Nightmare Shark

I was initially excited when I first saw the image released from this that was an homage to Nightmare on Elm Street. I was even more excited when the movie began and realized they pulled actors and their characters from 2 previous Syfy Shark Movies, Trailer Park Shark and Atomic Shark. That was at first a stroke of genius in my opinion. But that's where it ended. The description of this says it's people who survived shark attacks who are hunted by a nightmare manifestation. Except the characters never discuss their previous experiences in the other movies and all allude to the fact that they have suffered nightmares for years that are preventing them from living their lives. I think it would have worked better had they talked about surviving an atomic shark attack and a trailer park shark attack. Then it does get weird in the realm of is it all a dream is it real etc. It was an ok movie but I feel that it could have been so much more.

Which would explain why this film makes so little sense. I saw this under the title of 'Curse of the Dream Witch', and there is at least a witch-like wraith lurking here and there, but the 'Nightmare Shark' moniker is beyond confusing as there is no trace of a shark in the film (unless there is an alternative version that includes a sharky presence somewhere out there? The IMDB plot summary sure does not resemble the film that I saw). At one level, the Dream Witch creature is not a bad concept (with obvious nods to A Nightmare on Elm Street, but clearly nowhere near as striking or effective), but the entity is never really fully realized or developed as it is usually just shown as a flickery and weirdly screaming women or as an indistinct black 'swarm' (should they have called it 'Nightmare Flies'?). However, for all of the Dream Witch's murky visuals, at no point whatsoever does the fiend ever resemble a shark! So, some decent ideas and visuals are present, but this film sure won't give anyone any sleepless nights.

Granted, I have to admit that I wasn't exactly harboring much of any expectations to this 2018 movie titled "Nightmare Shark", given the movie's title and the fact that most shark movies are laughable attempts at movie making at best.

However, with "Nightmare Shark" being a movie that I hadn't already seen, nor actually ever heard about, and given my fascination with shark movies, then of course I had to sit down and watch it.

And I made it just a bit more than halfway through the ordeal that is "Nightmare Shark" from writer Griff Furst. Talk about a ridiculous storyline. There was nothing in the storyline that appealed to me, and it was soul-breaking to sit through and witness such ludacrous writing would actually make a transition from script to screen.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, though actor Bobby Campo seemed very familiar somehow. I have to say that the actresses and actors in the movie literally had nothing to work with in terms of script, character gallery and dialogue, and it was restricting their performances.

Visually then you're not in for anything grand. The special effects in "Nightmare Shark" were exactly that; special. The CGI effects in the movie looked like something regurgitated from a 1990s computer game.

If you enjoy shark movies, like I do, do yourself a favor and stay clear of this one. It just simply isn't worth the time, money or effort.

My rating of directors Griff Furst and Nathan Furst's 2018 TV movie "Nightmare Shark" lands on a generous two out of ten stars, and that is solely because of the production value of the movie.

It skips so much between dream and reality that, at the end, you don't know if the whole thing was a dream or not.

SyFy Shark Week meets Nightmare On Elm Street? Yep! Characters from past SyFy shark movie efforts? Yep!

The idea here is great, and to anyone who thinks "preposterous" ... really, it's not any goofier having a shape-shifting burnt man invading dreams than it is to have a shark doing it, when you really think about it.

"Nightmare Shark" clears the low-expectation, high-reward hurdles easily and is one of the more memorable Sy-Fyish shark films. While it falls flat in a few spots, it recovers very well, and even manages a few genuinely suspenseful and unsettling scenes. While this one could have run on the idea alone, there seems to have been some effort and thought invested into it anyway. Really, it's almost a vulgar display of clever for the Sy Fy Network, who were able to make low-brow considerably less low-brow than ... well, everyone kind of expects.

I gave this 6.5/10, and I sincerely hope that this one gets franchised by the network. Also, I hope they throw a "Nightmare Shark" franchise down the same silly holes as the original "Nightmare" series eventually went through.

Overall, "Nightmare Shark" exceeded expectations, with the B-shark idea since "Sharknado".