Shark Week 2026: Gill-ty as charged

July 15, 2026 Jim McLennan feature, specials 0

To be honest, this is a bit of a rush job, with barely three weeks from conception to publication. By chance we had seen an advance copy of Anthony C. Ferrante’s latest shark film, and a few days later, a movie by another man on our Shark Mt. Rushmore, Renny Harlin, also strayed across the screens at Film Blitz Towers. Before we knew it, I was on Tubi, inputting the word “shark” into the search bar, while also scanning Kanopy, Hoopla and all the usual sources, for the finest potential candidates. Well, those available at absolutely no cost, anyway. I’m not made of money. Late nights and early mornings followed, screening and reviewing the contenders. The words, “I may have made a terrible mistake” were uttered on more than one occasion.

Still, here we are, thanks largely to having some bonus days off for movie watching, around the 4th of July – now called Fin-dependence Day in this household. The rules are more or less the same as last time we did one of these features. All those selected will be new to the site, have come out in the past four years or so, and do not contain the word “Polonia” in their directorial credit. Mind you, it has now been two years since Mark Polonia released anything with the word “shark” in the title. I hope he’s feeling alright. That was 2024’s Mummy Shark, which is currently rated a crisp 1.9 on the IMDb, and demonstrates why he’s on our blacklist for these events.

That said, fair warning here: there are still a couple of entries this week which would give the Polonia Brothers a run for their (lack of) money. But before we get into the new arrivals, here’s a list of all the shark movies reviewed since our last festival of the finned, in September 2022. Check it before sending me an email about “Why didn’t you write about…?” There are certainly a couple of recent entries we would have held back for inclusion, but this would have required all manner of difficult work, such as “planning ahead”. Sorry, life’s too short for that kind of nonsense. Anyway: here you go. 

Water Park Shark (2026)

Rating: B

Dir: Anthony C. Ferrante
Star: Matthew Dame, Chelsea Gilson, Kacie Patricia, Hector Becerra

Ferrante might be to shark movies what John Ford is to Westerns. After the fairly serious entries of Blind Waters and Great White Waters, this is a return to a more humourous approach. It’s all the better for it, I’d say. There are definite echoes of Piranha 3DD though, with the setting – and I trust this isn’t a spoiler – of a water park, which becomes infested with toothy aquatic creatures, intent on eating the customers. Indeed, both films also have a supporting role from an actor best known for their appearances on Baywatch, and it all becomes a bit meta as a result. This is certainly tamer, in both gore and nudity, but is more amusing.

The story sees former high-school football hero Austin Dillard (Dame) return to his home town, and take up a job at the Wicked Waves water park. He re-connects with old flame Peyton Ivy (Gilson), who is now the police chief, and whose sister Makhaila (Patricia) is chief lifeguard at the park. What they don’t know, is local mayor Clark Calhoun (Becerra) is siphoning off electricity for his cryptocurrency mining scheme, operating off servers located in the tunnels under the attractions. But the pollution is both drawing in and mutating the local sharks, which are consequently coming into Wicked Waves, without bothering to purchase a season pass. It’s up to Austin and pals to stop both the imminent slaughter, and the mayor’s scheme.

Right from the start, which begins with a definite nod to Jaws, followed by a shark coming down a water-slide, it’s pretty clear this film is perpetually winking at the audience. This helps it get away with effects which aren’t exactly stellar: however, they are good enough for comedic purposes, which is the aim here. The climax makes entirely appropriate use of The 1812 Overture: I’ll say no more. It helps that, from top to bottom, the characters are fun to be around. The acerbic Makhaila might have been my favourite, though even the Austin-Peyton romance was not as annoying as these things often are. There’s an adorable toothless shark called, inevitably, Gums, and I am here for the future spin-off in which it gets its own movie. 

The pacing is decent, with occasionally sharky interludes which are always fun to watch between the escalating drama and personal relationship stuff. The plot is fairly predictable, and any sense of threat is muted by the eventual realization that nobody you care about is going to be in genuine peril. A likely PG-13 rating is always going to limit things, though I have still seen shark movies with less blood. It’s never going to be more than a disposable piece of fluff (where is the SyFy Channel when you need them?). Yet I sense that was exactly the target: I was consistently amused, and literally LOL’d on more than one occasion. Fits very well into the Sharknado universe.

This review is part of our feature, Shark Week 2026: Gill-ty as charged.