Sharktopus (DVD Review)

Photo - Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Dir: Declan O'Brien (Cyclops, Monster Ark, Rock Monster)
Cast: Eric Roberts, Sara Malakul, Kerem Bursin, Julián González, Shandi Finnessey, Héctor Jiménez
USA, 2010 (TV)

Reason to see: Wh0 could resist a film called Sharktopus? Not me! Bring on the teeth & tentacles!

Shartopus is one heck of a fun film. The idea is totally crazy, of a half-shark half-octopus creation that's coming to get ya! I loved it. I loved it! It knows exactly what kind of movie it is and embraces it on all levels. It's totally crazy and totally fun.

The Sharktopus itself is definitely the main focus here with it causing havoc to swimmers and beach lovers, but behind the science of it all we have science folk Nathan Sands (Eric Roberts) and daughter Nicole Sands (Sara Malakul) who are the brains behind creating Sharktopus and then the science/gun-for-hire as Andy Flynn (Kerem Bursin) whose reeled in to reel in the crazy creature itself. I actually really enjoyed Eric Roberts here who does a great job of not quite going campy, but certainly bringing a sly amount of humour to the mix keeping things moving along but also a lot of fun along the way.

We also have a combination of creature seekers and skeptics trying their best to follow or fall back from the Sharktopus action and of course following water dwelling creature means we have beach and blood scenes galore with lots of little bathing suits - which is the only thing I could have done without, at least in such volume and almost exclusively femme-focused, but it's pretty expected giving the context and setting and because it's made for TV it actually doesn't feel that gratuitous.

Overall, Sharktopus is a really fun film and I had a great time watching it. I'm thrilled to see that we are seeing SyFy films show up on DVD (and BluRay!) as a way fro us folks here in Canada to actually have a way to see them as we don't have access to the SyFy channel and they are just about to hit the 200th original film. Wow. They know what they are doing because it really hits all the right, fun marks for an entertaining popcorn movie and I can't wait to watch it again. Good times!

DVD Extras:

• Audio commentary with producers Roger Corman & Julie Corman I really enjoyed this commentary, they talk a lot about independent film making process from challenges to changes over the years, as well as the format of SyFy films and the needs and wants of that particular audience, the differences in focus for making films for TV vs theatre, keeping with the changing times, and lots of great enthusiasm for the film as well as frankness of challenges faced. Independent producer and filmmaker Perry Martin is also on the commentary and he's great at asking interesting questions that lead to informative discussions.
• Trailer

Sharktopus is available on DVD as of March 15, 2011. Check it out over at Amazon.ca
& Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I really enjoyed it
I'd easily watch it again
I recommend to fans of monster movies and low-budget, fun filled films

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© Shannon Ridler, 2011