I decided to look for something a little more B-movie and a little less serious horror this time. I’ve only got three of these reviews left, and I wanted to get more of a range into them.
Sand Sharks is a movie about a group of sharks that live in the sand, literally, eating folks by swimming and leaping out of the sand. It reminded me instantly of Tremors, without the charm of Tremors, or the acting, or the reasonable gun use. So here we go.
First, the concept is pretty decent for a B-movie. Because it’s been done before, but they weren’t sharks. They were worm monsters. Still, I liked Tremors, so I decided to give this movie a fair shake. Maybe it’s a tribute.
The first big issue with this movie is that none of the characters are likable. The Mayor is some sort of crude Jewish stereotype that verges on the offensive, and nothing offends me. It was just bad and awkward, and it didn’t add anything to the movie. Literally every character is either a dipshit or an asshole, and most are both. The sharks are the most likable characters in the movies.
Which isn’t actually a point against the film in the end: in slashers, you always root for the villain.
When the Angus guy shows up, I was just done with the movie as far as characters go. He’s just fucking bizarre and I was like, “Ok, that’s where we’re going.”
The effects, violence, gore — all of that was fine. The story progression was fine but the pacing seemed to drag after the big shark attack until the shit really hits the fan in the last few minutes.
I have to address the usage of guns in this movie. I know it’s a movie, but one: guns don’t sound that way. Two: guns don’t work that way. There’s a scene where a female LEO is firing her sidearm into the sand trying to kill the sharks. It sounds like she’s shooting a pop-gun and there’s no visible kick from the gun. Also, anyone with any experience with guns would know shooting through sand is a fool’s errand.
All the complaints aside, it isn’t a great movie by any means, but it was still enjoyable in a bad B-movie kind of way. Maybe a medium C-movie kind of way. It’s not good. But it’s still better than Seedpeople.
Report Card:
Running Time: An hour and thirty minutes.
Shark Death Total: I stopped counting at 14. A person said “15 people died, including…” and I was like, “Ok is that 15 in the last attack or total or…” and decided screw it. There were at least seventeen on screen shark deaths though.
Acting: No.
Shark Effects: Pretty good for sharks that swim in the sand.
Gun Use: Oh God the gun use in this movie is awful.
Gore: Medium gore.
Creepy? Not even a little bit.
Funny? A little, but rarely on purpose.
Nudity: No.
Pacing: For all the shark deaths it kind of dragged toward the end.
