People may be surprised to learn that staying out of the ocean won’t guarantee their safety from sharks. In fact, a dip in a river or pond could lead to an encounter with one of the most aggressive sharks in the world: the bull shark. Strangely enough, though, the Carcharhinus leucas doesn’t show up in sharksploitation movies anywhere near as much as its larger and more popular cousin, the great white. Many don’t even know of its existence until they hear of a sighting or attack in an unlikely place.

Jaws led to great whites becoming the face of shark horror. Of course, there are exceptions — Deep Blue Sea features bio-engineered mako sharks, and Syfy went through a period of unleashing one variety of mutant shark after another — yet as a whole, sharksploitation prefers great whites. Then in 2003, TBS Superstation mixed things up by having a bull shark wreak havoc in Red Water, one of the cable network’s original movies. The TV spot stated this man-eating fish was “forced from the depths, fueled by hunger, and driven by instinct.” The same ad fails to mention this being the first horror movie about a bull shark.

Developed by Sony and New Line, Red Water was originally planned to be a theatrical feature before TBS picked up the script. Set in the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana — but actually shot in South Africa — a small community is at the mercy of an unforeseen predator. Now, TBS was sure to advertise this as a killer shark movie, so the total lack of mystery shouldn’t come as a surprise. The network was banking on people tuning in to see some shark carnage, and the movie delivers in the first few minutes. In broad daylight and at a crowded swimming hole, an unseen force pulls a young woman below the surface of what was once tranquil waters.

Every shark movie needs a hero, and Red Water’s is John Sanders. Played by Lou Diamond Phillips, the leading man turns in a neat performance as the down-on-his-luck fisherman who sees the shark as a means to an end. To save his livelihood after quitting his oil job and suffering a work-related trauma sometime ago, Phillips’ character must catch that shark. It’s possibly less honorable if John’s efforts are influenced by a hefty cash reward, but not every hero has to have the purest of intentions. So long as the shark dies, no one exactly cares if John is compensated for his efforts. Rounding out the main cast are Kristy Swanson as John’s ex-wife Kelli, Rob Boltin as John’s Cajun friend Emery, and rapper turned actor Coolio as a member of the criminal trio searching for missing loot in the Louisiana River. 

Red Water has an ecological message that ultimately gets buried. Before then, the movie makes it clear that oil drilling and food scarcity are the likely causes of the shark’s freakish behavior. At one point, though, the story’s resident Cajun submits an outlandish thought, one suggesting the shark is maybe a manifestation of the area’s restless guardian spirit. This could just be the movie trying to be more unique or colorful. Regardless, the supernatural notion gives the story an unexpected touch of folk horror. While Red Water certainly borrows from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, the subplot about buried fortune as well as the audible suggestion of animal mysticism feel straight out of the novelizations for Jaws 2 and Jaws: The Revenge.

It may not break the mold or even crack the top ten, but Red Water is more competently made than most other low-tier shark movies. The use of a practical shark prop gives scenes a tactile quality, and the fish’s gruesome death via a large and rather phallic drill is unlike anything else in the subgenre. The distinct Louisiana backdrop also helps set the movie apart.

Although a bull shark isn’t officially confirmed as the culprit behind a highly publicized series of attacks and deaths in 1916, plenty of people still believe one was responsible. The expert on the Jersey Shore incident, author Richard Fernicola, made a convincing case for this euryhaline creature being the perpetrator in his 2001 book Twelve Days of Terror: A Definitive Investigation of the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks. Regardless of his painstaking research and findings, though, the 2004 docudrama 12 Days of Terror still chose to go with the great white theory.

12 Days of Terror may not come across as horror due in large part to its unspoiled appearance, but the events it’s based on are nothing short of horrific. Also worth noting are the talent behind the scenes. In addition to A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Jack Sholder directed Alone in the Dark and The Hidden. Writers Jeffrey Reiner and Tommy Lee Wallace have each been involved in the horror genre; Reiner edited the obscure ‘80s slashers Cheerleader Camp and Rush Week, and Wallace directed Halloween III: Season of the Witch and the It miniseries. So even though much of this made-for-TV shark flick gives the impression of something family oriented, it unexpectedly veers into gore and dreadfulness on occasion.

12 Days of Terror depicts the 1916 Jersey Shore attacks with a decent degree of accuracy, but there are moments where the movie stretches the truth or outright makes things up. These changes and additions are included for the sake of drama, or to simply make the movie more compelling. For instance, Colin Egglesfield plays Alex, the lifeguard who tried to save victim Charles Vansant in Beach Haven. While Alex Ott wasn’t present for the other attacks in real life, his on-screen parallel is; Egglesfield’s character becomes directly involved in the whole ordeal, as does the retired sea captain, Thomas Cottrell, who no one believed when he reported a shark swimming up Matawan Creek. 

Alex and Cottrell (played by John Rhys-Davies in the movie) joining beast tamer and taxidermist Michael Schleisser (Jamie Bartlett) out at sea in a bid to catch the shark is the biggest instance of creative license here. In reality, Schleisser caught the juvenile great white that many consider to be the “Jersey maneater,” yet he did it without any lifeguard or sea captain. The concluding set piece in 12 Days of Terror’s third act, which feels like a full-circle moment in the subgenre, is obviously an homage to Brody, Quint, and Hooper’s final showdown with “Bruce” in Jaws. Interestingly, author Peter Benchley denied his novel is based on the 1916 Jersey Shore attacks.

12 Days of Terror has the great pleasure of being a period shark movie. Of course, it’s not a complete work of fiction; padding historical parts with original material makes it function better as a feature than a mere documentary. The initial lack of fear and knowledge of sharks back then is also an intriguing angle that other filmmakers would do well to explore as sharksploitation runs out of fresh ideas. 12 Days of Terror is ultimately not an undiluted horror movie, however, it is a great reminder that sharks don’t require any extra help when making them appear intimidating on screen. These creatures are widely misunderstood and demonized, but there is no denying some have the ability to do harm. And so long as sharks and humans share the open waters, there is always a risk of conflict.

Fin.