Sharktopus

Now, when confronted with a title like this, one might reasonably expect a film that was made for the SyFy channel to go with their cheap B-movies like Mega Pirahna or their 'vs' series of films made by The Asylum (Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus and the upcoming Mega Python vs. Gatoroid). Sharktopus is slightly different as, although it was financed by the SyFy channel, it was produced by filmmaking legend Roger Corman, a man who has been responsible for myriad B-movies and exploitation films in his time.

Although this was produced by Roger Corman, it was directed by Declan O'Brien, who I was away wrath because he directed the disappointing 'threequel' Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead and written by Mike McLean, who also wrote the SyFy Channel's film Dinocroc vs. Supergator, so it didn't come with the greatest of pedigrees. However, with an open mind, I put in the DVD and let the glory of Sharktopus unfold.

The film begins in Santa Monica where a company, Blue Water, has created the 'ultimate weapon' for the U.S. Navy - something that can go into enemy waters, track down and follow drug runners and weapons dealers without being spotted. This is no submarine with stealth technology, but a bizarre hybrid of two with the ocean's most deadly creatures: a great white shark and a giant octopus. With incredible speed and agility plus razor sharp teeth and eight tentacles each with a deadly spike at the end, S-11 (the codename for this fearsome creature) should be exactly what the military needs.

Blue Water is very much a family affair, run by Nathan Sands, a brilliant bio-geneticist with an ego the size of Asia and with his genius daughter Nicole spearheading the science side of things whilst Nathan negotiates contracts. When it is time to show the military wants S-11 can do, it does exactly what it is supposed to until Commander Cox spots a couple of guys in a speedboat and asks Nathan to have S-11 follow them. Nicole objects, saying that the creature isn't ready for this kind of work yet but Nathan wants to impress the commander and persuades his daughter to have S-11 track the boat. Everything is going (pardon the pun) swimmingly until the speedboat makes a sharp turn and cuts across S-11, knocking the control device from its head.

With no way to control the creature, which is now able to follow its animal instincts and go hunting, the military orders Nathan Sands to track down and capture S-11 before it goes on a killing spree that would remove the 'secret' part of 'secret weapon'. When they find S-11, it has already killed several people off the coast of California and headed to warmer waters off the coast of Mexico in the holiday resort of Puerto Vallarta. With a beach full of bikini-clad women, muscular men and no shortage of people prepared to get into the boat or onto their Jet Ski and take to the water, things are going to be easy for Nathan.


If that weren't bad enough, a small and ambitious news crew thinks that this will move them from bottom of the schedule to top spot and will stop at nothing to get the footage they need. In addition, a pirate radio station, comprising the unscrupulous Captain Jack and his glamorous assistant Stephanie, has also stumbled on the story and, treating it as a giant hoax, will report everything that comes their way. The scene is set for carnage on the beaches of Puerto Vallarta whilst Nathan Sands tries to keep his military contract whilst Nicole and a couple of hired hands, including a shark hunter, who works for Blue Water until Nathan fired him, are out trying to capture S-11.

Anyone approaching Sharktopus expecting the finest screenplay since Casablanca, inspired direction and Olivier-esque acting is either stupid or deluded as this is a low budget monster movie so what you really should want from the film are some stereotypical characters, ridiculous scenarios and the titular character finding increasingly gory ways to dispatch people left, right and centre.

With Eric Roberts as Nathan Sands, you have a wonderfully evil central villain as, if there is one thing Eric Roberts can do well, it is to play a character who you really want to see get his comeuppance. Aside from that, the cast doesn't have many (if any) recognisable faces but, let's face it, this film is all about the monster and the very idea of a sea creature with the body and head of a great white shark and the tail end of a giant octopus is a real late night, back of a fag packet concoction but is one that works perfectly. It allows the front cover to reference Jaws and for the great tagline '50% Shark. 50% Octopus. 100% Killer.' Brilliant!


As a cheap and cheerful piece of exploitation, Sharktopus works very well in doing exactly what you expect as Declan O'Brien is no Christopher Nolan but is the sort of director who would probably lick his lips when offered a project like this as he could really do no wrong. Similarly, Mike McLean seems to know his target audience as the dialogue is occasionally dreadful, the scenarios completely unrealistic or overblown and the characters drawn in broad strokes. If anything, I was a little surprised that Nathan Sands didn't spend the whole film chewing on a cigar as he is that sort of bad guy but it is enough that he has complete disregard for his employees personal safety and spends the whole of the 'capture mission' on his private yacht drinking scotch! You know that Nicole is the academic type because she wears glasses and Andy Flynn must be a shark hunter because he spends almost the entire film barechested or with a loose shirt either unbuttoned or with the top several buttons undone to show his impressive pecs.

Sharktopus was exactly what I expected and didn't disappoint which is really all I wanted. There were a few occasions when the pacing was a little too slow and I just wanted them to get back to hunting S-11 or Nathan Sands being a complete prick but these are minor quibbles in what is a DTV B-movie.

The Disc

Extra Features
I didn't expect to disc like this to be packed full of bonus material so wasn't surprised when the main menu only offers a trailer.

The Picture
Unsurprisingly for a Roger Corman-produced film, the technical aspects are pretty good and show a level of skill. After all, this is the sort of film which gave valuable filmmaking lessons to the likes of James Cameron, Jonathan Demme and Martin Scorsese. In terms of location shooting, you can't really go wrong with Puerto Vallarta as the sea and sky are beautifully blue and the plants are a lush green. Fortunately, these colours are strong and vibrant and there doesn't appear to be any edge enhancement or ghosting as the picture is nice and clear.

When it comes to the CGI, some of it is very good and some of it is awful as the creature itself looks very good and there is an early scene when it rescues a swimmer by killing the shark that is chasing her which looks fairly convincing. The worst aspects of the CGI are the tentacles as they are clearly fake and the actors have just pretended to be grabbed by something rather than be grabbed by a piece of green rope or tubing which is then removed in post production. Perhaps the most obvious example is early on when there are two guys painting the Queen Mary, sitting on a scaffold when they are killed and pulled into water by S-11 and one of them quite clearly jumps off!


The Sound
The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack does its job very well, presenting the dialogue clearly and not allowing the splashing, engine noise or screaming to interfere or otherwise become distorted.

The score, by Tom Hiel, is very effective and shows that his occasional promotion from working in the music department under Marco Beltrami to composer is justified with a perfectly suitable piece of music.

Final Thoughts
Sharktopus is a great name for a film and I would guess that without the large Roger Corman Presents a banner at the top, it would receive less attention and just be lumped in with the other SyFy Channel monster movies. This would be no bad thing as it is in the same vein as those that is much better made than the likes of Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus and the other output from The Asylum. With an extremely reasonable RRP (£5.99), this is well worth a punt as it is the kind of movie you can put on late at night when you want to just put your brain on standby prior to going to bed or when you have some friends around with some beers and snacks.