It looks like I will get more than three reviews done this month! Unless something happens to me while I write this review, I think I am safe. I started a review for The Ritual at my other blog, but between work and things at home, it took me a while to get it finished. Give it a read if you want to know my thoughts on that film. For here, it is time for an at-home review. I haven't been reading anything lately, though that is about to change, so that meant I was free to watch a movie. I decided to watch a movie that my friend Terry sent to me ages ago, Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast (2011). I don't know if he told me he was in this movie, I may have forgotten if he did tell me, so it was a nice surprise to see him show up for a small scene.
A trio of biologist's head out into the countryside in upper New York to check out reports of wildlife being killed if, in fact, the reports are true. At first, they don't think so, but then they come across the carcass of an animal but they don't know what killed it. Then they are attacked by what appears to be a shark that comes up from under the snow./ Twelve years later, without another attack, this has become a legend...almost folklore actually. But once again people start to disappear and it is discovered that the shark is back. It is up to Sheriff Donald Chapman (C.J. Qualiana) to come up with a plan to kill the shark.
Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast was written and directed by Sam Qualiana. This was a pretty low budget film, but then, I was expecting that going into it. All the movies that Terry sent to me were from local people in his area. What better place than upper New York to have a snow shark? I know they can get some serious snow coming off the lakes up that way. It seems like a good place for a shark that can somehow move around in the snow. Except there doesn't seem to be a lot of snow during filming. In some scenes, there doesn't appear to be much snow on the ground at all, yet people still somehow don't see the shark until it is too late. This is a pretty large shark as well, once we get to see more than a fin, so you just have to go with it really. It is silly on the surface, but how serious can you really take it with a shark that moves around in the snow? On the flip side, Qualiana does try to interject some drama by having some of his characters taking the shark attacks in a serious way. At least a couple of the characters are looking to get revenge on it because the shark killed people they were close to. That is pretty much it as far as the plot goes. There aren't any sub-plots going on, that I noticed anyway. There are periods where not much happens but there is a lot of talking going on. I was fine with this really. I didn't find the pace all that slow and the shark attacks were a mixed bag. For a low budget film, I wasn't expecting a lot of attacks anyway, as I figured they may not have a lot of money for effects. Even so, I did feel that the balance between the characters and the shark was fairly even. I wasn't disappointed by the number of deaths, but the deaths themselves left a bit to be desired.
Snow Shark tries to be a little gory in places. There is a scene where one gets gutted after an attack, which I wasn't sure how that happened. His guts are hanging out a bit. Another guy loses his legs. Most of the time, the attacks are a bit lame. What I mean by that is just a reaction of a character being attacked and then nothing else. There were way too many of that kind of attack. Another kind is where we see the shark attacking, somewhat anyway, and then there is a lot of blood being thrown around some. There are a couple of attacks that stood out in a good way though. The guy dressed like Santa was a fun kill and the last kill of the film was also fun and fairly gory as well. The acting wasn't great, but for this kind of film, I can't complain a lot about it. I did like Jackey Hall and Kathy Murphy. I also liked Bob Bozek as the Mayor. He just played it differently than I was expecting. I know he is the Mayor of a small town, but it was still fun seeing him so laid back.
I think some rules for Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast would have gone a long way. How deep does the snow have to be? Is there a reason why the shark can't be seen even when there isn't much snow? I was never sure how serious to take the film. I didn't find it to be a funny movie, but the premise is kind of hard to take seriously. Terry assured me that Qualiana has improved since this movie was made. I do hope to check out some of his more recent films as well someday. I also watched the short film that this film was based on and can say that there is a world of difference between the two. This feature film was a big improvement over the short. Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast isn't a great film, but it is different. If it sounds like a fun film to you, feel free to check it out. I'm not sure how easy it is to find since Terry was nice enough to send it to me.
2 out of 5 Would have been better if Terry got a death scene
A trio of biologist's head out into the countryside in upper New York to check out reports of wildlife being killed if, in fact, the reports are true. At first, they don't think so, but then they come across the carcass of an animal but they don't know what killed it. Then they are attacked by what appears to be a shark that comes up from under the snow./ Twelve years later, without another attack, this has become a legend...almost folklore actually. But once again people start to disappear and it is discovered that the shark is back. It is up to Sheriff Donald Chapman (C.J. Qualiana) to come up with a plan to kill the shark.
Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast was written and directed by Sam Qualiana. This was a pretty low budget film, but then, I was expecting that going into it. All the movies that Terry sent to me were from local people in his area. What better place than upper New York to have a snow shark? I know they can get some serious snow coming off the lakes up that way. It seems like a good place for a shark that can somehow move around in the snow. Except there doesn't seem to be a lot of snow during filming. In some scenes, there doesn't appear to be much snow on the ground at all, yet people still somehow don't see the shark until it is too late. This is a pretty large shark as well, once we get to see more than a fin, so you just have to go with it really. It is silly on the surface, but how serious can you really take it with a shark that moves around in the snow? On the flip side, Qualiana does try to interject some drama by having some of his characters taking the shark attacks in a serious way. At least a couple of the characters are looking to get revenge on it because the shark killed people they were close to. That is pretty much it as far as the plot goes. There aren't any sub-plots going on, that I noticed anyway. There are periods where not much happens but there is a lot of talking going on. I was fine with this really. I didn't find the pace all that slow and the shark attacks were a mixed bag. For a low budget film, I wasn't expecting a lot of attacks anyway, as I figured they may not have a lot of money for effects. Even so, I did feel that the balance between the characters and the shark was fairly even. I wasn't disappointed by the number of deaths, but the deaths themselves left a bit to be desired.
Snow Shark tries to be a little gory in places. There is a scene where one gets gutted after an attack, which I wasn't sure how that happened. His guts are hanging out a bit. Another guy loses his legs. Most of the time, the attacks are a bit lame. What I mean by that is just a reaction of a character being attacked and then nothing else. There were way too many of that kind of attack. Another kind is where we see the shark attacking, somewhat anyway, and then there is a lot of blood being thrown around some. There are a couple of attacks that stood out in a good way though. The guy dressed like Santa was a fun kill and the last kill of the film was also fun and fairly gory as well. The acting wasn't great, but for this kind of film, I can't complain a lot about it. I did like Jackey Hall and Kathy Murphy. I also liked Bob Bozek as the Mayor. He just played it differently than I was expecting. I know he is the Mayor of a small town, but it was still fun seeing him so laid back.
I think some rules for Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast would have gone a long way. How deep does the snow have to be? Is there a reason why the shark can't be seen even when there isn't much snow? I was never sure how serious to take the film. I didn't find it to be a funny movie, but the premise is kind of hard to take seriously. Terry assured me that Qualiana has improved since this movie was made. I do hope to check out some of his more recent films as well someday. I also watched the short film that this film was based on and can say that there is a world of difference between the two. This feature film was a big improvement over the short. Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast isn't a great film, but it is different. If it sounds like a fun film to you, feel free to check it out. I'm not sure how easy it is to find since Terry was nice enough to send it to me.
2 out of 5 Would have been better if Terry got a death scene
