Nightmare Shark

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".

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.

Surprising this has two titles, one must have been edited for the British audience as there is not a single shark, or shark related images within it. Even watching the trailer on imbd shows sharks but those clips are within the movie excluding the sharks. The title of Nightmare Shark and Curse of the Dream Witch both relate to the same movie. The editing department has determined the storyline appropriate to each title.

Have made no secret in the past of intensely disliking, and even outright hating a lot, a vast majority of SyFy's (near-universally maligned for good reason) output, though there is curiosity as to whether they are capable of making something good and compulsive about their output's badness. Admittedly, SyFy do have a small group of watchable films and the occasional (big emphasis on that word) above average one, unfortunately outweighed by the lacklustre at best and often dreadful films they churn out.

To my surprise, 'Nightmare Shark' was actually better than expected. It's not great, or even particularly good, but of the killer shark films seen recently it's easily one of the better ones and one of SyFy's more watchable efforts (both their killer shark films and overall). It did have an interesting idea, slightly daft but quite unique, and while the potential is not quite lived up to it's hardly completely wasted.

'Nightmare Shark' does have some creepiness and there is some suspense because the idea is more original than most shark films and it is not as goofy as others. Doing it while not taking things too seriously that it becomes dreary. It does have fun parts too that aren't as silly as one would think and more respectful of its audience than many SyFy efforts.

Effort was made in 'Nightmare Shark' and it does show in some more professional and more atmospheric photography and at times better standard of acting, showing enthusiasm but surprisingly not going overboard. Some eerie sound, the pace isn't dull and the shark has both menace and personality.

Granted, 'Nightmare Shark' does have a number of faults, many of which are evident in a lot of SyFy's efforts. The story is muddled often, structurally it's a bit jumpy and confused due to too many things left vague, unfinished or underexplored. The execution of the overall concept lacked clarity and if the pace slowed down and with a little longer more clarity and logic and less head-scratching confusion and weirdness would have been apparent.

SyFy has always failed in the writing even in their best films, that's still the case, still a lot of awkward sounding dialogue that is hard to take at face value. Would have liked more developed characters and ones that were easier to get behind, for all the actors' best valiant efforts the face-palming decisions and behaviours remain. The special effects are less than special and generally actually pretty laughable, and the film is not without some sloppy editing, some ridiculousness and moments of melodrama.

Overall, watchable compared to most killer shark films seen recently and SyFy's work in general but problematic. 5/10 Bethany Cox

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.