Swamp Shark Movie Review

By: Justin Hopkins

I had to take an extended break from the B Movie Sunday Reviews. After a string of movies that were absolutely atrocious and not worth taking about. Had to go back to a well that never seems to do wrong by me, a campy shark movie. There is an overabundance of them top pick from and so rarely fail to entertain. Now, this was not my original choice. Was going for another shark movie, but when I saw the title Swamp Shark, knew it was for me. Let’s dive in and see if this managed to break a bit of a bad streak shall we.

Synopsys

Starting with a group of people sitting near a river getting drunk and having a good time when the sheriff arrived. Kind of scaring them off. Some drove away and the others getting on a boat and sailing away. Which was a ploy by the Sheriff to clear the area. Bringing in a shipment of some kind, which arrives in a water tanker. Bucking hard enough to break the entire tank free of the truck and killing someone as it rolled into the river and a shark gets out. Sheriff telling the guy he was meeting to keep it to himself and we jump to a restaurant called The Gator Shed, with a pen outside alligators for people to see and learn about. Place run by the Broussard Family. Jason ” Swamp Thing” Broussard, his Sister Jackie and teen sister Krystal. Along with Martin and Rachael’s Tyler. While Rachael is talking to a mystery guy who has been coming in a lot as of late, a drunken Jackson makes a scene and while Jason is throwing him out, punches him in the face and gets arrested by a Sheriff who has been nagging Rachael for dinner and she uses that to get Jason out of trouble without actually agreeing to anything. Later that night Jackson comes back, looking to do something to the gators to get even, but freezes up when he spots the shark fin. Hitting the dock and knocking him into the water and devours him before breaking into the Alligator pen and starting to eat them. In all the chaos, Rachael wakes up and grabs her gun, racing out in time to see the fin. Took a shot but it swam away. While they were surveying the damage, Tyler ridiculing her for thinking it was a shark when the Sheriff shows up. Got a call last night over the gunshot and an officer was already searching the river and finds Jackson’s hat and then his arm. He wants to take Jason in but Jason tells him to come back with a warrant. before leaving to answer a call, says he plans on talking to the Judge and having the shut down. Fueling them to go on the offensive and with the help of the tracking chips from the gators, go to hunt down what did this and save their restaurant.

Review

The story was pretty paint by the numbers. The shark wasn’t a normal shark but one from the depths of the ocean so is stronger because of it. Which is why he can plow through everything and such, but it was a rather fun ride. Most of the characters were fun and felt like a real family. Their love of the restaurant and believed they would fight to keep this going. Had some fun moments, good kills and a fantastic scene with a rope choke to help this movie stand out a bit.

I did like the design of the CGI Shark. Being from the depth allowed some freedom to design a different looking shark, and they came up with a brown scale looking design. Know that some are turned off by CGI but doesn’t bother me. I’m actually kind of glad they gave the shark a reason for being able to do what he did. Sure it is weak and out there, but it’s kind of better than just shrugging their shoulders.

There was one scene in particularly that I want to talk about and it was with the Life Ring Buoy. The guy fell in and they threw a buoy to get him out quick. Attached to a rope, and when the shark ate him and the raft and swam away. He pulled the rope hard and caught Sarah, Natacha Itzel, around the throat. Managed to cut her free, but did a fair amount of damage and she sold it so well. Before that, I wanted everyone on the boat to die they were that annoying, but she sold that injury so well, that she shifted my opinion and wanted her to live and speaks volumes for how good she was in that moment.

It’s kind of a shame we didn’t get enough of Jason Rogel’s Martin and Jeff Chase’s Jason ” Swamp Thing” Broussard. They were so much fun in general, but when they were working together toward the end was great stuff. Jeff chase was generally especially was a fun character. Just seemed believable character who fits perfectly in the role. While Kristy Swanson did a good job as Rachael.

Alright, on to the negatives. We really didn’t need the love angles going on here. Rachael had love interests everywhere. From the Sheriff, Detective Brycen and her Boyfriend Tyler and honestly, Tyler could either be dropped or needed to be toned way, way down, because he becomes obnoxious right away and keeps going and that goes to the party going teens. Outside of Natascha they were just so bad. It wasn’t even a paint by the numbers group we see in these movies. Didn’t even want them to die, just off my screen.

While I wouldn’t rank Swamp Shark to high up on the list of B Movie Shark Films, it was still a fun movie to watch. Perfect kind of movie to kick back and have some good laughs too and when it comes to it with these movies, that is all I ask from it.

As always, I hope you enjoyed and…

Thank You For Reading.