''Ghost Shark'' is an American 2013

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed for the

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

Griff Furst Griff Furst is an American actor and film director. Furst has appeared in over a hundred television and film productions. He has produced such films as ''You Might Be The Killer'', ''Welcome to Sudden Death'', and ''Tales From the Hood''. He di ...

. With Furst joined by Paul A. Birkett and

Eric Forsberg Eric Forsberg (born December 16, 1959) is an American writer. He wrote and directed the feature film '' Mega Piranha'', as well as the writer of the feature film '' Snakes on a Train'', one of the first mockbusters produced and released by The ...

for

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, devel ...

, the film premiered on Syfy on August 22, 2013. Despite being panned critically, the film had some success attracting attention from

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

due to its fantastical premise. Websites such as Vulture.com commented on moments from the film. An

unofficial sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the sam ...

, '' Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws'', was released on 1 July 2015. The two films are unrelated in terms of narrative, other than both being films featuring killer sharks.

Plot

When a

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...

eats the potential catch of a sport fisherman, the man and his daughter violently retaliate by sadistically

torturing Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

and killing the

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

. The shark's corpse then sinks to the bottom of an underwater

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

. It is subsequently resurrected as a

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

shark due to the cave's mysterious

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

properties. Now hungry for revenge, the ghost shark eats his

redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...

killers, along with the captain of their boat. It eventually sets its sights on the rest of the local community in the seaside town of Smallport,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Due to the great white's new spectral form, it can attack and kill anyone as long as there is even the smallest amount of water nearby. This allows it to emerge from a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

, a

bathtub A bathtub, also known simply as a bath or tub, is a container for holding water in which a person or animal may bathe. Most modern bathtubs are made of thermoformed acrylic, porcelain-enameled steel or cast iron, or fiberglass-reinforced poly ...

, a

bucket A bucket is typically a watertight, vertical Cylinder (geometry), cylinder or Truncation (geometry), truncated Cone (geometry), cone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom, attached to a semicircular carrying handle (grip), handle called ...

, a

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...

and even a drinking

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

. It kills many people in several unexpected locations. Though the terror is seemingly out of control, a group of young people trying to find answers end up having their pleas ignored. The local mayor is in the midst of his

re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

, and other authorities are unwilling to believe in the ghost. The teenager Ava Conte (

Mackenzie Rosman Mackenzie Rosman (born December 28, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her television role as Ruthie Camden on The WB's long-running drama series '' 7th Heaven''. Career In 1996, Rosman was cast in the role of Ruthie Camden on ''7 ...

) vows to put an end to the specter, after it devours her father and several friends. She teams up with a local

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

, named Finch (

Richard Moll Charles Richard Moll (born January 13, 1943) is an American actor. He played the role of Aristotle Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon, a bailiff on the NBC sitcom ''Night Court'' from 1984 to 1992. He has also done extensive work as a voice actor, typical ...

). Finch is a

drunken Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main ps ...

figure who claims to know the secrets to the shark's new-found form. Reportedly, when the cave was still above water, it was where a dying

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

put a

voodoo Voodoo may refer to: Religions * African or West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups * African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo ** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

on the entire town. After being arrested, harassed, threatened, and otherwise impeded in their struggles, the group then finally manages to lay the creature to rest once and for all.

Cast

as Ava Reid * Dave Randolph-Mayhem Davis as Blaise Parker * Sloane Coe as Cicely Reid * Jaren Mitchell as Cameron Stahl *

as Finch * Lucky Johnson as Mayor Frank Stahl * Tim Taylor as Deputy Hendricks * Shawn C. Phillips as Mick * Thomas Francis Murphy as Chief Martin

Reception

Critical reception for ''Ghost Shark'' has been predominantly negative. The film holds a rating of 29% on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on seven reviews. For example, critic Jim Vorel, writing for '' Paste'', blasted the film as "a mind-numbing movie", featuring severe problems " om its performances to its horrendous execution in the editing room". He concluded, "the film violates the most crucial rule of trashy filmmaking— you can be stupid, but don't be boring." Vorel particularly criticized the fact that the character of Cicily, played by Sloane Coe, is filmed in a sexually suggestive manner in several scenes despite the fact that she is identified as being too young to have a

driver’s license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...

(and is presumably under the

age of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim ...

). One of the rare mixed to positive reviews for ''Ghost Shark'' came from Horrornews.net, with the film given a five out of ten score. The film was labeled as featuring both " ecial effects that would make a film student cringe", but also a "well experienced cast mixed with fresh faced and eager newcomers." The film was compared, both positively and negatively, to an episode of one of the ''

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

s. Also, in spite of being panned critically, the film had some success attracting

attention, with websites such as Vulture.com and the YouTube channel Fact Fiend with Karl Smallwood commenting on moments from the film.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2600742, Ghost Shark
Ghost Shark
a
Horrordrome
2013 television films 2013 films 2010s science fiction horror films 2010s monster movies 2010s supernatural horror films 2010s ghost films Syfy original films American monster movies American films about revenge Films about shark attacks Films set in Florida American science fiction horror films Films directed by Griff Furst American horror television films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links