Nightmare Shark (2018)

Directed by Griff Furst [Other horror films: I Am Omega (2007), Wolvesbayne (2009), 30 Days to Die (2009), Lake Placid 3 (2010), Maskerade (2011), Swamp Shark (2011), Arachnoquake (2012), Ghost Shark (2013), Ragin Cajun Redneck Gators (2013), Starve (2014), Cold Moon (2016), Trailer Park Shark (2017)] & Nathan Furst [Other horror films: N/A]

This might be one of the most innovative Syfy originals I’ve seen in the last ten years. Nightmare Shark isn’t a great film, I hate to say, but it is the exact type of bold step the channel might want to consider taking, as this was a delight to see.

And that’s not something I can say for a lot of modern-day Syfy originals, especially their shark-themed ones. It’s a breath of fresh air – well, mildly fresh, because Nightmare Shark isn’t exactly original (as it borrows quite a bit from A Nightmare on Elm Street), but compared to the rest of their shark input, it’s good stuff.

Here’s a big part of why I appreciate the film, though – it brought back characters from two previous Syfy shark films, Atomic Shark and Trailer Park Shark. From Atomic Shark, Kaplan (Bobby Campo) and Gina (Rachele Brooke Smith) are back, and from Trailer Park Shark, we get Rob (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Jolene (Lulu Jovovich). While there’s not much focus on their past adventures save a reference (a character runs into news articles about the events from both movies), it’s nice to have the same characters come back in this format.

It’s especially interesting, because we get to see what the impact of surviving one of these ridiculous shark attacks might look like. Thomas Ian Nicholas’ Rob was a pretty decent character in Trailer Park Shark, but he’s angry here, emotionally broken, and Lulu Jovovich’s Jolene (who honestly didn’t do much in Trailer Park Shark) had to really pull most of the weight. Gina and Kaplan seem largely unchanged (I would have liked to know if Gina got her degree in environmental sciences yet), but still, great to see them back.

And the situation itself is fun. Because of nightmares all of them have been having dealing with involving water and sharks, they agree to a drug trial run by Tony Amendola’s character in a remote cabin. It’s not an ingenious set-up, but get this – it may be a Syfy shark movie, but there’s no beach, no lifeguards, no drunken shenanigans on the water – and that’s a nice feeling, as those get so damn tiresome. Throw in the possibility that Amendola’s character may not be on the level, and you have a fun time.

Caroline Cole made a decent lead, and she was a strong character, but as she’s not someone from a previous film, I can’t say she stood out as much as others. Tony Amendola was surprisingly decent in his role, and of the four returning characters, I think it’s a surprising Lulu Jovovich who did the best. To be sure, it was great seeing Rachele Brooke Smith back in action, and the same could be said of Bobby Campo, but Jovovich did well for a character that didn’t impress me much in Trailer Park Shark.

None of the dream sequences are particularly noteworthy, aside from perhaps the sequences that takes place in a barren collection of dunes, which looked sort of cool (and once giant fins started popping up, sort of goofy). The dreams are pretty typical – walking out a door and then find you’re hanging off a cliff, or a parody of Freddy’s attack in a bathtub, only with a shark – but none are that bad, and unlike Trailer Park Shark, this movie isn’t particularly trying to be goofy or funny, and I appreciated the somewhat dark vibe.

If I could have fixed anything, it would have been the final scene, which is a bit inconclusive. I sort of liked it early on, because it seemed like it might be a subversion of the type of ending the audiences have come to expect, but the final shot itself just wasn’t something I was fond of.

That said, I did quite like the whole idea behind why the antagonist was doing what the antagonist was doing – it was really insane, but sort of corny fun, and I just dug it, even if the special effects behind the evil shark god were a little suspect.

I didn’t really like either Atomic Shark or Trailer Park Shark, so to bring back characters from both of those films (films which aren’t tonally consistent with this one at all) and change up the format was a fantastic idea, and it’s this type of idea that perhaps Syfy should experiment with in the future, because while Nightmare Shark isn’t a good movie, it was leagues above many of their other originals in recent times.

6.5/10