Movies
Shark Night 3D
“Lower any expectations you may have had, expect a flurry of terrible acting and chalky exposition, and ‘Shark Night 3D’ will deliver on a very minimal basis; it’s dumb fun on the lowest common denominator.”
After displaying no knowledge of 3D whatsoever with The Final Destination, director David R. Ellis shows some growth with Shark Night 3D, a PG-13, end-of-summer kiddie horror show that’s nothing more than dumb fun.
“The story revolves around seven male and female college friends who spend a weekend at a lake house in Louisiana’s Gulf area. When their vacation quickly becomes a nightmare of hellish shark attacks, unheard of in freshwater lakes, they soon discover that the sharks are part of a sick, greedy plan on the part of several locals.” – official synopsis.
One of the biggest challenges with a shark horror flick is that once there’s a victim, how do you get the rest of the cast into the water? The script by Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg is as smart as a film like this could be, doing its best to fill in logic gaps and make it believable. Unfortunately, the main problem is the motive for the main villains (ruined in the previous clips and trailer); the attempt to justify their big evil plan become a exposition heavy bore that drains the blood out of any built momentum.
Still, the movie is jam-packed with fun moments and hilarious kills, but it’s damaged by the forced PG-13 rating that leaves each victim being pulled underwater for a lackluster off screen demise. And even though Ellis shows he understands his crowd (a handful of shots open tight on cleavage or asses), there’s (obviously) no nudity. If you’re going to make an over-the-top 3-D B-movie, wouldn’t it make sense to have mind-blowing gore and gratuitous nudity?
Looking past the rating, the necessary CG sharks look amazing, amping up the much-needed 3D experience. Shark Night 3D must be seen in 3-D otherwise it’s completely useless.
Lower any expectations you may have had, expect a flurry of terrible acting and chalky exposition, and Shark Night 3D will deliver on a very minimal basis; it’s dumb fun on the lowest common denominator. Bored this weekend? It just might be worth taking a bite out of…
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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