Comedy Film Review: Sharknado

Yes, it's really come to this. With a 'solid' 3.3/10 IMDB score, and an 'amazing' 35% audience feedback on Rotten Tomatoes, this flick redefined the so-bad-its-good-genre. First let's address the Elephant in the room: Sharknado is a terrible film. The effects are horrible, the acting is bad, the entire film is incredibly over-the-top and the story is completely ridiculous. So why are we talking about it anyway? Because it's fabulously hilarious.

Concept of Sharknado

The concept of hundreds of sharks being sucked up by a hurricane, only to then be thrown onto the streets, still trying to eat everything and everyone, is absolutely absurd. As you've read elsewhere on this blog though, absurd situations often lead to hilarity and absurd/surreal humour is one of the most difficult types of humour to get right. And this film does.

Main Characters in Sharknado

The main characters try to fight the sharks using everything from chainsaws to shotguns as well as by throwing bombs into the hurricane from a helicopter. Using explosives in a shark-infested hurricane proves as bad an idea as it seems. It leads to plenty more over-the-top awfulness and hilarious scenes including one where someone cuts an entire shark in half in one go with a chainsaw. Also there's one of the last scenes where Fin jumps into a shark with a chainsaw and then cuts his way out trough the shark's skin. The obvious impossibility of this scenario doesn't seem to stop the film though and this again leads to hilarity.

Sharknado's Scientific Base 

It also seems highly unlikely that sharks could survive being sucked up by a hurricane and being thrown to the streets like this. Let alone still being able to swallow people whole. Sharks generally don't attack people unless they feel threatened or mistake people for seals and other prey. Even in most actual shark attacks the shark doesn't try to eat its victim as it soon finds out it's not the tasty seal it was hoping for. In Sharknado however, sharks just keep eating and eating, swallowing entire people like they were breath mints, with several people actually being retrieved from the Shark's stomach, completely unscathed.

A Gem of Horrid Films 

This film is one of the gems of horrid films. Despite being an awful film, it has a strong 82% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is usually reserved for above-average films. Most critics say although the film is bad, it is really enjoyable. If you're in the mood for a serious, heavy film with a complex emotional storyline and strong character-development, this may not be the best choice. If you're up for a simple, over-the-top, lighthearted and pleasant film, Sharknado is the way to go.