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I often wonder what Steven Spielberg really thinks about shark movies. Let’s face it, Jaws is a masterpiece and inspired an ocean full of imitations that have continued to be made from 1975 until today. However, he makes one dinosaur film and no one else wants to touch them, what gives?

Onsen shâku better known to us non-Japanese speakers as Hot Spring Shark Attack is Jaws’s insane descendent featuring as it does a series of gruesome killings, a fine finned fiend on the loose and a tourism obsessed Major desperate to stop anyone knowing what is really going on.

Set in the Monaco of the East, Atsumi in a small town known for its multiple hot springs the Mayor (Takuya Fujimura) is about to build a new sea resort which will bring in plenty of visitors, but is unpopular with the locals. It turns out this is the least...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson)

A film that feels uprooted from deep beneath the earth, Raven Jackson’s poetic, patient debut is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Tethered around the life of Mack, a Black woman from Mississippi, as we witness glimpses of her childhood, teenage years, and beyond, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt becomes a sensory experience unlike anything else this year. Shot in beautiful 35mm by Jomo Fray and edited by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s collaborator Lee Chatametikool, there’s a reverence for nature and joy for human connection that seems all too rarified in today’s landscape of American filmmaking. – Jordan R.

Where to Stream: Prime...

Sharks have come a long way in the last 50 years. Back in my day, a person would have to be swimming in the ocean to get eaten up by a shark but those days are no more! In Morihito Inoue’s goofy gory Hot Spring Shark Attack, nothing can stop these aquatic killing machines. Fresh water, salt water, plumbing pipes, pavement(!) – the sharks in Hot Spring Shark Attack can swim, squirm, and conjure their way through literally anything. And they only thing stopping them from chomping their way through the entire city is a dedicated marine biologist, an out-of-his-depth mayor, a mysterious semi-superhero muscleman, and a grizzled street cop who shoots the words “No Swimming” into the beach sand...

Intentionally making a “so bad it’s good” movie is a lot harder than you might initially think. There’s a fine line between accurately emulating low-brow filming techniques in a sincere homage to trashy cinema and lazily shooting a cheap cash-grab with no attention to detail. After all, coming up with an absurd premise involving extraterrestrial zombies or supernatural sharks is the easy part – the hard part is stretching that concept out into a feature without boring the audience.

That’s why I was so intrigued by Japan’s latest offbeat horror-comedy, Hot Spring Shark Attack, as the film appeared to have a little more going on than its Syfy-produced rivals. An aquatic thriller blending high-effort schlock with modern bad cinema tropes that combines miniatures and handmade puppets with obvious green screens and PS2-level CGI, this peculiar reimagining of shark horror might just be one of the...

Set against a lakefront untouched by time, the Neuchâtel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival offers an annual snapshot of a genre landscape in motion. Holding its 24th edition from July 4 – 12, the Swiss showcase for fantastical film, Asian cinema and digital creation has evolved in tow, growing from upstart to institution as outré fare and auteurs seized ever-greater opportunities.

“We’ve heard the claim that ‘genre is leaving its ghetto’ for nearly as long as we’ve been around,” says Nifff artistic director Pierre-Yves Walder. “Of course, it was never entirely marginalized, but there simply weren’t as many high-profile films openly embracing the fantastic. That’s changing, and we have to evolve along with it.”

This year’s program shows as much. Opening with the international premiere of the sci-fi thriller “Dalloway” – with star Cécile de France on-site to kick off the festivities – this Nifff selection boasts an uncommonly high star-wattage,...

Utopia Dives Into Uncharted Territory With US Acquisition Of Hot Spring Shark Attack

Hot Spring Shark Attack Makes Its US Premiere As The Opening Night Selection At The Chattanooga Film Festival

Utopia, the award-winning independent studio known for arthouse gems such as Pet Shop Days, Shiva Baby, The Sweet East, Holy Spider, and Red Rooms announced they are plunging into new waters today with the acquisition of Hot Spring Shark Attack (aka Onsen Shâku).

Utopia has acquired North American rights to the “unhinged” Japanese shark film and are planning a summer 2025 rollout. The deal was negotiated by Candace Tan on behalf of Utopia and Akiko Uchida of King Record.

Hot Spring Shark Attack is set in a small, hot spring town in Japan, where a ferocious ancient shark reawakens and terrorizes the local hot spring facilities. As the threat escalates, the townspeople band together to protect their beloved town from the menacing predator,...

Grindhouse Releasing Brings Lucio Fulci'S The Beyond To 4K Uhd Blu-ray: "Lucio Fulci's The Beyond is coming to Dolby Vision Ultra HD Blu-ray! The massive six-disc Uhd Deluxe Edition release is available now for pre-order at GrindhouseReleasing.com.

Restored in 4K from the original Techniscope camera negatives, Grindhouse Releasing's Uhd Deluxe Edition is the definitive home video release of Lucio Fulci's 1981 classic of supernatural horror. Bonus features include the "Composer's Cut" with the alternate score by maestro Fabio Frizzi, the re-edited and re-scored U.S. version 7 Doors Of Death, a 100-page book, and much more!

Grindhouse Releasing will ship The Beyond Uhd Deluxe Edition to online store customers in April. Pre-order now at GrindhouseReleasing.com to get your copy of this incredible collector's set while supplies last. Please note that due to licensing restrictions, this release is available only in North America."

Special Features

- Super-deluxe 6 disc collector's edition – 1 Uhd,...

Exclusive: It’s fifty years since Jaws was released and U.S. distributors are getting in the mood. Utopia, the domestic buyer of movies including Pet Shop Days, Shiva Baby, and Holy Spider, is plunging into new waters with the acquisition of Hot Spring Shark Attack (aka Onsen Shâku).

Utopia has acquired North American rights to the Japanese shark film and is planning a summer 2025 rollout. The deal was negotiated by Candace Tan, Director of Acquisitions, on behalf of Utopia and Akiko Uchida, Acquisitions and Sales, of King Record.

Hot Spring Shark Attack is set in a small, hot spring town in Japan, where a ferocious ancient shark reawakens and terrorizes the local hot spring facilities. As the threat escalates, the townspeople band together to protect their beloved town from the menacing predator.

The thriller-comedy marks the directorial debut of Morihito Inoue, two-time winner of the National Independent Kaiju Film Championship.