Sharksploitation review.
Shudder original documentary Sharksploitation offers a comprehensive overview of the history of shark films. The ups, the downs, the real-life repercussions…there is something here for everyone.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Sharksploitation
Directed by Stephen Scarlata
Written by Stephen Scarlata
Starring Joe Dante, Roger Corman, Mario Van Peebles and Wendy Benchley
Sharksploitation Review
Documentaries can be a bit tough to review. While they might have a narrative throughline akin to a narrative feature…plot points are largely connected to facts thrown out from section to section. Things can start to feel like a book report quickly. Sharksploitation has a lot of information to absorb. Luckily, it doles it out in an entertaining fashion. If anything, it bites off more than it can chew. A full documentary could be made about several of the channels this new documentary swims down.
The most important shark movie ever made is Jaws. Everyone knows it. Sharksploitation knows it. The film begins by talking about Jaws and spends a lot of time talking about other movies in relation to Jaws. It covers all three sequels and the legion of rip-offs that followed its 1975 release. The original novel is covered in detail with personal insight provided by Wendy Benchley (the late author’s wife). It even briefly steps out of the water to discuss monster movies made to try and recreate Jaws in a different setting.
Jaws was a cultural phenomenon. It created the modern summer blockbuster and was at the forefront of advertising films with television commercials. Jaws merchandise lined store shelves and the novel it is based on was a best-seller. It instilled a genuine public fear of deep bodies of water (thalassophobia) and inspired too many knockoffs to count. It also inspired an unfortunate boom in shark hunting. All of this is covered early into Sharksploitation.
To make clear how important Jaws is to the shark movie conversation…Sharksploitation labels pre-1975 films simply as the “Pre-Jaws era”. Here we get a brisk recap on the history of sharks on film. In the beginning, sharks were usually not the focus of the threat. Treasure hunting movies would paint them as obstacles more than antagonists. Bond films repeatedly used sharks as pets of the movie’s villains. It even named a metal toothed giant henchmen Jawswhen 1977 rolled around and shark fever had swept the nation.
Jumping to the post-Jaws period (or Jaws rip-off era to be more accurate) Sharksploitation gives us a taste of the good, the bad, and the ugly of an industry with mad shark disease. From well-crafted rip-offs like Orca and Piranha to land based rip-offs like Grizzly and Alligator to many cheap versions of the same repeated characters and story beats in aquatic based movies. Even popular 70s tv shows couldn’t help themselves from featuring a shark episode here and there (most famously Happy Days’ jump the shark episode).
Roger Corman and Joe Dante are on hand to discuss their productions of Jaws rip-off movies. They provide invaluable perspectives on the era of true Sharksploitation films. Dante dives deep into discussing an unproduced Jaws sequel…Jaws 3, People 0. The joint National Lampoon/Universal production fell apart due to being pulled in too many different directions. Perhaps wisely questioning why Universal would mock something that was a successful franchise for them.
Of course, by the time Jaws 3-D and Jaws: The Revenge were produced…they might have changed their tune. Jaws 2 was a successful, but less effective, return to the waters of Amity Island. With a legendary tagline (“Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water”) but too much shark action to retain the original’s suspense. The latter sequels are more about the series jumping its own shark. In fact, Sharksploitation argues, Jaws: The Revenge managed to kill the sharksploitation era for a while on its own.
The arrival of Deep Blue Sea in 1999 brought it back, however. Deep Blue Sea brought the fun back to shark movies. It gets away with the inherent silliness by featuring genetically enhanced sharks. Soon enough, the rise of CGI, the birth of “mockbusters” and the popularity of SyFy original movies led to another shark movie bonanza. 2013 saw another peak in popularity when Sharknado caught fire on twitter and became a cultural phenomenon of its own.
This era of shark movies is highlighted by combining sharks with other things. Sharktopus, Ghost Shark, Sharkman, Nightmare Shark, Sand Sharks, Avalanche Sharks, Sharkula, Sharkenstein, Ouija Shark…if you can come up with a noun…you’ve got a movie. Sharksploitation is at its most fun discussing this era of movies. Filmmakers are on hand to walk us through their wild ideas and the desire to take sharks out of the water and into their wildest imaginations.
We’ve seen plenty of serious shark movies in the modern era as well. Sharksploitation makes sure to pay respect to movies like Open Water, The Reef, 47 Meters Down and The Shallows. It discusses why these movies work and how hard they are to shoot. Small pictures with big tension. It comes full circle with a look at the return of the big budget, summer blockbuster shark movie…The Meg. Good timing with The Meg 2: The Trench about to hit theaters.
While a large part of Sharksploitation is spend celebrating the history of shark movies…it takes care to represent more than just a list of movies. Discussions include techniques used to film real sharks underwater, real world incidents that created shark-mania, myths about sharks in history and, of course, the true story of the USS Indianapolis. It even gives a few minutes to marine biologists to weigh in on the reality of sharks.
Sharksploitation is an entertaining and informative documentary. It that may have been better served, however, as a mini-series. Each era of film warrants enough discussion to be the focus of their own documentary. Presented here, there are simply too many movies to do a deep dive into most. That makes this film a fast-paced watch…but leaves much of the discussion in shallow waters.
Scare Value
If you are a fan of shark movies…recommending Sharksploitation is a no-brainer. If water-based monster movies aren’t your thing…you’ll still find plenty to like in this documentary. You’d be hard pressed to find a subgenre of film that goes in as many ridiculous directions. Whether you love Jaws or Ghost Shark…Sharksploitation has you covered.
3.5/5
Sharksploitation Link
Streaming on Shudder
