Ghost Shark

Some movies just stick with you for years. Maybe they're absolutely amazing. Maybe there's one scene that always makes you cry, or maybe you associate it with the group of friends that you watched it with.

Or maybe, just maybe, it's because the movie is about a killer ghost shark.

This review contains spoilers!

No, not the Australia Ghostshark, although that is an actual thing. I mean the ghost of a great white shark. It was murdered by a pair of rednecks, and its body drifted into a cave that was cursed by a dying slave.

The plot is fairly simple. A group of teenagers, led by final girl Ava, attempt to banish the ghost while the adults in their lives refuse to believe them and actively impede their progress. And since this is a ghost shark, they're not safe just because they're on dry land. The ghost can appear in wherever there is water. Like the ocean, yes, but also a bathtub or a swimming pool.

It's absolutely ridiculous, but in a fun way. No, the acting isn't great, and no, the special effects are definitely not good at all, but you're dealing with a glowing ghost shark that can fall from the sky during a rainstorm. Sometimes that's more than enough, especially when the plot gets incredibly convoluted towards the end.

I still don't really understand how or even if the shark was finally put to rest. I don't really know if I care. This really isn't something that you watch for the plot.

The best part is when the movie finally fully leans into the creativity that a ghost shark gives you. People use water every day, whether it’s for a slip-and-slide (shark-themed, of course), a bikini car wash, or even just to drink. Yes, to drink. The shark manifests itself from inside the poor man’s stomach.

It’s awesome.

There are definitely some things that make me pause, though. Cicely, the younger sister, isn’t old enough to drive but is still very sexualized. It’s uncomfortable at times.

Finch, the lighthouse keeper, is just… he has zero internal consistency as a character. He’s first introduced as your typical “Outsider Who Knows Things.” You know, the grumpy, alcoholic, older male character who everyone says is either crazy, evil, or both, but is actually just aware of the weird, magical things in the world, has lost his entire family (most notably, his wife) and swears off human connection, but still eventually turns into a mentor for our young protagonist.

That's Finch to start. We learn about his tragic backstory involving his wife and how she drowned in the same cursed cave that the shark died in. Naturally, the town thinks that he killed her. And he did! He straight up murdered her in a rage! Strangled her with his bare hands!

But it's okay, because he's a good guy still? Maybe? Honestly, it's really unclear. He flip flopped between wanting to destroy the shark, to wanting to kill our plucky group of protagonists, to wanting to protect the cursed cave, to insisting on being the only one to blow it up. It felt like he had a different stance every time he showed up on screen. It made the last act incredibly messy, and it really didn't need to be.

Look, this movie isn’t good. At all. But it has a soul to it. It knows that it’s ridiculous, and instead of winking at the camera with that jaded, mockingly insincere air that a lot of movies have now, it embraces it. It’s ridiculous, and it knows that it’s ridiculous, and it’s going to have fun anyways.

It’s what a B-movie should be like.

Random Thoughts

When the characters are researching stuff online, you can see news articles that reference different Syfy movies.

I love how one of the characters was making fun of Ava's bathing suit for being something that only a prudish grandmother would wear and it's... just a normal bikini.

Ghost Shark is one of the rare Syfy movies where a child actually dies. Usually kids are spared, but an exception was made for the slip-and-slide.

I'm so glad an exception was made for the slip-and-slide.

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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.

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