Shark Attack

I didn't expect much, and got what I expected. I can't believe this has 6 votes of a perfect 10. Was the cast and crew here on IMDb voting? There wasn't that much eye candy, although the HD broadcast was pretty good and Riley Smith is looking better than ever. There are a few minor technical flaws. For example, that was the strangest Florida coastline I've ever seen - complete with mountains, rocky islands, etc. It looked suspiciously more like Hawaii or Mexico. The only mountains I've seen in Florida where man-made ones in Disney World. Is it obvious I'm fishing for 10 lines here? This movie doesn't deserve 10 words, let alone 10 lines. Did I mention that Riley Smith is looking better than ever?

As campy as the title tells you it'll be.

A bunch of co-eds with a hodge-podge of teen soap opera back stories go to south Florida for Spring break. Unfortunately, some hungry tiger sharks are on Spring break too, and they aren't there for the beer, if you catch my drift. Meanwhile there's a dumb wolf player guy knocking out the lead character with a date rape drug, and drawling out stupidly concocted lies. Gee, you'll never guess who ends up as a Big Mac in the shark infested waters.

They waste a lot of time showing us the wolf guy annoying everybody, and eventually get around to showing some sharks. Occasionally, some extras show up to be immediately on the menu, to keep your interest. The sub-plots give at least some substance to the lead girl and the boat rental guy, and some others to a lesser degree.

More action than really expected. The shots of the girls are framed Bay Watch style, and there are some unintentionally dumb scenes. The big attack scene is a decently shot highlight moment, except for some cardboard "fins" casually drifting by the screaming swimmers. Still, not a bad watch, after all.

As a year round resident of Florida (one of the few under the age of 75), I have dreamt of spring breakers being eaten by sharks, lots and lots of sharks. My dreams were finally realized thanks to CBS finally bringing to the small screen a compelling story that needed to be told: "Spring Break Shark Attack." Simply put, this movie was hysterical. Yes, it was full of clichés, the worst acting this side of "Plan 9 from Outer Space", and terrible, terrible dialogue. Folks, the movie was named "Spring Break Shark Attack." (The name alone sends me into fits of giggles.) Were you expecting Martin Scorcese? Because of its God-awfulness, I can't remember the last time a TV movie made me laugh so hard. One can only imagine how good it would have been to see this monstrosity on a big screen.

If it were not for the abysmally banality of the shark attack sequences, which are some of the worst I have ever seen, and for the ridiculous explanation at the denouement of the picture and all that leads up to it, "Spring Break Shark Attack" might have ended up being a merely passable made-for-television creature feature. Heck, it might have even ended up at being flat-out mediocre instead of a dead bore as it is. But it must be given more credit than the norm of this genre. It is much more ambitious than over creature features; they're at least trying at some point in the picture. It's rather amusing. In most movies like this, when we're away from the monster, we feel as lifeless as a piece of driftwood. When the creature arrives, we're still bored, but usually amused by the awful special effects and poor directing. Well, here, it's a little of the opposite. When there are no sharks, the movie is amusing and when there are sharks, it's as dull as dishwater.

They were at least attempting to build a good human story here. Our protagonist is played by Shannon Lucio (in a good performance) as a normally obedient high school graduate who decides to become a rebel and go to Florida on spring break against her father's will. She joins up with friends, ogles at the local beach stud (Riley Smith), tries to avoid a lascivious, sex-starved rival (Justin Baldoni), and then...well, you guessed it, evades man-eating sharks. Yes, around this time, a group of sharks begin to attack the beach on spring break.

I may be crucified by some, but I cannot deny that there were some parts of this movie that I did enjoy. None of them had to do with the sharks, however. They had to do with Shannon Lucio, who is quite good in the movie, and her character and what she goes through. Her relationship to her romantic interest is banal and boring, but there are some good elements such as her attempt to bury the hatchet with her brother, who is studying at a seaside university, and oddly enough the scenes with her and Justin Baldoni almost work. These scenes don't always work, but you can feel the refreshing air where the filmmakers were at least attempting to make a good story. Unlike a great many "Jaws" rip-offs, where you get the sense even the makers of the movie couldn't have cared less.

So when the movie's out of the water, on the beach, it's not good, but not too bad either. At these moments, it might have had a 5/10 going for it. But then there's the shark attacks, which are so abysmally bad, and there are so many of them in the last half of the movie, that they pull everything under along with their screaming victims. The cardboard and rubber fins painted gray are utterly awful and the phony screaming and thrashing of their victims so cheesy that one cannot even laugh at them. Honestly, nobody expected a real scare from a movie called "Spring Break Shark Attack" but at least a good laugh here and there. Here, no laughs. The open time I opened my mouth at the sharks was to yawn. We also question why the sharks are congregating on this particular beach at this particular time and when we do find out why, the explanation the movie gives is so harebrained and boneheaded and deprived of logic (even on the standards of this genre) that it produces nothing more than an exhausted yawn.

Perhaps this film would have fared better had it been a beach story with no sharks or shark attack back-stories. Shannon Lucio is pretty and quite good in her role and there are some fine supporting performances, including two by great actors Kathy Baker and Byron Brown, but ultimately the movie is just too banal, too clichéd, and too dull to recommend even without the sharks. Coupled with them, it sinks lower on the scale. Ambitious as it is, "Spring Break Shark Attack" is nevertheless an unfortunate failure.

As the movie opens, three pretty young women are floating in the water on a raft. One disappears, and the water turns red ...

Danielle wants to spend Spring Break in Florida. For one thing, she misses her friends Alicia and Karen, who went to a different college. Her strict lawyer father says no, but Danielle sneaks out anyway.

The beach is filled with good-looking young people. Danielle meets up with her friends, and J. T. and his friend Max have a video camera and want to pick up girls.

Danielle's brother Charlie, who is doing research for the local university, is concerned about the environmental effects of a new reef. His professor, after hearing him say sharks are likely to be a problem, reminds him of the boy who cried wolf. Nevertheless, Charlie tells his sister to stay out of the water.

Shane wants to go to college to study boat building. His mother isn't making enough from their boat rental business, though this is the busy season. Joel Gately, one of the customers, is having financial problems which would be solved if Spring Break wasn't quite so profitable here.

This would have been a perfectly good Spring Break movie without the sharks. Lots of gorgeous girls in bikinis (oh, almost forgot, there are guys with their shirts off). Wild parties with loud music. It's not always that exciting at first, but once the sharks really make their appearance, the excitement level builds. Again, it's not consistently exciting, but toward the end, I was glued to the screen.

Shannon Lucio was good as Danielle, who and showed a lot of intelligence in the process of helping save the day for her friends and, later, for everyone. Riley Smith was also good as Shane, who also really knew what he was doing.

Kathy Baker, as Shane's mother, did okay, but didn't really add that much for someone who is such a respected actress. Bryan Brown, as Mr. Gately, seemed to completely lack a conscience.

There was some great underwater photography (related to Charlie's research, not the sharks), though it didn't last long.

Consistency problem: the radio station started out as WZPP, then it was WZPZ, then WPZP. Makes you wonder what other problems there were.

Regardless, I thought this was pretty good.