The Pop Culture Phenomenon That Took The World By Storm Comes Back to 500+ Cinemas Nationwide, fully Remastered, for Two Nights Only On August 15th & 16th. Tickets are available for purchase.
Back in 2013 a lot of people gave The Asylum guff, and could not predict the kind of pop culture sensation they would eventually produce. “Sharknado” is that classic bit of pop culture camp lightning in a bottle like “Snakes on a Plane” or “Birdemic” where the public is just infatuated with the sheer absurdity of it all. “Sharknado” took a lot of the media by storm back in 2013, leaning heavily in to its ridiculous premise to produce what is—well, still just an okay bit of cult cinema. The Asylum with Anthony C. Ferrante knew what they were giving us, and it shows in every scene of their movie.
“Sharknado” takes the disaster picture, and the nature run amok picture, and blends it in to this weird concoction that even today is quite the experience. “Sharknado” is the saga of divorced surfer and bar owner Fin (get it?) who spends his days serving drinks and being hit on by his gorgeous waitress (life is so hard). When a massive tornado blows in to California shores, it brings with it a maelstrom of sharks dropping from the sky to swarm on hapless victims from around the city. Anxious to save his estranged wife and two kids, Fin and his bar pals trek through tidal waves, monsoons, and flying hammerhead sharks to save them and hopefully find a way to kill the momentum of the catastrophic weather event.
Director Anthony C. Ferrante is very good about keeping true to the camp aspect, leaving his movie to keep its momentum riding on the stiff cast performances, stilted dialogue, and odd cameos. That’s not particularly a bad thing, as “Sharknado” is that bit of cult movie cinema that is becoming tougher and tougher to find these days. Director Anthony C. Ferrante explained in an interview that “Sharknado” began life as a throwaway line in another low budget horror feature. It surprisingly drifted over in to a pitch session during the American Film Market and was eventually made in to a one million dollar feature film. The whole concept and tongue in cheek humor became infectious, prompting a lot of buzz and ballyhoo, which allowed “Sharknado” to catch on fast.
A decade later I’m still not a huge fan of “Sharknado,” but I’ve grown to at least appreciate the inherent mindset behind it. Ferrante and The Asylum don’t presume to produce high art, but take every opportunity to deliver on the title’s premise. There are sharks, there’s a tornado, and as a direct result a lot of people are eaten. “Sharknado” moves at a pretty rapid pace thankfully never really adding on filler for the ninety minute production. Ferrante is able to dole up as much carnage as the effects budget allows, so we’re given some very gnarly, gory kills.
As well the script builds on the obvious franchise potential, exploring the hero potential for Fin and turning him in to a virtual shark slayer, chainsaw and all. Ian Zeiring seems to have a great time in the role, as do the late John Heard, and Baz Hogan, respectively. And goodness knows that my infatuation with Cassie Scerbo endures.
All things considered, though, I didn’t see any adjustments or improvements to the effects, nor did I really see any fresh kills beyond what was already on the previous cut. The effects do look polished, if anything, I would just love a list of the alterations and or improvements to help me pick out what Ferrante and the Asylum changed or fixed.
Nevertheless, the 10th Anniversary Edition promises an all new remastered version in 4K with hundreds of new visual effects as well as “never-before-seen kills and thrills!” I think fans of sharksploitation films will appreciate “Sharknado” if they haven’t experienced it yet.