''Ghost Shark'' is a 2013 American

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

monster film A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall unde ...

directed for the Syfy

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

Griff Furst Griff Furst (born September 17, 1981, in Van Nuys, California) is an American actor, film producer, and film director. Furst has appeared in over a hundred television and film productions. In 2011 a ''Variety'' article singled him out with ...

. With Furst joined by Paul A. Birkett and

Eric Forsberg Eric Forsberg (born December 16, 1959) is an American writer. He wrote and directed the feature film ''Mega Piranha'', as well as the writer of the feature film ''Snakes on a Train'', one of the first mockbusters produced and released by The A ...

for

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, dev ...

, the film premiered on Syfy on August 22, 2013. Despite being panned critically, the film attracted attention on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

due to its fantastical premise. Websites such as

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

commented on moments from the film. An unofficial sequel, '' Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws'', was released on 1 July 2015. The two films are unrelated in terms of narrative, other than both being films featuring killer sharks.

Plot

When a

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...

eats the potential catch of a sport fisherman, the man and his daughter violently retaliate by sadistically torturing and killing the shark. The shark's corpse then sinks to the bottom of an underwater cave. It is subsequently resurrected as a ghost due to the cave's mysterious paranormal properties. Now hungry for revenge, the ghost shark eats its killers, along with the captain of their boat. It eventually sets its sights on the rest of the local community in the seaside town of Smallport,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Due to the shark's new spectral form, it can attack and kill anyone as long as there is even the smallest amount of water nearby. This allows it to emerge from a swimming pool, a bathtub, a bucket, a metal pipe and even a drinking cup. It kills many people in several unexpected locations. Though the terror is seemingly out of control, a group of young people trying to find answers end up having their pleas ignored. The local mayor is in the midst of his re-election campaign, and other authorities are unwilling to believe in the ghost. The teenager Ava Conte (

Mackenzie Rosman Mackenzie Rosman (born December 28, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her television role as Ruthie Camden on The WB's long-running drama series '' 7th Heaven''. Career In 1996, Rosman was cast in the role of Ruthie Camden on ...

) vows to put an end to the ghost shark, after it devours her father and several friends. She teams up with a local

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

named Finch (

Richard Moll Charles Richard Moll (January 13, 1943 – October 26, 2023) was an American actor known for playing Aristotle Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon, a bailiff on the NBC sitcom ''Night Court'' from 1984 to 1992. Moll also voiced Harvey Dent/Two-Face in t ...

). Finch is a drunken figure who claims to know the secrets to the shark's new-found form. Reportedly, when the cave was still above water, it was where a dying

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

slave put a

voodoo Voodoo may refer to: Religions * West African Vodún, a religion practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups * African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo ** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...

curse on the entire town. After being arrested, harassed, threatened, and otherwise impeded in their struggles, the group finally manages to lay the creature to rest.

Cast

as Ava Reid * Dave Randolph-Mayhem Davis as Blaise Parker * Lucky Johnson as Mayor Frank Stahl * Shawn C. Phillips as Mick *

as Finch * Sloane Coe as Cicely Reid * Jaren Mitchell as Cameron Stahl * Tim Taylor as Deputy Hendricks * Thomas Francis Murphy as Chief Martin

Reception

Critical reception for ''Ghost Shark'' has been predominantly negative. The film holds a rating of 29% on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 7 reviews, with an average score of 5.2/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. For example, critic Jim Vorel, writing for ''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

'', blasted the film as "a mind-numbing movie", featuring severe problems " om its performances to its horrendous execution in the editing room". He concluded, "the film violates the most crucial rule of trashy filmmaking— you can be stupid, but don't be boring." Vorel particularly criticized the fact that the character of Cicily, played by Sloane Coe, is filmed in a sexually suggestive manner in several scenes despite the fact that she is identified as being too young to have a

driver’s license A driver's license, driving licence, or driving permit is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, ca ...

(and is presumably under the

age of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to Human sexual activity, sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is un ...

). One of the rare mixed to positive reviews for ''Ghost Shark'' came from Horrornews.net, with the film given a five out of ten score. The film was labeled as featuring both " ecial effects that would make a film student cringe", but also a "well experienced cast mixed with fresh faced and eager newcomers." The film was compared, both positively and negatively, to an episode of one of the ''

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'', for Hanna-Barbera (which wa ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

s. Also, in spite of being panned critically, the film had some success attracting

attention, with websites such as

Vulture.com ''Vulture'' is an American entertainment news website. It is the standalone pop culture section of ''New York'' magazine. Its tagline is "Devouring Culture". History ''Vulture'' debuted in April 2007 as an entertainment blog on nymag.com, the w ...

and the YouTube channel Fact Fiend with Karl Smallwood commenting on moments from the film.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2600742, Ghost Shark
Ghost Shark
a
Horrordrome
2013 television films 2013 films 2013 science fiction horror films 2010s monster movies 2010s supernatural horror films 2010s ghost films Syfy original films American monster movies American films about revenge Films about shark attacks Films set in Florida American science fiction horror films Films directed by Griff Furst American horror television films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language science fiction horror films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links