wise Jack Pearson plays Jason and I wasn’t really crazy about his character. Pearson has done other ASYLUM flicks including APE VS. MECHA APE and ATTACK ON TITAN. Paige McGarvin plays Sarah in this and does okay, but the performance is just so-so. Juliana Destefano also gets a lot of screen time as Meghan. She is the character that gets the cringe line and to be honest, even though these characters are bearable, they aren’t great. Destefano’s career is blowing up right now and it looks like she’s got some cheese on the way (CLOWN MOTEL, HAUNTED BY MY STALKER). Michael Madsen (KILL BILL: VOL. 2) also gets a lot of screen time in this as James, but this is probably the worst performance I have ever seen him do and to be honest, it’s really not his fault. For some reason, they saw fit to stick him in a room where his main purpose is to talk on the phone to Sarah. 

What is a bit uneven is that one of the characters is basically saying “I can’t make it” and the other one is more optimistic. Then later the one that sounded like she was giving up, actually gets the survivors moving so they can reach a patch of land. We also get a scene where Sarah asks the shark “What do you want?”.  What? What do all sharks want?

No one is running to THE ASYLUM for well-made shark flicks, but this one is actually fine. It debuted in the middle of the deck at #24 out of 53 on my best shark movies list. I have to give this one a 4 out of 7. I think they could have done a lot more with James in this. It sounds weird when you have a guy saying he will go through hell for you, but spends the entire movie on the phone. Then again, talking on the phone is hell for some of us. 

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