Thrash: Strong Shark Action Highlights This Decent Horror Thriller

From writer-director Tommy Wirkola, Thrash is a horror thriller that centers on three separate groups of characters in a small coastal town decimated by a Category 5 hurricane, leaving the survivors stranded in their homes, cars, and small boats. With devastation and chaos already at its highest, and the water level slowly but surely rising, the situation is made even worse when bloodthirsty and hungry sharks show up after a meat truck leaks blood in the waters around most of the survivors. All in all, the film delivers an above average shark thriller, even if it is something that will unlikely stick with audiences long after the credits roll.

To its credit, the film is shot quite well as Wirkola’s work behind the camera keeps it from being just another schlocky creature feature. That being said, there is definitely some shoddy CGI to be had but, for the most part, its sharks do look good, as the film effectively keeps them mostly hidden until they play a more prominent role later on. Speaking of the sharks, the attack sequences are easily the best part of the film, as Wirkola heightens them by his crafting of genuine tension and suspense. While not an overly gory tale, the film certainly does not hold back on violence or bloodshed, featuring a few gnarly kills that will stick with audiences.

Running at under 90-minutes, the film doesn’t waste any time to get going and into the thick of things. Though none of the performances will be earning any awards any time soon, it boasts a very capable cast. Dynevor and Peak are absolutely the standouts as Lisa, a woman who found herself trapped in her tiny car by the rushing storm waters that have pinned her car to a tree, and Dakota, an agoraphobic woman who happens to come across Lisa and the tree from her window. Having good chemistry, the film may be light on character work, but they add to their characters by pulling more from the page. Meanwhile, Hounsou is reliably great as well as Dale, a marine biologist tracking sharks and Dakota’s uncle, adds a level of class that would not have been there without him, even if he’s underused.

A decent of a shark film as it may be, it is not without flaws. The writing is inconsistent with some dialogue ranging from incredibly stilted to cringe. On the other hand, this film doesn’t have the greatest of characters, offering very little beneath the surface, or any reason to care for any of them, outside of Dynevor’s Lisa. Similarly, the film is also light on story, one that includes a handful of separate subplots that occasionally tie together, rather than as one cohesive whole. As mentioned, not taking too much time to get going, the film doesn’t truly get going until the sharks show up, with the buildup to their arrival not being nearly as strong.

Thrash is an entertaining shark-based disaster horror thriller thanks to a trio of solid performances from Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak, and Djimon Hounsou, tense attack sequences, and strong shark action. The kind of film that will play better for audiences who are fans of horror thrillers, creature features, or anything shark related more than others, it is still a decent time to be had and one that won’t demand all that much. Nowhere near the best the genre has to offer, it isn’t ‘Deep Blue Sea’ or ‘The Shallows‘, but it will hit the right spot as a thrilling enough watch, before fading away alongside the others.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/