Hammerhead

When I heard about "Hammerhead" being released on DVD and finally found it at my local DVD store, I thought "well, just another cheap monster movie from Nu Image". Those guys around Boaz Davidson and Avi Lerner produced cheap but very entertaining B - Pictures in the past few months but also some very disappointing movies. So I didn't expect much, especially after having watched the rather disappointing "Shark Zone" just a few days before. But "Hammerhead" turned out to be an excellent revival of the 1950s monster movies. We have a mad scientist, a group of people in a dangerous situation, screaming women and damsels in distress, man-eating plants and of course we have the creature, a huge mutant mix between a man and a hammerhead shark. Everything you need for an entertaining monster movie. The only thing missing are graphic sex scenes and nudity which you expect in movies of this kind, but since the movie was made for TV it's understandable why these scenes are missing. And it doesn't matter anyway cause "Hammerhead" is action and horror entertainment at it's best. There are two reasons why I gave it seven out of ten points, though: First of all, the monster isn't seen very often and the showdown with the destruction of the creature is too fast and poorly done, and secondly, William Forsythe just isn't the right guy for the "hero" part and for falling in love with gorgeous Hunter Tylo. Other than that, I can highly recommend this movie for any monster movie fan out there. Grab yourselves a cool drink and some popcorn, watch this movie and have fun. Jasper P. Morgan

Note: "Hammerhead" is occasionally known as "SharkMan" in certain releases. Because another film uses the name "SharkMan" which predates this one, I will refer to this film as "Hammerhead."

Hammerhead is one of many shark films Nu Image made during the 2000s. It is arguably the most interesting of them in its IMDb summary. A scientist whose son is diagnosed with cancer splices his DNA with that of a shark to produce a hybrid creature with the brain of a man and the ferocity of a shark. The creature does not actually resemble a hammerhead shark despite the title.

This plot point was utilized in Shark Attack, another Nu Image film. The idea stems from the quack book Sharks Don't Get Cancer combined with The Island of Dr. Moreau. The creature when fully visible is impressive. The costume doesn't look like a school mascot at least while the actor is not moving.

It's a shame the shark attacks are edited so haphazardly that you can never tell what is happening. The edits appear so quick in succession you get the idea that the shark is moving next to his victims rather than attacking them.The camera often focuses on the Hammerhead's eyes which become repetitive in the frequent attacks. Despite the fact that CGI was very bad in 2005, I would have preferred to see the victims attacked with a CGI creature. At least we could see the entire shot. Since the shark can travel on land, why didn't they portray him like a sneaky slasher villain who moves in the shadows?

Nu Image shark films often feature incomprehensible slowdown that throws you out of the scene. Such happens here. You see someone running and for no reason the scene slows down for emphasis on something? I guess?

The actors are alright. No one other than Jeffrey Combs is memorable. His performance as the stereotypical mad scientist is as campy as ever. If you are a fan of his, he makes the film better than it would otherwise be. His performance adds to the otherworldly atmosphere that's weird for its own sake. I especially like the tour he gives through the greenhouse where he keeps other weird hybrids. Perhaps were this not a made for tv film, the filmmakers could have gone further with the oddities. The film reminds me in some ways of the more recent Annihilation just not as developed. The televisual storytelling limits how much worldbuilding the film can do.

Most of this movie is a group of characters running around as Hammerhead picks them off. He can move as well through water as land. There is some gore during a lab scene although not as much during the shark attacks. The survivors really don't do much other than exist until the end. The bad music doesn't help with the increasing tedium of the lack of plot.

Hammerhead is not a good movie. Fans of Jeffrey Combs may want to check it out after seeing his more famous films. The introductory laboratory scenes are weird and bloody; they are the best part of the movie. By the 30 minute mark, you have seen everything it has to offer.

Hammerhead is a combination between the mad scientist and killer shark movie genres. In a bit of type-casting, Jeffrey Combs plays the aforementioned mad scientist who develops a human/hammerhead shark creature. Bizarrely, this being is in fact his son, who he has turned into this monster to prevent him dying from cancer. Or something.

A group of associates are invited to the scientist's private island. They end up being used as shark bait or shark mate. For some unknown reason the head of IT has been brought along as part of this team. Who knows why? Luckily, he turns out to be a resourceful, if somewhat overweight, Ramboesque hero. I'm working on the assumption that he learnt how to handle an assault rifle as part of his day job working in 1st line support. A normal day for this IT man presumably involves fixing someone's network connection followed by a call to gun down gun-toting evil-doers. Or perhaps a call to fix someone's PC has to be scheduled between physical confrontations with land-based human-shark hybrids? Anyway, he's amazing and saves the day. He even get's the girl.

The shark-man is a slightly lame creation but OK, I guess, judging by the effects in general in this film. And the movie moves on at a decent pace. It's complete hokum of course but if you buy a movie called Hammerhead and expect it to be a complex drama about the emotional conflicts experienced by a man turned into a land-based killer fish, then really you have no one to blame but yourself. As it is, there are guns, gore, girls and possibly even an exploding helicopter. It's rubbish but not as bad as some might say.

this movie wasn't absolutely atrocious, but it was pretty bad. the acting ACTUALLY was pretty good! jeffrey combs did a pretty darn good job as the mad scientist, which is sort of his specialty if you don't know such things :D. bill forsythe .. well, i'm not EXACTLY sure why he was in this film. he's way too good for this kinda stuff, and his role wasn't exactly demanding. I rented this on the strength of those two leads, and I wasn't really disappointed. I mean, heck, it's a movie about a half man/half shark. It ain't Shakespeare folks. Other than the plot, which is full of holes, and the poor dialogue, I would like to note that the cinematography also left many things to be desired. there were shots were they were trying to look "cool", but it ended up obscuring the scene or just coming off plain cheezy. they also blew it many times when they had decent dialogue and cut away prematurely before the person could even deliver the line. it was pretty bad. but if you are a jeffrey combs fan, this one is worth checking out. he gives a great performance and does what he can with the character. forsythe ain't bad either, and either is the female lead. heck if i can remember her name though. bottom line, i wouldn't otherwise waste your time.

This low budget B horror's plot comes with all the amenities - mad scientist complete with sidekick, malicious corporate greed of pharmaceutical industry, eccentric and extreme genetic engineering, and information technology....can't leave that out.

Start with strange sequence of hot looking nameless boaters that foolishly decide to take a dip in the waters near an uncharted island and end up chum for swarming hammerhead sharks.....

Cut to weak back story implying the stock decline of a generic pharma corporation which motivates its wicked Shakespeare quoting CEO to entertain an un-solicited offer made by a former employee/scientist that was jilted out of his job as head of research and who also happens to be a nut...of course (total Herbert West wannabe). He is offering up a new stem cell technology that could make tons o' cash...or so it seems...This lures in several employees to his Moreau-ish island (must have been quite an impressive exit package from the company when he was let go for him to afford an island) to validate his scientific findings including the CEO and, co-incidentally, the ex-fiancé of the mad scientist's son now morphed sharkuman (how convenient)....

The plan, sort of, is to rekindle lost love between the former nuptials while exacting revenge on the former colleagues for his termination. (Sheez, how can this guy be bitter? He has his own friggen' island after all...).

Soon, everyone is on the run (from endless supply of security guards toting heavy weaponry, from mutant plants – can there be an uncharted island without man-eating plants?, from sharky son's appetite for carnage, from quack daddy's breeding plans, and from lack of a cell phone signal)...and they all must learn to work together to get off the island alive!

Will anyone escape? Will a new species be created? Watch it and find out.

There is some entertainment value in this movie, but don't expect much...for the true Combs fan, this is not to be missed.

Don't say I didn't warn you.