Friday 2 April 2010

When Good Sharks Go Bad...


It is my honest belief that at some point in the near future, the world will be divided into just two groups of people… Those who have seen Raging Sharks and those who haven’t.

One section of this future world will live above ground in a utopian paradise of equality and intellectual satisfaction, passing their days in sunshine and frolicking in the lush green meadows (never once having to worry about the safety of their wheelchair bound children as such devices are now a thing of the past, thanks to Hover Limbs). Hope burns brightly for these people and every day brings a new advancement in science or art that amazes and nourishes both their souls and that of their beautiful world.

The other section, however, dwell beneath the earth in dank caverns. These ‘people’ drag their boil ridden, rag clad masses through this dank, sunless underworld, their ability to reason and feel forever stunted by the one burning question that will forever plague their tortured souls… There is no hope for these people, no dream of a better world… Only the horrible memories of the nightmare that forced them into this netherworld prison. Their ruined, unseeing eyes drip impotent tears of rage as they scream into the darkness in their primitive grunts and moans… ‘How?! How could this be?! HOW COULD IT HAVE BEEN SO BAD?!’

To be honest, I think the actual question here is ‘When was it ever going to be good?’ Some wide eyed kid, fresh to Hollywood, steps off the bus from Moosejaw with only ten minutes of stock footage of sharks (assorted breeds) and two alien suits he made in his bedroom to his name. Somehow, he thinks, I’m gonna make it here! So he takes his footage of sharks (assorted breeds) and alien suits to the first production office he can find. It is located above a dry cleaners and it just so happens that the producer inside has recently been thinking to himself ‘I loved that Cruel Jaws movie and I really dig The Abyss… If only there was some way I could put the two together… Fuse the terror of a killer shark with the wonder of aliens and space and the nightmare of being trapped in an underwater research centre without just remaking Deep Blue Sea… No sir, even I have standards!’ Then comes the knock at his office door…

Between them they have the following: Ten minutes of stock footage sharks (assorted breeds). Two rubber alien suits. The talents of Corin Nemac. Fifty two dollars. One crazy notion…

And so it comes to pass that Raging Sharks is born and the fate of mankind is sealed. You can’t hate these two guys… How were they to know that their seemingly awesome attempt to make their mark on the world of shark movies would lead to this? Their idea was simple enough… Aliens crash in space and jettison a strange canister into the waters of the Bermuda Triangle where it just so happens that an underwater research lab staffed entirely by women with huge lips and breasts (oh, and a couple of dudes too) is doing some underwater research about what makes the Bermuda Triangle so darn mysterious. The canister leaks freaky orange alien goo into the water that makes all of the sharks (assorted breeds) in the area go into a rage and attack the lab and all of the big lipped, big breasted folk inside whilst a government agent sneaks on board because the government REALLY wants the orange alien goo but didn’t know where to find it until now. Then, we’ll forget all about the sharks (assorted breeds) and just have some people run around trying not to get shot by the government guy until, just when all hope is lost, the aliens turn up again, get their goo back, heal all the good guys but let the government guy get eaten by the one shark that was actually just always raging as opposed to being affected by the goo. The end.

No, we can’t hate them… Much like Prometheus or Frankenstein or that guy in Pirhana, these two souls simply had a dream that, when realised, turned swiftly into a nightmare beyond their control. And, to be honest, if someone came to you with fifty two dollars, ten minutes of stock footage of sharks (assorted breeds), two rubber alien costumes and the title Raging Sharks, can you honestly say you wouldn’t make that movie?

Can you..?

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