Dinoshark (DVD Review)

Photo - Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Dir: Kevin O'Neill (Dinocroc)
Cast: Eric Balfour, Iva Hasperger, Aarón Díaz, Christina Nicole, Humberto Busto, Richard Miller, Roger Corman
USA, 2010 (TV)

Reason to see: I don't think I can resist a film with a title like Dinoshark.

What a boatload of fun Dinoshark is! I'm totally loving that SyFy flicks have been hitting DVD & BluRay so those of us up here in Canada have the opportunity to enjoy their awesomeness. I love monster movies that you can complete tell the tone and style by the title, and Dinoshark is just that: a dinosaur-shark that causes mayhem and craziness among waters that aren't prone to such a vicious predator!

The setting is Puerto Vallarta, a perfect water setting for any hungry prehistoric shark looking to chomp into a variety of different prey. Too bad it's eating habits cause to rain on the locals parade, which sparks a hunt to solve the mystery of the dinoshark. One of the things I liked about the film is it shifts several things that could be stock expectations to something a bit different. The main set of characters include both Trace (Eric Balfour of Skyline & "Haven") and Carol (Iva Hasperger), whom feel like long-term locals, but we don't that push-and-pull of local vs non-local feel. Instead there is a refreshing friendship between them and Luis (Aarón Díaz) and Rita (Christina Nicole), which gives the film a sense of binding together against the odds & working to save and maintain the safety of friends feels over a hunted vs hunter. We also have a helpful as opposed to evil-and-interested expert in Dr. Frank Reeves, in a pretty freaking strong performance by producer Roger Corman himself!

The film has a great sense of fun to it with lots of lurking moments, crazy kills and loves of screams and squeals throughout. I loved camaraderie between the friends characters, the adventurous spirit and the rescue mentality. The monster effects were pretty decent and the creature was pretty fun for a monster movie. Overall, I found Dinoshark one heck of a good time. CHOMP!

Warnings: Gore
DVD Extras:

• Commentary with producers Roger Corman & Julie Corman and director Kevin O'Neill, moderated by independent producer Perry Martin. Another awesome commentary which is both entertaining and informative as it discusses how the film came to be from the idea to building the team, the connection and how it's a follow up to Dinocroc, where the title, concept and story came from, how Kevin O'Neill got into the film industry and visual effects background and how it played into directing the film, the challenges of independent filmmaking, working on the water and extras casting as well as the expectations of the audience and how to meet them.
• Trailer

Dinoshark is available on DVD as of April 26, 2011. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I loved it
I already look forward to watching it again
I highly recommend it to monster movie fans

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© Shannon Ridler, 2011