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norirosewrites · 18 days

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Horror Documentary Review: Sharksploitation

Subgenre: Documentary

Gore Level: None (though animal lovers might be upset by some of the footage)

Do you remember the first time you saw Jaws? I was eight years old, and I watched my mother’s VHS copy on the floor in our living room with a bowl of sour cream and onion potato chips and a bottle of lemonade. I couldn’t help feeling unsettled (who doesn’t feel at least a teeny bit apprehensive while watching Jaws?), but more than anything, I was fascinated by it. Maybe it was because my household also had a VHS of a Discovery Channel documentary about sharks and their importance in the oceanic ecosystem that I loved watching as a kid, so I already had a pretty solid appreciation and healthy respect for sharks. I went on to read the novel for a bit of light summer reading before my junior year of high school, and I agree with Speilberg wholeheartedly: in Peter Benchley’s version of the story, the shark should have won. (Seriously. All of the other characters in the book are terrible.) All that’s to say, I’ve always thought that sharks are pretty cool. You’ve got to respect a species older than the dinosaurs that have survived multiple mass extinction events. (One of my favorite memories from summer trips to Galveston growing up was seeing a little bonnethead hanging around one of the fishing piers looking for tasty morsels.) That being said, I’m not generally a fan of shark films. Almost all of them are piggybacks of Jaws with horribly written storylines and terrible CGI. (Laugh at the “cheesy” mechanical shark all you want, but no one will ever convince me that CGI is better than the craftsmanship that goes into making physical props and effects.) Shark documentaries, on the other hand, are always on my radar – no pun intended – and a documentary on the subject of sharks and film and sharks in film was a natural choice. Sharksploitation delivered on my expectations.

In A Nutshell:

Sharksploitation is an original documentary produced by Shudder and Sharksploitation, LLC, that follows the timeline of shark films from the early 20th century to the present and explores how the representation of sharks in cinema both reflects and influences their relationship with humanity. While Jaws is at the heart of the film, it features commentary on sharks in folklore, visual art, and film long predating the classic film, as well as contemporary depictions in the post-Jaws era, from experts ranging from filmmakers and marine biologists to actors and horror film historians, and Wendy Benchley, ocean conservationist and wife of Peter Benchley.

Sharksploitation begins by examining why so many people are drawn to shark movies and why sharksploitation films have such universal appeal that other exploitation genres don’t enjoy. Dr. Emily Zarka, professor and monster expert, defines sharksploitation as a genre that focuses on the idea of the “meta shark” – essentially, a monstrous, exaggerated idea of sharks with very little basis in actual reality. Roger Corman, producer of She Gods of Shark Reef (1958), Piranha (1978 – which, fun fact, was filmed here in Texas), and Sharktopus (2010), comments that people are drawn to shark movies because sharks are natural monsters, not fictional creations. As a land-lubber species, humans have a primal fear of being in the water and having something unseen grab hold of us. Sharks also contribute to thalassophobia – the fear of the ocean or large, deep bodies of water – to say nothing of the natural fear of being eaten alive. Mario Van Peebles, director of USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016) and actor in Jaws: The Revenge (1987), sums it up: “[Sharksploitation] reminds us how frail and vulnerable we are, but ignites something in us on the adrenaline level that makes us feel alive.” This is likely a huge part of why Jaws was such a hit and continues to be exalted as a classic. While it was not the first film to feature undersea monsters (an early example is 1930’s The Sea Bat, which features a giant manta ray as the murderous marine star), it was the first to cast a shark in the villainous spotlight.

The film then explores how the image of sharks in media has evolved throughout human history. For centuries, sharks have been depicted as divine or ancestral spirits in the folklore of the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and Africa, sometimes offering help and protection to humans and often having the ability to shapeshift into a humanoid form. (A well-known example is the Hawaiian myth of Nanaue.) Even early films featuring sharks didn’t always portray them as evil; in Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931), the shark character is a god who protects the ocean (and also holds the distinction as the first rubber shark used in a film). These ancient folkloric tropes can still be seen today in films like Moana (2016) and Suicide Squad (2016). However, Dr. Zarka points out that when Western filmmakers began looking at sharks as cinematic exploration, they looked at real sharks rather than the rich body of folklore surrounding them.

Sharks began to be depicted in a more sinister light in the Enlightenment era of the eighteenth century. British artist J.M.W Truner painted them attacking African victims of the Zong massacre who were thrown or jumped from the ship (The Slave Ship, 1840), and the infamous oil painting Watson and the Shark (1778) by John Singleton Copley sensationalized the real-life story of an unfortunate cabin boy’s run-in with a shark in the waters near Havana, Cuba.

The 1916 Jersey Shore bull shark attacks lent credence to these unsettling depictions. Meanwhile, surfing was gaining popularity in Australia, inevitably leading to more human-shark interactions. World War II brought about the tragic USS Indianapolis incident. And during the filming of Shark! (1969), a stuntman who got too close to one of the real sharks in the water was killed on camera. In a tragic reversal, a shark was killed by the crew out of Blue Water, White Death (1971) out of fear and without provocation.

Peter Benchley wrote Jaws as “fiction based on fact” based on a story he heard about a fisherman who caught a 4,550 lb great white. At that time, the “rogue shark” theory – the idea that a shark who tastes human flesh will develop an appetite for it and stake its territory in waters where humans are known to participate in recreational activities – was popular among marine biologists. (The theory has since been discredited by most scientists, but it has contributed to controversial and largely ineffective shark control measures that have caused harm to shark populations around the world.) According to his wife, ocean conservationist Wendy Benchley, Peter did not subscribe to the theory, but director Stephen Spielberg DID run with it in the film adaptation.

Jaws was groundbreaking on multiple fronts. It was the first summer blockbuster, one of the first films to show trailers as TV commercials, and the first film to have promotional merchandise on a mass-market scale. Jaws was also unique in that it made the shark itself a character in the story. It not only kickstarted the modern sharksploitation genre, but it also influenced other “animal horror” films like Orca (1977) and Grizzly (1976). Unfortunately, marine biologists and conservationists knew it spelled disaster for real sharks. Fishermen and vigilantes took it upon themselves to kill sharks as a preventative measure, mistakenly believing they were making beaches and fishing grounds safer, and some species have never recovered from that era. Subsequent films like Shark’s Treasure (1975), Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976 – which, oddly enough, is about a man who discovers he is telepathic with sharks and attempts to save them), and Tintorera (1977) involved the brutal on-camera deaths of real sharks to get the desired shots.

Sharksploitation films died out a little in the 90s in favor of sci-fi flicks (including a personal favorite of mine, 1993’s Jurassic Park), but 1999’s Deep Blue Sea brought the genre back into the limelight by combining sharksploitation with actual science (at least, what was accepted science at the time). Open Water (2003), loosely based on the true story of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan, was a more realistic film that piggybacked on the found-footage style of the Blair Witch Project (1999). Dr. Zarka comments that more contemporary films like Sharktopus (2010), Sharknado (2013), Ghost Shark (2013), and The Meg (2018) show an interesting evolution of the genre: “It’s like sharks can get you anywhere – pools, sinks, buckets of water, even fire hydrants on the street.” Dr. Zarka believes these films also speak to our modern desire to reconnect with the supernatural; “The idea that scientists could somehow find an ancient creature like the megalodon hiding out there is terrifying but also thrilling.”

Unfortunately, profit sometimes often gets in the way of distinguishing sensationalized fiction from reality. Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week, once a celebrated educational program, broke the public trust in 2013 with the mockumentary Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, which falsely suggested that the extinct prehistoric shark could still be roaming the world’s oceans today. In Sharksploitation, marine biologist Vicky Vasquez discusses how this misleading programming, alongside other pseudo-documentaries such as Animal Planet’s Mermaids: The Body Found (2012), has damaged marine conservation efforts by directing public attention away from real oceanic conservation efforts in favor of fantasy.

The film wraps up by acknowledging that the impact of Jaws on human-shark relations was not all negative. The original sharksploitation blockbuster inspired many young fans to pursue careers in oceanography and marine conservation. While it may have made some viewers scared to step into a bubble-filled bathtub, let alone the ocean, Jaws remains a beloved film to this day and is still considered an important piece of cinematic history. “In a way,” Dr. Zarka states near the film's end, “campy sharksploitation has made sharks less scary because of their ridiculousness. If we approach it as fun and an exaggeration and not as reality, I think we can appreciate it.”

The WOW:

– Hands down, my favorite thing about this documentary was the way it traced the history of sharks in folklore, art, and film in almost a narrative arc. I haven’t seen many shark documentaries that acknowledge the important role of sharks in non-Western cultures. As someone passionate about folklore and mythology, I appreciated that this was addressed early in the film. Showing that sharks’ relationship with humanity has not always been negative was a thought-provoking and wise way to open the documentary.

– The vintage film and documentary footage were fun to watch and a great way to visualize the evolution of sharks in cinema. I think the commentators did a good job of making thoughtful comparisons between different films and film eras.

– What I appreciated the most about this documentary was that it featured a vast array of experts weighing in on the nature of sharksploitation. It may not seem like horror film historians, marine scientists, and action film actors have much in common, but I found each speaker had something insightful to share that contributed to the cross-disciplinary conversation. I was also pleased that Peter Benchley’s wife, Wendy Benchley, was given a spot in the film to speak about her late husband’s work as a writer and his subsequent career as a marine conservationist. I had always heard that Mr. Benchley later regretted writing Jaws due to the novel and film’s negative impact on sharks, and Wendy Benchley confirmed this to be true; before her husband died in 2006, he told her, “There’s no way I could write Jaws now.” The Meh:

– I don’t have too much in the way of criticism about Sharksploitation. If I had to offer one piece of critique, I would have liked to have heard more from the horror film historians featured in the film and their thoughts on how depictions of sharks in cinema might reflect the real-life social and political anxieties of the audience (one of my favorite topics to discuss concerning the horror genre, and especially now that eco-horror – which Jaws subsequent sharksploitation films could arguably fall under – is currently having a huge moment).

Final Thoughts:

If you’re a fan of Jaws, the horror genre, film history, or are interested in sharks in any capacity, I think you’ll enjoy Sharksploitation. It’s a well-made and fun documentary that will make you think differently about shark movies and why their appeal has endured for so long. And if somebody out there gets inspired to write a better screenplay than most of the shark films that have come out since Jaws – and bonus points if anyone is willing to build actual props for it – I will be the first one to buy tickets!

#horror film reviews #horror films #horror documentary #sharks #shark documentary #shark movies #jaws #horror #horror blog #horror Tumblr #horrorblr

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tentacledwizard · 1 year

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Come Look At Shark Movie Posters With Me

As a patron of the arts, it is my job to find and review pieces that others might overlook. Recently, I found some intriguing movie posters, all of which belong to a single genre- the low-quality shark movie (also called the sharksploitation genre). Despite the blatant scientific inaccuracies, I took it upon myself to share these unique artworks with the world.

Now, this one is a classic. “Sharknado,” the title proclaims in a bold gradient red. “Enough said!” This poster knows exactly what it’s trying to communicate. It doesn’t talk down to the audience. It already assumes we understand what it’s about. After all, a clever portmanteau of “shark” and “tornado” can only mean one thing! I am really blown away (no pun intended) by the complex wordplay and bold statement of this poster.

The visuals are striking (it has a nice orange and blue color contrast, a staple of great posters everywhere). Of course, the sharknado is front and center. The spinning, cartilaginous vortex is creating fire and explosions for some reason- showing its nature as an otherworldly, diabolical force. A Ferris wheel topples into the stock-image inferno. There’s no time for leisure when this sort of catastrophe descends on your city.

The sharks themselves are excellent, mainly Great Whites with one mako. All of them appear to be screaming bloody murder, their denticles (shark scales) shimmering against a dark tornado. Two of them seem to be the same image flipped around. There’s an element of tragic nobility among these creatures. They were just minding their own business before getting sucked into a horrible, never-ending spiral. These sharks are somehow alive above land. They’re tough. They’re survivors. They never wanted to be a weather phenomenon, and they could have lived peaceful fishy lives without ever seeing Los Angeles. Are their open jaws a sign of aggression, or a cry for help?

RATING: 4.7 out of 5. This poster is fin-tastic. Enough said!

This one is interesting. Not as dynamic as the version where Mega Shark was chomping a plane. This time, Giant Octopus is doing the damage, using a ship as a sort of bath toy. The title font is obviously symbolic, portraying Mega Shark as a shiny gold and Giant Octopus as silver. It’s pretty clear who will win in the end. (After all, there was also Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus. And Mega Shark vs. Kolossus. And Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark. I think it’s safe to say Mega Shark survives.)

Again, there’s an intense orange-blue contrast. This time, though, it’s overdone. It lacks Sharknado’s finesse. There’s some kind of heavy vignette filter, and the colors are dark and dingy. The aptly named leviathans are duking it out. A broken Golden Gate Bridge (?) is seen in the background. This, and the gold font used for Mega Shark, seem to signify a dark night of the soul for our CGI protagonist. As Robert Frost once said, nothing gold can stay.

Giant Octopus is dragging Mega Shark down, its papillae spiky. The tip of its arm is in Mega Shark’s mouth. Okay, Giant Octopus. I’ll pretend to not read into it, for your benefit. (And I’m not! After all, a shark’s weapon is its mouth! I’m choosing to ignore… whatever Giant Octopus is doing.)

RATING: 3. Spicy, but an eyesore.

Hmm. Nah.

I don’t like this poster. It’s very unoriginal. (Look up the poster for Jaws. You’ll see what I mean.) The shark is doing the generic Oh No, Scary Shark pose. Hear that sound in the distance? That’s the sound of violins playing, but they’re clearly part of a bad remix. Also, the lower part of the poster still suffers from an odd-looking vignette effect. This time it’s crimson, because why not.

I know this is supposed to be about the poster, not the movie, but I’ll say it: Sand Sharks seems like an especially bad movie. I mean what would the plot be? Sharks bursting out of the sand and surprising literally no one because people could see the dorsal fins and get off the beach?

So, we have the mandatory Bikini Woman who will become shark chow very soon. She’s laying down on the sand without a towel or anything, pushing her chest up in this super convincing pose. Then there’s the shark, who has concerningly needle-like, snaggly teeth. (Wait, I just looked it up. Turns out snaggletooth sharks are a thing. I apologize to any snaggletooth sharks out there, all of you are amazing.) Here’s my main question: how did Generic Shark find Bikini Woman? Generic Shark’s ampullae of Lorenzini are clearly visible. Ampullae of Lorenzini are used for electroreception, which is this incredible sixth sense sharks have. I can’t go into long paragraphs about this so I suggest you look it up (it’s awesome). But Generic Shark is swimming under sand, so it wouldn’t be able to use electroreception and find prey. How does it know where Bikini Woman (or anyone) is? Also, how does it breathe? How does it swim? Why would it evolve to swim in sand, when it could evolve to better hunt seals? Sharks don’t even think humans taste good, so why-

Sorry about that, it was getting long. RATING: 2. Blah.

Now THAT’S what I’m talking about!

Really, where do I begin? This is incredible. Cathartic. Powerful. From the very original name to the beautifully rendered detail, this has watered my crops, cured my loneliness, etc etc etc. The title is a rich scarlet, and it’s luminescent against the crashing waves. Sure, the tagline describes Jurassic Shark as a “dinosaur from the deep” even though dinosaurs are reptiles, but I can excuse that.

Jurassic Shark is a looker for sure. He (Pretty sure it’s a he) has a huge, cavernous mouth framed by excellent teeth. (Again, no offense to snaggletooth sharks.) He’s the focal point, as he should be. A primordial emotion simmers in his handsome black eyes: hangriness. He’s presumably been dormant for a while, so of course he’d swallow the nearest big thing in hopes of sating a hunger too big for this time period. Around him, the ocean froths and convulses. Rain pours down from the heavens, signaling the arrival of this Cetus-like, deific megalodon. I may need some cold water, it’s just that good.

Of course, there’s a Bikini Woman, wearing a bikini in the middle of a storm for some reason. She’s jumping off a boat, apparently preferring to drown rather than experience the honor of being consumed by Jurassic Shark. Rusty flames pour from the mangled boat, highlighted by glittering sparks. Take notes, Mega Shark. This is an excellent orange-blue contrast. A helicopter hovers just above Jurassic Shark, helpfully illuminating his many scrapes and scratches. I find myself unable to stop staring at this.

RATING: 5. A modern masterpiece. It feels unfair to judge this against the others.

I was planning on putting Dinoshark here, but then I learned that the movie’s subject is not a dino or a shark. It’s a pliosaur. So you’ll have to stick with Shark Exorcist.

Anyway, this poster shows the presumable Shark Exorcist, who is surprisingly not wearing a bikini. Clad in an oily black exorcist outfit, he lifts up a cross glowing with a divine power. His pose seems to say, Get smote, you hideous burnt toast! Take a swim in some holy water.

Said burnt toast is the shark. His skin is charred and peeling, cracking open to reveal red-hot flesh. Probably representing one of the seven deadly sins. Or it’s a metaphor for getting a sunburn. Demon Shark is hocking up a big fiery spitball, and he’s bursting out of the… sand? Water? Who knows.

Actually, this particular shark is a mere puppet piloted by the Devil. The big guy, Satan himself. Sharks are often demonized in the media, and this movie really went the extra mile! I feel bad for the shark, though.

Above the shark/Devil, the tagline reads: SATAN HAS JAWS. I’m kind of confused by this message. So before possessing a shark, Satan didn’t have jaws? Interesting. The whole poster has no visual contrast so it just seems like a burnt orange mess. The color scheme could work, but it doesn’t here.

RATING: 2.5

Ah, yes. Jaws, the big snappy mother of all low-quality shark movies. The actors hated each other and the animatronic shark kept breaking, but they still managed to make a film that gets paraphrased over and over, as exemplified by the low-budget movies I already discussed.

But then a terrible thing happened. Jaws tried to paraphrase itself. The resulting sequels are widely regarded as paragons of horrible selachian fiasco films. One of the most infamous is Jaws: The Revenge. Let’s see whether the poster is as bad as the movie.

At first glance, it’s nicely put together. The colors are crisp and saturated. I bet I could taste those blues if I licked my screen enough. Which I might, just to feel something. Anything. I also like how they replaced the A in Jaws with the shark’s snout. This shark doesn’t have time for your franchise name. It’s suffered through some horrible, no-good, very bad sequels. (Assuming it’s the same shark the whole time. I haven’t watched the sequels.) The whole poster has this really nice painterly aesthetic. Nice lighting and shading, too. You can see the sparkling water droplets as they crash onto the boat. But Why Did They Write The Tagline Like This? It Looks Kinda Weird With The Rest Of The Poster. Still, “This Time It’s Personal” is absolutely iconic. One of the greatest taglines ever written. I will use it as a positive affirmation when I’m feeling bad, it’s just that awesome and motivational.

The foreground looks cool. It’s a pivoting boat with a similarly diagonal blonde on top of it, grabbing an oversized toothpick. The cerulean waters ripple as she prepares to face off against the dashing Carcharodon carcharias splashing around in the water. Not much else to say there, let’s move on to the shark.

The shark is great, just fantastic. It’s clearly a great white and I LOVE the sharp layered teeth. Just look at those pearly whites. Amazing. It jumps out of coruscating waves, presumably to invite Blonde Lady for a swim. Its eyes reflect the red letters surrounding it. Nice touch.

RATING: 5. Awful movie, great poster.

Okay, this poster is not as bad as it could have been. I’m still not sure whether it’s a sequel to 5-Headed Shark Attack (“You can’t SURVIVE the FIVE!”). It probably is. How that shark keeps growing heads is anyone’s guess.

So, this poster shows a wobbling boat, exploding in a spray of orange Cheeto dust. A Bikini Woman jumps overboard (again), because she’s anti-Cheetos? I’m not sure. It’s not like jumping off will do anything in this situation. It’ll probably get her eaten faster.

The title leaves little to interpret, and the tagline is a brilliantly poetic stroke of genius (as usual). A shark head bites off part of the A in ATTACK. I’ve found this sort of thing is very common in shark movie posters. Sharks just don’t have time for your titles.

Each shark head is very busy consuming a mangled person (or letter). I’m amazed by this poster’s homage to Goya; namely, his painting Saturn Devouring His Son. The poster draws upon the unsettling feeling shown in the first artwork, giving it a unique spin by making Saturn the six-headed shark. Limbs dangle from each mouth as the creature goes into a frenzy. It contrasts nicely with the tropical colors and blast of cheese powder. Normally I’d wonder how a six-headed shark digests several people from several heads, but since it’s obviously symbolic I’ll let it slide.

Still, the whole poster is kind of a mess. Who thought a six-headed shark was a great idea for an on-budget movie? It seems rather jarring and schlocky, what with the heads all having the same pose and expression.

RATING: 3.5. Not bad, but not excellent. Okay, I may have picked too many posters.

This is the last one on the list, and everything’s coming full circle now. Remember Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, and how the two creatures seemed rather cuddly? According to this poster, they got really cuddly, and now their child is learning the family trade.

Okay, that’s not true. Apparently the titular Sharktopus was “created for the military,” but that doesn’t matter. Mega Shark/Giant Octopus is canon! Observe their hybrid child, with his glossy skin and random spikes around his gills. Just look at those tentacles. Yes, technically they’re arms. But still, just look at the way they loop around Bikini Woman’s leg as she attempts to look afraid. Notice the way she puts her hand in Sharktopus’s mouth. It keeps happening! (I jest. The Sharktopus OTP is Sharktopus/Whalewolf.) Passion gleams in his dark eyes, while Bikini Woman stares at his mouth in slack-jawed fascination.

The background is a nice contrast to the dark allure of the scene. It’s a plasticky turquoise ocean that shines under an unseen sun, a backdrop to the incredible CGI happening before us. It’s just so excellent. Sharktopus looks like he’s been dipped in clear varnish, and his mottled, bruise-colored tentacles allude to his tumultuous youth. It also alludes to the fact that he’s part octopus, and octopuses are awesome. I know I say that about a lot of things, but octopuses are mind-explodingly incredible. The idea of a shark/octopus hybrid is a gift from the Muses themselves, delivered to whatever mystic prophet was brave enough to make this film and subsequent poster.

RATING: 4.5. Very cool.

That brings us to the end of my list. I hope you enjoyed our dive into the selachian fine arts. It’s important to note that I don’t condone the mistreatment or endangerment of sharks. Despite what these movies may communicate, sharks are not demonic and bloodthirsty. The biggest one isn’t even carnivorous! Plus, meat-eating sharks dislike the taste of human flesh. Most “attacks” were the shark taking a nibble, then spitting the person out! These low-quality shark movies have been criticized for making more people hate and fear sharks. I encourage anyone reading this to actually learn stuff about sharks because they are cool.

Still, these posters will live on as shining examples of what happens when some guy named Spielberg says, “You know what would freak people out? SHARKS,” and then everyone else agrees. These posters are surprisingly deep and artistic. They form an entire galaxy of 1-star reviews, shining brightly amidst the murky “high-budget” shark movies. Who knows, Sharknado may well outshine The Meg in a few years! Let me know if there are other schlocky masterworks I can review. I’m always on the lookout for modern classics.

#sharks #shark movies #shark movie posters #movie poster #review #sharknado #mega shark #sand sharks #jurassic shark #shark exorcist #jaws #sharktopus #6 headed shark attack #was this ironic #who can really say #>;]#m writes #octopus #shark attack tw

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