Far from ‘fin’-ished
Syfy continues to add to the Sharknado franchise
Idon’t mind telling you that when “Sharknado” made its rather outrageous debut in 2013, there was no part of me that thought it would become an annual event. I won’t pretend I wasn’t entertained — it’s too absurd not to enjoy on some level, despite the camp level being through the roof and the quality of special effects being, well, not. But did I think that, just three years later, the disaster horror franchise (yes, it’s now a franchise) would be delivering its fourth installment in the series? I did not.
Regardless of what my 2013 self thought, Sharknado has become a cult phenomenon. The ultra-campy, B-movie franchise puts sharks and tornadoes together in a lowbudget bloodbath that’s as entertaining as it is improbable. Don’t miss the latest installment in the series, “Sharknado: The 4th Awakens,” when it makes its gore-filled debut Sunday, July 31, on Syfy.
To clarify for the unenlightened, the movies all center on a freak disaster, in which maneating sharks are scooped out of the ocean via water spouts and deposited into major cities where they wreak havoc, devouring anyone in their path. The challenge is repeatedly met head on by aptly named surfer-dude and bar owner Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering, “Beverly Hills, 90210”) and his ex-wife-turned-wife-again April Wexler (Tara Reid, “American Pie,” 1999) and their cronies. The two always seem to be hanging around wherever a sharknado happens to hit, be it Los Angeles, New York, Washington or, now, Las Vegas.
With a budget of just $2 million and a modest 1.4 million viewers tuning in for the premiere telecast, the original movie has still managed to score an 82 percent on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes — which really says something for the whole “so bad it’s good” thing.
“It’s over the top, but it’s over the top in a great way, and I’ve stopped questioning it,” Ziering said in a Hollywood Reporter interview last year. “These movies are rated awesome, and they’re not intended for overthinkers.”
It seems the novelty may be wearing off, though. Last summer’s release, “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” saw a dip in both ratings and reviews from the sequel, sitting at a piddly 36 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s not a huge surprise, since the cheap CGI sharks soaring around in funnel clouds are bound to have a “what have you done for me lately?” effect after three movies in as many years.
Evidently, the powers that be saw this coming and made darn sure that “Sharknado 3” viewers come back for “The 4th Awakens.” The last movie arguably jumped the shark about 12 different times, chiefly by bringing the shark battle into space where: A) Fin deploys a laser chainsaw, all the better to slay space sharks with than his boring old regular chainsaw; and B) April somehow gives birth inside a shark. But all’s well! Back on Earth, she slices a hole into its side with her robot arm (you know, the one that houses a miniature retractable chainsaw and wears a giant engagement ring? Yeah, that robot arm) and pushes her newborn son to safety.
But wait — there’s more! The movie ended in a nailbiting cliffhanger when the gore-covered but otherwise fine April finds herself smack in the path of a piece of space debris hurtling to Earth. Syfy put the franchise’s rampant social media following to good use by leaving it up to viewers to decide April’s fate. So you’ll have to tune in to the fourth installment to see what the Sharknado-loving masses decided. Well, not really — the website and trailer reveal that fans don’t want to see their favorite shark-slaying family torn asunder, and April will live to see another day.
She’s not the only one who’s survived against all odds. David Hasselhoff (“Baywatch”) is back from the moon, where his character ended “Sharknado 3,” as Fin’s father, Gil (could this family possibly have sharkier names?), to the joy of one and all.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Sharknado sequel without a seemingly never-ending roster of cameo appearances. Keep an eye out for the Hoff’s former “Baywatch” co-star Alexandra Paul, who plays an astrophysicist, and his daughters Hayley (“Fearless,” 2015) and TaylorAnn (“Meet the Hasselhoffs”).
“Shark Tank” sharks (of course) Robert Herjavec and Lori Greiner make appearances, as do comedians Carrot Top and Gilbert Gottfried and MMA fighters Roy Nelson and Frank Mir. Stacey Dash (“Clueless,” 1995) plays the mayor of Chicago, Duane Chapman (“Dog the Bounty Hunter”) is a chainsaw dealer (is that actually a thing?), and Paul Shaffer (“Late Show with David Letterman”) and Wayne Newton play themselves — and those are just some of the 30-odd cameos Syfy’s announced so far. Don’t expect to see them for too long, though; most of them will probably be chomped to bits within seconds.
If you haven’t seen any of these movies yet, now is a great time to get on board. Just bear in mind — in case it’s not glaringly obvious at this point — they’re by no means meant to be taken too seriously. Catch the premiere broadcast of “Sharknado: The 4th Awakens” when it airs Sunday, July 31, on Syfy.