Shark Girl Movie Review
The world of modeling can be a cutthroat business. Between sleazy photographers, exploitative agents, and a pool of competing talent willing to do whatever it takes to make their name as an influencer, the job of being beautiful on camera is not for the weak-willed.
For an innocent aspiring model like Heidi (Alexandra Corin Johnston), the line between standing your ground and following directions can get a little hazy. Unfortunately for her, she doesn’t listen to her gut when her photographer Ron (Ryan Bertroche) insists that she get in the water for her latest shoot.
Rumors swirl of a nuclear accident and radiation leaks in the ocean rendering the water hazardous. Despite her protests to do otherwise, Heidi follows her instructions and gets in the water for the shot.
After being sucked under the surface by something, she is abandoned by Ron who assumes that Heidi flaked on him. When she emerges that night with a sudden taste for human blood, the entirety of Venice Beach finds itself in the crosshairs of earth’s newest apex predator.
Written and directed by Justin Shilton and Rob Zazzali, Shark Girl is a low-budget monster-slasher hybrid that shows just what happens when shark DNA and human DNA get mixed up in a stew of radioactive waste.
Is it biologically accurate? Not to my knowledge, but I’m not well-versed in sharks nor nuclear radiation, so I can neither confirm nor deny. It does feature an attractive lead with razor sharp teeth and a penchant for tearing open people’s throats. I’d say that makes up for any discrepancies in the science.
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Choosing the world of online influencers as the backdrop is a bit of a gamble. I don’t think there’s much latent sympathy for that demographic. However, Alexandra Corin Johnston brings a vulnerability to Heidi that goes a long way toward making her likable from the opening scenes. She’s perfect as the innocent and demure Heidi in the start of the story and believably transforms into the monstrous and heartless killer as the story progresses.
Heidi’s personality meshes well with her best friend Sienna (Sumayyah Ameerah). They have good chemistry on screen which lays the groundwork for tension as the transformation slowly puts them at odds with one another. Despite the silly premise of a mutant-shark-influencer going on a rampage, the duo of Heidi and Sienna brings a decent amount of emotional weight to keep the story moving forward.
The rest of the movie doesn’t quite hold up its share of that weight, unfortunately. This type of story really needs to lean into the nastiness if it wants to keep the audience’s attention. The premise advertises a story full of rampant sexiness and vicious violence, and it never quite delivers on either front.
There’s plenty of plot development that tries to keep things interesting, with crackpot conspiracy theorists, paranoid scientists, and hidden assassins skulking about. But plot is the last thing any reasonable person is interested in. The simple fact of the matter is that if I wanted twists and turns and espionage, I would not turn toward a movie called Shark Girl.
In the end the movie feels like too much of a tease for the kind of schlock it promises. It’s kind of sexy, and a little violent, but never follows through on either in a satisfactory way. It teases too much and delivers too little on its promises.
That said, in order to be teased, you have to be interested in what’s proposed to begin with. There are the ingredients for a fun, over-the-top crowd-pleaser here, but it never quite meets that potential.
There are hints of sequels and follow ups by the end of the movie and I hope that some kind of follow up comes from the Shilton and Zazzali team. The world of low-budget horror has plenty of examples of franchises that really hit their stride in the sequels. I’d like for Shark Girl to follow that kind of trajectory.
As it stands currently, there’s not a whole lot to recommend for the movie. It’s shot well and has decent performances, but unfortunately it never quite delivers what one would hope to see in a movie called Shark Girl.
