Dinoshark Review

• 4th May 2011

Roger Corman seems to have a penchant for sending mutated sharks to Mexican resorts. Apparently the good citizens of Mexico (and indeed, the audience) didn’t suffer enough during Sharktopus’s reign of terror so now they have to contend with a new man-eating monster: Dinoshark!

150 million years after being frozen, melting ice caps cause Dinoshark to be set free. He then spends the following three years heading to the Gulf of Mexico to terrorise an unassuming group of friends and several unlucky tourists. Trace McGraw (Eric Balfour, 24, Buffy, Skyline), a man returning home for reasons that aren’t ever fully explained, and the beautiful Carol Brubaker (Iva Hasperger, Cloud Seven, Exorcism) an aqua-ecologist cum water-polo coach, set out to avenge the death of their friends and stop Dinoshark before he can munch his way through more unsuspecting tourists and Carol’s all-female water polo team.

The CGI is pretty low-rent but is exactly what you’d expect from a B-movie and it only serves to add to the fun. The problem is, Dinoshark himself isn’t actually frightening; in fact he barely even resembles a shark. Nonetheless it’s still enjoyable to see him speeding through the waves to a soundtrack that’s two notes from being a copyright infringement on John Williams’ famous score. He also has a tendency to give a jubilant flip after each kill, making him an oddly cheerful character.

The plot is rather shaky and is built around the age-old premise of “monster exists; monster must be stopped”. It’s hard to tell if the acting is particularly awful as the scenes don’t last very long and are always cut when you least expect it. There’s a lot of stock footage in this film; it’s probably given as much screen time as the actual scenes. But there are some fantastic moments too, a personal favourite being Trace’s heroics on a jet-ski. There’s also a surfing scene full of both laughs and scares.  Given that there’s little in the way of plot it’s surprising to find a weak attempt at a sub-plot; Carol’s sleazy boss at the resort just won’t stop harassing her for a drink. As if the girl doesn’t have enough to contend with!

While this film isn’t going to win any Oscars (or any other awards for that matter), it is good fun and that’s essentially what this genre is about. The monster looks fake, the acting isn’t great and there are gaping holes in the plot, but this is the essence of a good monster movie and this one doesn’t disappoint. It’s called Dinoshark; you get exactly what you’d expect. A great film to watch after a few at the pub or to laugh at with friends, this is an enjoyable film. Personally I can’t wait for Corman’s next offering: Piranhaconda. Yes, really.

Lindsay Emerson