Low budget shark movies with ridiculous plots and exaggerated antagonists have practically become their own genre by now, with The Asylum taking the lead on producing these aquatic-predator-themed horror movies. While a lot of people criticize these intentionally cheesy films, they obviously have a large enough fan-base to warrant so many iterations of this premise. This is precisely why Christopher Ray’s bizarre thriller, 2-Headed Shark Attack, exists.
Starring Carmen Electra, Charlie O’Connell, Brooke Hogan, Christina Bach and several others, 2-Headed Shark Attack follows an unfortunate group of college students and their professor as they’re stranded on a flooding atoll after being attacked by the titular mutated shark. Naturally, tensions rise as the group must learn to work together in order to survive their encounter with a predator that’s twice as dangerous as anything they’ve ever seen before.
Some of the more genre-savvy viewers might complain about how the flimsy plot is more of an excuse to place these highly-edible characters in range of the killer shark than a proper story in and of itself, but there’s some merit to how earnestly this plot is executed. After all, we’re promised a 2-Headed Shark Attack in the title and that’s exactly what we get. In a refreshing departure from the usual monster shark movies, this film actually spends more time having honest fun with its premise than reveling in an intentionally awful script.
That’s not to say that the film is constantly entertaining, as the over-the-top massacres are good fun at first, but do get stale after a while. There’s only so many ways that you can film a two-headed carnivore rip beautiful people apart in the water before it gets repetitive, and there’s an exhaustingly large list of boring shark fodder to get through. This could have been remedied by having fewer characters, giving the movie more time to develop individual personalities and make their deaths more elaborate.
Nevertheless, 2-Headed Shark Attack does have the unexpected benefit of compelling protagonists, as a select few of these hopeless college students feel genuinely likable. While none of them are exactly well-rounded, three-dimensional characters, the film makes an effort to give them all unique personalities and character traits, even if there simply isn’t enough time devoted to developing them.
This effort does feel somewhat undermined by the presence of several pointless “eye candy” sequences, with enough exposed breasts and exaggerated posing to open a shark-themed strip club, but I guess these are par for the course for this kind of film. It’s a shame that they’re not better shot, however, as the movie awkwardly transitions from well-directed bits of action and gore to cheap-looking set pieces with confusing editing.
Luckily for us, the effects aren’t consistently awful like they are in several other low-budget shark features, though there are still quite a few scenes with highly questionable CGI. There’s actually an oddly charming practical puppet that’s used in some close-up shots that help to sell the illusion. The shark design looks rather silly, but since the film doesn’t shy away from its own campiness, this doesn’t really detract from the experience.
In any case, if you’re looking for a straight-faced shark movie, 2-Headed Shark Attack definitely isn’t for you. But, if you’re up for some campy fun with a highly flawed but ultimately harmless bit of entertainment that doesn’t take itself too seriously, then you might find this film to be worth a watch.
2-Headed Shark Attack will be playing in select Cinemark theaters on September 28th as a part of Thursday Nights at The Asylum!
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