Dinoshark

Dinoshark is a 2010 low budget Syfy horror film. It was shown on Syfy on March 13, 2010.

Background

The film premiered on Syfy on the evening of March 13, 2010^[1] before 2 million viewers.^[2] Dinoshark followed up Dinocroc; Roger Corman proposed a sequel (Dinocroc 2) but Syfy felt that television audiences tended to respond better to new-but-similar ideas more than direct sequels.^[3] April MacIntyre, of Monsters and Critics, compared the film to old B movies.^[1] A sequel titled Dinocroc vs. Supergator was released on June 26, 2010. Roger Corman said that while the plot is hard to believe, the film can be enjoyed if belief is suspended and that the film is internally consistent.^[3]

The film is a remake of the 1979 film Up from the Depths.

Dinoshark has been described as Dinocroc with flippers.^[4] Before the film was released, Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly said that this along with Sharktopus were destined to be classics of the "awesomely awful made-for-TV movie genre".^[5]

Plot

Eight teenagers (Ali, Pete, David, Mag, Luis, Kirby, Ron, and Dani) head to a secret island during Spring Break. Ron says that he and his family found the island when he was little, and there is no one else there. They immediately start partying. During the party, a drunken Luis decides to go skinny dipping. Ron tells the others the story of Dinoshark, a shark who was implanted with dinosaur DNA in an experiment, but broke free, killed the scientists experimenting on him and entered the ocean. Kirby laughs and dismisses the story as a myth, along with the others. However, Luis is eaten alive by Dinoshark.

Ron hits on Ali, but she turns him down, which makes him visibly angry. Dani dumps Pete for not supporting her in her stripper job, despite his pleas for her to forgive him. Dani then leaves the party to have sex with David after he gives her wine. She strips naked and convinces him to try a complicated sex position. However, when the position almost results in David getting injured, he storms off. After he leaves, Dinoshark leaps out of the water and grabs Dani's ankle. She tries holding onto a string of seaweed, but it ends up asphyxiating her and Dinoshark drags her corpse into the bay and eats most of it.

David and Pete climb a cliff while Kirby and Mag argue, and Mag insults Kirby for being a virgin. Ron and Ali break up the fight. Meanwhile, David decides to pee off the cliff, but loses his balance and nearly falls off. Pete manages to grab him, however. David then spots Dani's remains floating in the water, but he doesn't know what they are. David and Pete try and climb down the hill to get a closer look, but David trips and falls off. He lands in Dinoshark's mouth and is eaten whole. A horrified Pete scrambles up the mountain, but is knocked unconscious.

Mag walks off to sunbathe. She takes off her bikini top, exposing her breasts, and is noticed by Dinoshark. Ron suddenly attacks Mag and rips off the bottom of her bikini. He then ties a rope to her ankle and attaches the other end to a rock before throwing her into the ocean, using her as bait. Meanwhile, Pete awakens and returns to the party, finding that the only members of the group still at the beach are Kirby and Ali. Ron arrives back at about the same time, and the two announce the deaths of David and Mag.

The remaining four teens prepare to leave the island in their boat; however, Dinoshark smashes most of the dock and they flee in different directions. Pete discovers a still-living but badly mutilated Mag. She begs him for help, but Dinoshark appears and eats Mag, leaving just her leg. Pete notices how she was tied to the rock and remembers how Ron claimed she was dead, and begins to suspect Ron. Pete heads into the forest when he hears Kirby screaming, and at the same time, Ron meets up with Ali and the two head back to the boat, where he pulls a gun on her and forces her to strip naked.

Pete finds Kirby and discovers that she screamed because she had found the desiccated remains of a girl killed by Dinoshark in the beginning of the film. Pete tells Kirby that he suspects Ron while they return, but she does not believe him. However, when they arrive back at the beach, they see Ron shooting Ali in one of her breasts, knocking her into the water, where she is eaten. Ron tells Pete and Kirby that after his family discovered the hidden island, all of them were killed by Dinoshark. Witnessing their deaths fostered his lifelong obsession in violence, gore and death.

Kirby tells him that his relationship with Dinoshark will result in his death. Ron is disbelieving, and moves close to Dinoshark to prove her wrong. However, Dinoshark leaps out of the water and grabs Ron. He tries to pull Ron into the ocean, but his leg is caught on a rope attached to the dock; Ron is ripped in half and Dinoshark devours one half of his body. Pete and Kirby attempt to make it to the boat while he is distracted, but Dinoshark still attacks them. Kirby then grabs Ron's gun and shoots Dinoshark repeatedly. They start the boat, but Dinoshark reappears, so Pete hits Dinoshark with the boat, seemingly killing it. Kirby and Pete drive away in the boat, the only survivors of the eight. The camera then pans back to show the still-living Dinoshark eating the other half of Ron's body before the screen cuts to black.

Cast

• Eric Balfour as Pete
• Iva Hasperger as Kirby
• Aarón Díaz as Luis
• Roger Corman as Ron
• Vela Hammond as Mag
• Blanche Wheeler as Dani
• Shaun Carson as David
• Jenna Manger as Ali

Reception

Critics and reviewers tended to share similar views on the nature of the film, seeing it as a continuation in the tradition of older B movie horror/monster films, with the implausible plots, stock sequences and questionable acting typical of that genre.

Critics were divided between those who felt this made it highly entertaining and those who felt this made the film exceptionally poor in quality and panned it for its lack of redeeming features. In both cases though, critics conceded that it stood a chance of becoming a classic of its kind, if for nothing else than for a level of awfulness that mandated watching. April Macintyre of Monsters and critics gave it a positive review: "Dinoshark is epic!"^[1] Referring to "fun films, laced with implausible plots, brilliant poster art and laughable dialogue [that] demanded that you show up ready to suspend disbelief, prepare for a scare and always left the audience entertained", she wrote that some aspects are "hilariously over the top. Think Al Pacino's Cuban accent in Scarface times ten", but concluded that in the context of its genre, "We wouldn't want it any other way." ^[1] Genre Online felt likewise, that there were "a few too many stock establishing shots", which were repetitious, but the special effects are "actually pretty good", concluding the film should be approached "with a sense of humor".^[6]

On the negative side, Dread Central was condemnatory of the "rubbery" monster, "exceptionally chintzy" effects, and "some of the worst acting ever seen in a Syfy original movie", concluding that users who did not regularly watch "schlocky shark flicks" would probably enjoy laughing at "this silly offering in which half the cast sound like they were voiced over by George Lopez".^[7] Chicago Now gave it one star out of 5 as a "low-budget joker" and "cheesy, mindless fun", stating there had to be a "fun drinking game" in it and the best thing about it was the title.^[8][9]

Home Media

Dinoshark was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 26, 2011.

See also

• List of killer shark films

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Dinoshark

• Official website
• Dinoshark at the Internet Movie Database
• Dinoshark at the TCM Movie Database