Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf

For once, a SyFy original that's funny on purpose.

If we're lucky, one out of every 200 SyFy originals is decent entertainment because the people behind it knew what they were doing with direction, music, editing, and above all, the script. Sadly, most SyFy orgs feel like a near death experience.

Sharktopus vs Whalewolf is just as stupid a premise as any other SyFy flick, and the film makers embrace this, turning it into one of the funnier films. And yes, it's meant to be funny. Catherine Oxenberg is obviously having a blast as the hammy Kraut. Casper Van Dien (whose beard is somehow 30 years older than the rest of him) is the Errol Flynn type (the alcoholic Flynn, that is). Akari Endo, for whom this is not her first SyFy rodeo gets to shine as the take-charge badge on the beach.

The effects are slightly more polished in the CGI department, but it's still CGI and the Whalewolf looks more like a monster puppy than a man eater, but that's part of the charm.

Highly recommended but don't come into this expecting bad SyFy or even so-bad-it's good. Get ready to chortle!

Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf (2015)

** (out of 4)

The drunken boat captain Ray (Casper Van Dien) is thrown into jail after a woman on his boat is killed by the sharktopus. While this is going on, mad scientist Dr. Reinhardt (Catherine Oxenberg) is experimenting with DNA, which leads to the whalewolf character. Soon more dead bodies are piling up while the two large monsters battle one another.

This is the third film in the SHARKTOPUS series and it's certainly the best. I think what makes this one work is that the film gives a lot of effort in trying to be funny and campy. The first two films in the series as well as many of these SyFy movies seem to think that if you purposely make a movie bad then it's going to be entertaining. That's not the case and that's why so many of them fail. This one here is obviously silly and over- the-top but the film doesn't play it dumb and instead comes up with a few clever jokes that actually work.

The highlight of the film is certainly the Oxenberg character as the actress is clearly having a blast playing the mad German scientist. Even funnier is a sequence where her big-breasted assistant runs around in slow motion with her things juggling. This here is pure Roger Corman sexism at its finest. Van Dien is good enough in his role and there's no doubt that he too appears to be having fun. Akari Endo is also good in her supporting role. As you'd expect, there's quite a bit of fake looking blood as various body parts are eaten by the two main characters.

SHARKTOPUS VS. WHALEWOLF is pretty good in its own way so if you're a fan of these types of movies then you're bound to get a few laughs out of it.

No seriously? What do you expect from a movie with a title like that? Now I have not seen the previous entry into the Sharktopus ... universe I guess you can call it (there are apparantly another two of them prior to this one), so I can't say how this does compared to them.

What I can say, is that the CGI is as bad as one can imagine. Very obvious. So obvious though that the movie is winking almost all the way through it. Like when one character very late in the movie says upon seeing one of the creature eating another person, something along the lines of "that doesn't even look real". Yes the movie is aware of its flaws, the characters are too. Playing catch with a Whalewolf (great name btw)? I mean come on ... also the slapstick of the creature slapping Casper van Dien around? Or showing him on a map where he is, after he asks and wonders exactly that? That doesn't mean that all jokes work. Far from it. Some are just plain bad ... and almost hurt physically. But again, what to expect? Exactly! (although nudity would be something I reckon many did expect ... well you won't get that)

Well there is no denying the amount of hot women in this movie, but the rest from acting to scrip to the even worst play station1 special effects kind of ruin the rest.

I kept it going for 40 minutes then turned it off.

For some odd reason I keep returning to movies like this, even though you know already that it is 99% likely going to be another stinker. And this whole genre is just loaded with questionable additions that outdo each other in one way or another.

But still, every now and then there are some of these movies that turn out to be entertaining and funny to watch. "Sharktopus vs Whalewolf", however, just wasn't one of those movies.

With movies such as "Sharktopus vs Whalewolf" you already know that you will most likely be in for some questionable CGI and special effects. But "Sharktopus vs Whalewolf" was not even trying. The CGI effects in this movie were among the top of most laughable and poor CGI effects that I have seen in this genre of movies.

The story in "Sharktopus vs Whalewolf" was also among some of the more outrageous and laughable of story lines, even for this particularly unique genre of movies. Why? Well, because it seemed like the writers weren't even trying to be serious.

"Sharktopus vs Whalewolf" is also filled with lame attempts at incorporating comedy in the movie; attempts which really failed at every aspect. And the movie suffered from that.

Catherine Oxenberg has the worst fake German accent ever and puts on one of the worst acting performances in the history of low budget creature features. But that might actually be one of the selling points to the movie, and why you should check it out. Trust me, it is worth watching, because it is bad on an epic scale.

Oh, and there was one scene where I counted 31 shots being fired from a handgun. That was just impressive. So at least there was something impressive to be seen in "Sharktopus vs Whalewolf".