Bull Shark

Bull Shark

Bull Shark starts as an alams sound goes off and the game warden of the area Spencer Timms (Thom Hallum, Sister Aimee, Yellow Rose) is shown lifting his head out of the bed. Nightstands piled with empty beer cans help to explain why. He pours himself a thermos of coffee with some vodka into it and arrives at work several hours late.

He is only half-way present when Nolan (Billy Blair, What Josiah Saw, Cherokee Creek) is making a phone call. He has something that he would like his friend Spencer to view, a dead shark that he plans to make a lot of money selling the teeth and other parts. Quite the contrary, he is told that people will assume there are sharks in the lake and that he should dispose of it.

As well as being exceptionally dull, he is too hedonistic to take it out and throw it away and so he simply throws it in the lake instead. Unfortunately, not only was the shark not dead, it was also a pregnant one. And it is a bull shark which can survive in either salt or fresh water.

As for its meal which is apparently very overdue on the account of hunger, it very swiftly eats up a swimmer (Mallory Hargrove, Fake). And when the corpse is discovered during the summer season when most tourists are present, putting the economy at stake, not to mention that it is during an election year, Sheriff Wilson (Derrick Redford, Mega Shark vs. Kolossus, Freshwater) and the Mayor Groves (Richard Ray, Caged Birds, Night Night) wish that the situation is dealt with effectively and with minimal publicity.

Writer and director Brett Bentman (Outlaw Buckle, Meteor) takes the plot of Jaws, plunges it into a Texas lake and perfects it with a domestic angle as Spencer’s alcoholism drives his estranged wife Dottie (Lindsey Marie Wilson) towards divorce. He also provides Bull Shark with some comic relief in the form of Nolan who states, “It was dead, I poked it with a stick!” and Tiffany McDonald (90 Feet from Home, Operation Overlord) who plays a coroner with a few quirks when it comes to her food choices.

While Bull Shark, unlike yesterday’s film sub-titled Beneath the Surface, actually has a shark in it, that does not mean we see much in the way of attacks. We do get a lot of shots of swimmers, boaters, even a flock of ducks with one of the sharks in the background. It does help in building some tension into the film where a scene could finish with any character making a meal out of a person. On the other hand, it can be frustrating because the reason people watch these kinds of films is to see people getting eaten.

The onslaughts alone do not deviate from expectations if you are watching a film like Bull Shark with a low rating. A fin, a few shots of folks desperately swimming and some blood stains in the water. There is nothing in Bull Shark that is gory, and effects consist solely of the Great White Shark. Of course, considering the type of film Bull Shark is and the budget it was working with, the Great White is rendered. This can range from adequate to poor. Thankfully no where near Jurassic Shark 2: Aquapocalypse or Amityville Island for that matter.

The last 30 minutes serves as a closure because at this time the weekend begins and all the stars including Spencer’s son Grant (Colin Heintz, Adventures in Game Chasing) head to the lake. He has no choice but to face his alcoholism and work with Dottie, stopping the Tsunami of sharks.

When all is finished Bull Shark, a nasty only in basic, is comprehensively fun and even more so when compared with the likewise Shark Lake, if this one had a wannabe shark hunter Illver Lundgren. Do not anticipate much, have a drink when Spencer has one, and you should be content.

For more movies Visit Gomovies.