Shark Night 3D

David R. Ellis, director of films such as Snakes on a Plane and Final Destination 4, remains true to the horror genre with his latest work Shark Night 3D. With some gory effects, attractive actors and a touch of self-mockery, Ellis once again aims to provide some entertaining entertainment. But since he goes this time a little more restrained to the point, the result is also only conditionally worth seeing turned out.

Sara (Sara Paxton) and her friends want to spend a wild party weekend at the vacation home of her parents at the Morris salt water lake in Louisiana. The mood is upbeat, with partying, flirting and drinking for all it's worth. But then the unbelievable happens: during a daredevil stunt on a wake board, the athletic Malik (Sinqua Walls) falls into the water. When he resurfaces and drags himself to shore, he's missing an arm. What at first looks like an accident turns out to be a shark attack. And it's not just a hungry shark swimming in the lake. The waters are literally teeming with the bloodthirsty monsters. And while those surrounded seek a way to escape to safety, a much greater danger lurks from an unknown source.

Shark Night 3D is pure trash. Certainly, David R. Ellis doesn't really go out of his way to cover that fact. After all, the resolution alone of how and, more importantly, why the sharks got into the saltwater lake is so absurd it's almost comical again. A few nicely animated shark attacks with lots of movie blood, plus attractive bodies in skimpy bikinis and swim trunks and there you have it, genre fun for fans of entertaining B-movies.

Where the film ultimately fails, however, is in the compromises Ellis has quite obviously made for a lower age rating in the US. Whereas the similarly-named Piranhas 3D was allowed to wallow uninhibitedly in brutality and bare facts, Shark Night 3D has to remain relatively well-behaved. While there are a few well-done effects, the fun factor never reaches the level of absurdity that Piranhas was able to sink its teeth into. Of course, this also makes the weaknesses of the cast and script more apparent, as the viewer can focus more intently on those aspects of the film. And really, the monster sharks and their victims don't really do well there.

As for the 3D effect, the biggest problem here is already in the title. Since a lot of the events take place in darkness at night, the three-dimensional effects suffer as a result. Worse, wearing 3D glasses makes the already dark scenes even darker, further diminishing the fun that was marred from the start.

No question, Shark Night 3D has moments that can be called worth watching. There's also some entertainment value in the good-humored production, which makes no bones about the absurdity of the story. But the for the US release PG-13 taken back staging, the partly very clichéd dialogues and flat characters are especially in the first 40 minutes so dominant that instead of bloody shark fun rather deadly boredom sets in. Therefore: only conditionally worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp