Review - Sharknado (2013 - 2018)

          Hey guys, Chuck here, and one of the more bizarre films to have spawned a franchise was 2013's Sharknado. Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, these movies ran for six consecutive years on Syfy, and were very popular with each new entry. Why? Because the concept of the franchise was stupid and ridiculous. 

         The concept of the films is that, somehow, tornadoes are forming, predominantly near bodies of water, and are filling up with sharks. Yep, you heard me right, sharks in tornadoes. Hence the name Sharknado. The first movie in the franchise was a low-budget B-movie set in Los Angeles, and had our unlikely heroes of Fin Shepherd, his ex-wife April Wexler, their two kids Claudia and Matt, and Fin's friends Nova Clarke and Baz Hogan. And let's just say that actual science wasn't a factor in this movie, as Matt gets the idea to use propane tanks and road flares to create makeshift bombs to drop into the Sharknadoes and dissipate them. Only problem, aside from how ludicrous it was, is that the sharks would be sent raining down from the sky. Yeesh. Anyway, the Sharknadoes are stopped and the day is saved. Now, it would have been easy to have this movie be a one-and-done. BUT, because of the ridiculousness of the concept, the movie spread like wildfire, with folks on Twitter talking about it a lot, thus boosting interest in the movie, and making it more popular than what is typical for a Syfy Channel movie. Heck, the DVD and Blu-ray release was greater than most releases made by production company The Asylum. 

        So, because of the popularity of the first Sharknado, a sequel, followed by MORE sequels, got made by The Asylum, and each of the sequels would air on the Syfy Channel. The sequels were titled as follows: Sharknado 2: The Second One, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, Sharknado: The 4th Awakens, Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, and The Last Sharknado: It's About Time. Yeah, some of those are more creative than others. And, of course, each film would be set in different locations. Sharknado 2 was set in New York City, Sharknado 3 was set in Washington DC, Florida, and various parts of the East Coast, Sharknado 4 was across the United States, with cities including Las Vegas and San Francisco, Sharknado 5 went across the world, and The Last Sharknado would be set in different points in time, including the age of the dinosaurs, Arthurian times, and the Old West. 

       Even more crazy than that is the list of celebrities that would either join the cast or have cameos. Names like Biz Markie, Billy Ray Cyrus, Kelly Osbourne, Wil Wheaton and his wife Anne, Andy Dick, Kurt Angle, Judd Hirsch, Bill Engvall, Maria Menounos, Chris Jericho, George R. R. Martin, Penn & Teller, Andre Meadows, Seth Rollins, Frankie Muniz, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Duane "Dog" Chapman, Gilbert Gottfried, Al Roker, Matt Lauer, iJustine, Tony Hawk, Fabio, Dolph Lundgren, Darrell Hammond, Ben Stein, James Hong, Kato Kaelin, the list goes on. And those are just the cameos. 

        As far as major characters, we had the main duo of Ian Ziering as Fin and Tara Reid as April. There was also a mix of Aubrey Peeples and Ryan Newman as Claudia, as well as both Chuck Hittinger and Cody Linley as Matt. Other members of Fin and April's family include Mark McGrath and Kari Wuhrer as Martin and Ellen Brody, David Hasselhoff and Cheryl Tiegs as Gilbert and Raye Shepherd, Gary Busey and Bo Derek as Wilford and May Wexler,  and Masiela Lusha as Gemini. The one other franchise mainstay is Cassie Scerbo as Nova, who is easily my personal favorite character in the franchise. Top that off with the likes of John Heard as George, Vivica A. Fox as Skye, Mark Cuban as the President of the United States, Tommy Davidson as Aston Reynolds, the list goes on.

         Not only is the concept of this franchise just sheer crap, but the visual effects are also crap. But, that's pretty much to be expected on a B-movie budget from The Asylum. Now, a part of the charm of the original Sharknado is that the movie was taking its premise seriously. But, as the series went on, it played more into the ridiculousness, essentially becoming self-aware of how ludicrous the concept was, ergo just letting loose and having fun with it in that self-aware kind of way. 

        Okay, so admittedly, there are some who enjoy the Sharknado franchise, and there are those who find the series to be dumb and dislike it outright. I find myself enjoying the franchise... simply because it's dumb. To me, Sharknado is one of those franchises that you put on as background noise when you have some friends over and are playing cards all night. It's fun to watch, but you have to just be willing to acknowledge that it's stupid, shut off your brain, and just have fun with it. 

        So, with that said, this is Chuck signing off. Hope you guys enjoyed my look into the Sharknado franchise in honor of its tenth anniversary, and I'll see you guys next time.