By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Starring Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak and Djimon Hounsou
Written and directed by Tommy Wirkola
Netflix/Sony
Just as nature has its circle of life, so does nature-amok cinema have its own cyclical nature. When Netflix dropped the trailer for its sharks-in-a-storm-surge thriller THRASH, many on-line onlookers noted its resemblance to 2019’s alligators-in-a-storm-surge thriller CRAWL. Then some responders pointed out that sharks actually got to this premise first in 2012’s BAIT. And May 1 will see the release of DEEP WATER, which began as a “loose sequel” to BAIT. There’s more to see than can ever be seen…
Anyway, getting past the fact that if you’re inclined to watch THRASH, you’ve probably seen this idea at least once before, it’s a couple of cuts above its many, many lower-budget brethren. Writer/director Tommy Wirkola (the DEAD SNOW films, HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS) has marshalled an impressive physical production as he stages the submersion of small-town Annieville, SC by Hurricane Henry. “If they’d ever consider creating a Category 6, this would be it” is how the storm is described, and unfortunately for those stranded in the flooded Annieville, it trashes a meat-company tanker truck full of blood that gushes out into the water and attracts a whole bunch of bull sharks, plus a pregnant great white named “Nellie.”
You might get the idea that Wirkola isn’t taking this all too seriously, though he mostly plays the movie straight with outrageous/silly ideas dropped in every so often. He begins THRASH like a disaster movie, introducing several disparate characters whose stories will be united by the impending catastrophe. Lisa (Phoebe Dynevor), as we learn via one brief phone call with her mom, is pregnant and has moved thousands of miles from home to be with a fiancé who has since left her to be a DJ. Dakota (Whitney Peak) has been suffering from anxiety, especially about going outside, since the recent death of her mom. If you can’t figure out how each woman’s particular plight will figure into this plot, you may not have seen a movie before.
Once nice thing about THRASH is that this is one genre film set in the South where a number of characters actually have the appropriate accents. These include young siblings Dee, Ron and Will, played by STING and FURIOSA’s Alyla Browne, Stacy Clausen (LEVITICUS) and Dante Ubaldi—all of whom are in fact Aussies (the movie was shot Down Under in Melbourne). Their foster dad is a redneck who ain’t gonna evacuate because of “a little bit of weather,” and soon the kids are left to fend for themselves, as are Lisa and Dakota across the swamped town. As the sharks swarm and circle around them, help might be on the way in the person of Lisa’s marine biologist uncle Dr. Dale Edwards (Djimon Hounsou).
THRASH doesn’t contain much in the way of surprises, and the dialogue is largely boilerplate, with occasional lines that may or may not be intentionally funny. When Dakota, seeking to distract the sharks, says, “I need to find anything that works on batteries and vibrates,” you really hope Wirkola takes that notion to its logical conclusion. (I won’t reveal whether he does.) He does leaven the tone with scenes like one involving what’s best described as gynecological improvisation, and an unexpected moment that’s like the best bit from DEEP BLUE SEA in reverse. Wirkola also stages the drenching of Annieville with impressive scope and convincing visual and physical effects, and the attack scenes work because he treats the sharks like predatory animals instead of monsters, which makes them scarier. They’re presented mostly as the humans would see them: either shadowy shapes beneath the surface, or thrashing fins and blunt heads breaking through it.
The chompings are largely confined to the end of THRASH’s first act and the last 20 minutes, with the midsection more oriented toward who-will-survive-and-how suspense. Since the running time is only 78 minutes plus credits, the pace doesn’t have much chance to flag, and Wirkola goes fully for broke in that final section. THRASH was originally going to be a Sony big-screen release under the title SHIVER, and the extended finale’s ridiculous, over-the-top action would have been a lot of fun to see in a crowded theater.
