This edition of the Direct to DVD Dissection finally brings a long overdue element to DTDD. No, it’s not punctuality or actual humor. No, it’s one of the more outlandish entries in the filmography from the people at the curious world known as The Asylum. In fact, an apparent franchise, and this looks at the first one.
The Story
When a tornado picks up a school of hungry sharks, it sends them flying through the air. The man-eating storm wreaks havoc on a small town that becomes the site of a feeding frenzy for the ages.
The Cast
Ian Ziering as Fin Shepard
Tara Reid as April Wexler
Cassie Scerbo as Nova Clarke
John Heard as George
The Dissection
Considering how long ago SHARKNADO was released, and how the eventual third entry in the series is getting released this month, any opinion about this movie, good or bad, really impact jack to null in the opinion of this movie. All this really does have is the benefit of hindsight and to see what impact the film had due to it. It’s a trip to see the fallout of this movie, and from a movie that, honestly, had nothing interesting in it apart from the title and premise.
Even with the title and how it was hyped up by this as this just stupid movie, it’s a movie that’s stupidity is not of the good kind. Not the type where you are in awe of the stupidity of the plot, emphasized by films like SAMURAI COP, THE ROOM, and the infamous PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. Those were consitant in their goofy and horribly hilarous moments. SHARKADO, on the other hand, is tame compared to the hype. Even the titualr weather phenomena with sharks in it feels sort of commonplace quick, both in the movie and in terms of the movie build. Once the shock of sharks falling from the sky dies down, it’s kind of just like if it was a normal disaster film. Only by the last 15 minutes does the movie remember what it’s actually billed as and goes into the insanity the whole movie frankly should have had.
The thing that makes it noticeable that the story of this movie isn’t as strong, or flexible, as it should, is in the characters moving along the story. None of the actors, apart from the criminally underused John Heard, are interesting at all, the worst of it all being the main characters. For all he really did in this plot, Ian Ziering is just bland on this, and reminiscent of a more bland version of IMPACT WRESTLING’s Crimson. Even his badass moments by the climax feel less like him going back to being this acclaimed hero hinted in the opening, and more like something goofy that was in the trailer that they had to paste into the actual film.
SHARKNADO, looking back at it all in the past, really just rode on it’s own premise for it’s run time. The goofiness of the poster and the reaction just falls flat compared to what the final product ended up being. The worst thing, though, is that even The Asylum has done better on other films, and with the same idea of a ridiculous premise to justify a film. Whether it be Abraham Lincoln and his Secret Service army fighting zombies, or Sherlock Holmes fighting his brother, Iron Man, or even female mercenaries doing battle Ludmilla Drago and blowing her up with a nuke handcuffered to her wrist. All with various degrees of success in this regard, while SHARKNADO, all in all, is riding all on the idea, but bringing almost nothing to the table.
The Verdict
SHARKNADO, as a whole, is not as good as what it was billing itself as. Even beyond any kind of build, it still is plain and lifeless for most of the run time, only coming alive way too late to make a big impact. It would honestly have be forgettable, alongside 2-HEADED SHARK ATTACK and BATTLEDOGS on the Asylum catalog.
Though, how it will work out for the second entry is a tale for another time……