Rating: B-
Dir: Morihito Inoue
Star: Yuu Nakanishi, Kiyobumi Kaneko, Takuya Fujimura, Shôichirô Akaboshi
I was surprised to read that this is actually the first shark attack film to come out of Japan. Between their fondness for monster movies, and the low-budget V-cinema industry, you’d think a local equivalent to Mark Polonia would have popped up before now. Instead, this made its debut at the 2024 Tokyo International Shark Film Festival, about which all I can say is, my invitation must have been lost in the post. If it’s not clear from the title… or the poster… or the still above… this is not to be taken seriously. Though like all good spoofs, it does take itself seriously, being a somewhat loose parody of the granddaddy of them all, Jaws.
Police chief Denbei Tsuka (Kaneko) is baffled by a series of shark attacks, the victims apparently snatched from their tubs at a newly-opened hot spring resort. Naturally, the local mayor refuses to take the threat seriously, so Tsuka brings in perky marine biologist Mayumi Kose (Nakanishi) to investigate. Turns out construction awakened some dormant prehistoric sharks, which are able to squeeze through the pipes connecting the resort to the ocean, because of their cartalaginous frames. It’s not long before hot springs are popping up all over town, meaning that nowhere is safe. The military’s anti-shark vehicle is destroyed, because these fish can send out an EMP. Sure. Why not? This leaves Kose and Kanichi Mangan (Fujimura) to craft a sturdier replacement with an oversized 3D printer, and take it into undersea battle.
It’s all incredibly silly, yet played dead straight. I suspect there may well be a lot of culture stuff lost in translation here, but enough makes it through to make for an enjoyable time. If you’re in the right mindset, admittedly. If not, this will be an extremely long seventy-seven minutes. The effects are low-fi, to put it mildly, and sometimes defiantly so. Like everything else here, you have no other option except to accept them “as is”, and go with the flow. It only makes sense in its own internal logic, such as the bodybuilder who shows up, punching dozens of sharks out before showing off his muscles. Though he does get to deliver a truly groanworthy “submarine sandwich” joke.
I think I liked this more when the sharks were roaming the town, rather than when Kose and crew took the fight to the fish. It offers an amusing combo of insanity, arterial spray and imagination which I found quite endearing. The underwater sequences can’t quite match it, despite the presence of the literal “king of sharks”, complete with a crown on its head. I guess it is possible the exotic origins elevate this: everything is classier with subtitles, after all. On the other hand, I think I genuinely enjoyed most of this, and laughed a good deal. More often than not, with the movie, rather than at it.
The film opens theatrically and is available through VOD on Friday, July 11