Featured DVD Review: Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus / Monster / Raging Sharks

December 17, 2011

Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus / Monster / Raging Sharks - Buy from Amazon

This week a two-disc / three-movie set was released with some B-movie goodies, or should that be baddies. I don't think many people would be willing to argue that Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, Monster, or Raging Sharks are good movies, but are they entertaining?

Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus

Deborah Gibson stars as Emma MacNeil, an oceanographer, whom we meet while she and her navigator, Vince, are on a joyride off the coast of Alaska in her boss's experimental submarine. She's there to study the migratory patterns of whales. Unbeknownst to her, the military is conducting a top secret experiment and unleashes a sonar device that drives the whales berserk. They crash into a glacier, which causes a giant iceberg to break off. In the chaos, the helicopter crashes and Emma sees something escape from the ice, but she can't get a good look at it and what she does see makes her think she's losing her mind.

Shortly after that, an oil rig off the coast of Japan is attacked by a giant octopus and by giant I mean it is larger than the rig. When Emma returns to southern California, there's a dead whale washed up on the beach right near her work. Her boss thinks it was killed by a propeller, but she sees what appears to be a shark tooth in one of the wounds, a really, really big shark tooth. She's able to grab the tooth as evidence that night, before she's fired the next day for "borrowing" the sub. She takes the tooth to her old professor, Lamar Sanders, who helps her with science (in a cheesy montage) and discovers the tooth is a fragment of a Megalodon, a prehistoric shark that went extinct more than a million years ago. Shortly after that, Seiji Shimada contacts him hoping to collaborate on his oceanic mystery. He's in charge of figuring out what destroyed that oil rig and the three of them decide to work together.

They don't get far before the military bursts in and grabs them and, despite needing their help to solve the problem, treats them like they are criminals. The military just wants to nuke the animals and be done with it. But can the three scientists figure out a less drastic means of stopping the killer prehistoric animals?

Of the three films on this two-disc DVD, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus was the only one I knew by name before the DVD arrived. It is a good B-movie. I don't mean it's a good movie, for a B-movie. I mean it has all of the elements fans of bad B-movies love, for the most part. The premise itself is laughable, which is certainly a point in its favor. The writing is nonsensical at times, which again is a point in its favor for this type of film. The acting isn't great, but it is good enough for this type of movie, and at least it isn't dull. And finally, the special effects are goofy, especially the shark eating the passenger jet. On the other hand, there's not enough special effects and for large stretches of the movie, we see neither the Mega Shark or the Giant Octopus.

The best part of the movie was seeing Deborah Gibson.

Monster

On January 17th, 2003, an earthquake hit Tokyo causing massive damage. At least that's what we are told. Two sisters, Sarah and Erin Lynch, were in Tokyo at the time filming a documentary on Global Warming. The film is what remains of their footage.

The film begins with them in the United States filming and talking about preparations for the trip. During their interview with someone at the Minister of the Environment, there is an earthquake. After running around for a bit, one of the bureaucrats says it was not an earthquake, but he's unwilling to say more, especially while on camera. Shortly after that, they meet a fellow American, who explains the city is under attack, but they don't know what is attacking. He suggests they get to the nearby American center, which should be able to evacuate them. Plus, it's not too far away.

It feels like it's an eternity away. It feels like half this movie is unwatchable, literally unwatchable. There are numerous times where there are fake problems with the video and / or audio, or real problems with the dialogue being too quiet compared to the back ground noises. There are also far too many times where video and / or audio cuts out completely. I know the filmmakers were going for a found footage motif where the tapes were damaged, but there's a not too fine line between aesthetics and distraction and this film crossed it.

On the positive side, the two lead actresses, Sarah Lynch and Erin Evans, were good in their roles, although they didn't have a lot to work with. There are large stretches where all they do is run, or cower, or whimper.

Overall, it's a bad movie, but not in a fun B-movie way. It is merely dull, which is the worst sin a film like this can commit.

Raging Sharks

The film begins with an exceedingly long studio logo. Wait a minute... this isn't a studio logo. Why are there aliens on a spaceship in a movie called Raging Sharks? A spaceship crashes into a space station and the two vessels explode sending a piece of debris toward the Earth. Some time later, it crashes into the ocean in the Bermuda Triangle hitting a ship in the process. Fast forward five years later, we meet the crew of the Oshona Deep Sea Lab, which was built near the impact site. Their research efforts have been hampered by strange magnetic spikes, old equipment that is breaking down and now a huge swarm of sharks. Dr. Mike Olsen is the project commander, but he's seriously lost interest in the mission. If it wasn't for his wife, Linda Olsen he probably would have given up already.

Shortly after he's taken off the Oshona Deep Sea Lab to deal with funding, the lab makes an interesting discovery, some weird red crystals. Before they can really figure out what they are, a man is attacked by a shark while welding. In the ensuing feeding frenzy, one of the sharks bites one of the exterior power cables and causes a massive short inside the station. Dr. Mike Olsen, now on the mainland, hears about the trouble and enlists the help of the navy to stage a rescue and Captain Riley and his sub are on the way. Meanwhile, the Paridiso, the tender ship for the Oshona Deep Sea Lab is also trying to figure out what has happened, but when they send a diver down, he's quickly turned into shark food.

He won't be the last.

This is a puzzling movie. It has way too many elements for a simple animals gone wild movie. It has the raging sharks, it has a government conspiracy, it has aliens. Quite frankly, if it lost the last two, the film would have been a lot better. It has a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses as Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. Some of the acting was pretty good, but there were also some rather stiff performances and some rather weak accents. The special effects were better, plus the sharks were a lot more prominent in this movie than the undersea monsters were in the first film. It's not a good film, but it has most of the elements fans of B-movies look for.

The Extras

There is a thirteen-minute behind-the-scenes featurette for Raging Sharks.

The Verdict

Two of the three films on Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus / Monster / Raging Sharks are good B-movie fodder for those who like the genre. The DVD isn't completely devoid of extras and it is a bargain price. (The list price is just $10 for three films.) If you are not into B-movies, stay far away, but if you are, this is potentially cheaper than renting them.


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