Movie Review – Sharknado (2013)

Should one critique a film that’s bad on purpose? If so, how? I guess the real measure is whether the film is bad while still being entertaining. Sharknado (2013), a made-for-television entry directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, is certainly bad, and at times it’s entertaining. However, it’s a joke that gets old quick. Some of the kills are funny, but in between we have to spend time with lame characters and dumb filler scenarios that didn’t hold my attention. This isn’t a film I was able to sit down and watch through one sitting. I had it playing over three evenings while doing chores in the kitchen. I’d chuckle here and there, and then my eyes would glaze over and I’d have to turn it off.

What the film lacks that would have made it more enjoyable is characters and actors I actually don’t mind spending time with. Instead we get Tara Reid.

And what about the sharks? Meh. When I hear “sharknado” I picture a swirling vortex of blood and teeth that’s sucking in bodies and spitting out bones. Instead we get a tornado with sharks flying around and occasionally landing on people and eating them. Yeah, that’s funny, but not enough to fill up 90 minutes.

I’m glad I live in a world in which Sharknado exists, as I do love campy, bad horror films. But the best bad movies are the ones that were made with good intentions that for whatever reason failed miserably, and Sharknado never had those good intentions.

If you haven’t seen it and plan to watch it, and I entirely sympathize if you don’t, make sure you’ve got a large, loud group that can talk during the dull parts and laugh when the guy on the basketball court gets his arm ripped off by a falling shark, then gets his leg eaten, then has a hammerhead fall on his face.

Am I a snob for criticizing an intentionally bad film for not being better? Bottom line: give me a terrible horror film any day, just don’t bore me.

Grade: D-