Sand Sharks

Have you ever watched a shark movie and wanted to shout "Just don't go in the water, you idiots!"? Sooner or later, there was always going to be a film in which staying out of the water wouldn't help. The obvious news is that sand sharks is terrible. The good news is that it approaches its theme with vigour. Everybody involved in this is clearly having a good time, which - if you don't object too strongly to rubbish special effects, weak performances and a desperately stretched budget - makes it very easy to like.

The island of White Sands has been struggling financially ever since a previous shark-based tragedy claimed the lives of 15 people, including the sheriff's wife and child. Enter Jimmy (Corin Nemec), the son of the mayor, a cheesily-dressed chancer who plans to turn its fortunes around by holding a beach-based music festival for spring breakers. Unfortunately, there are other new arrivals on the scene: primitive sharks that use 'special hydrodynamic properties' to swim through sand as if it were water. Cue several swallowed tourists and a dilemma for the islanders.

In a story that sticks surprisingly close to the plot of Jaws for much of its running time, there's an angry town meeting about whether or not to close the beach and a grizzled old man offers to kill the beast for $10,000. Other help is at hand in the form of shark scientist Dr Sandy Powers (Brooke Hogan, daughter of Hulk), who proves unusually sensible for a B-movie protagonist - perhaps because she watches them herself - and has a number of tricks for getting sharks to do what she wants. She does not, however, have the ability to talk Jimmy out of his plans, so a Piranha-style co-ed munching catastrophe is on the cards, with the 30 or so extras playing the youthful crowd working overtime as they flee hither and thither in panic.

The weakest point of the film is its special effects. Here we're in Atlantic Rim territory, with rubbish CGI monsters really letting the side down. The pointy fins circling through sand are cute but when these creatures come in for the kill they pounce so quickly that we don't really get to enjoy them. It's a shame because in other ways the film delivers just what genre fans will want, with some great one-liners including "Guns won't stop those man-eating sand terminators," and "We need a bigger beach!" Unlike many similar films it has a proper ending and the jokes last all the way through. It's by no means a good film but for lovers of bad films, it's worth checking out.