USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Sharknado 3’ spins onto SyFy
Ziering’s Fin to the rescue in another round of absurd he rates as ‘ awesome’
Get your chain saws ready: There’s another sharknado in our midst. Syfy tonight presents its third installment of the bloody fish- killing/ windstorm franchise with Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!
The original Sharknado movie ignited a social- media storm in 2013, and Sharknado 2 became Syfy network’s most- watched original movie with 3.9 million viewers. The third movie promises to be an even crazier, cameo-filled romp that’s “rated awesome,” says star Ian Ziering ( Beverly Hills, 90210), whose heroic, chain- saw- wielding Fin impossibly — and repeatedly — saves his family from wind- blown sharks in the B- movies.
Fin first took on the unique weather pattern in Los Angeles and relocated in Sharknado 2 to New York. In Oh Hell No!, fishy weather follows Fin to Washington, D. C., where he’s receiving a Medal of Freedom ( for saving the nation from sharknadoes, of course), but he winds up fending off fresh sharks with a grenade-throwing president played by Mark Cuban. ( Cuban is fed lines such as “They used to call me a shark, but now I’m looked upon as a beacon of hope.”)
Once the nation’s capital has been destroyed, he gets picked up by shark- chasers Lucas ( Frankie Muniz, in a cameo as a Malcolm in the Middle- esque genius) and Nova ( Cassie Scerbo, whom Fin saved by sawing her out of a shark’s belly in Sharknado). In their souped- up shark- chasing van, they help Fin get to Orlando and his family, including Fin’s pregnant wife, April. With, of course, pit stops along the way,
This shark- killing go- round requires swords, handguns, tanks, clever placement of fire and a variety of chain saws including a golden version bestowed upon Fin along with his presidential medal and one that “works in outer space,” says Ziering, who also reveals that Fin’s father, Gilbert ( a late cameo by David Hasselhoff ) gets to join in on some “out of this world” methods for stabilizing the deadly storm.
Ziering, who is used to passersby yelling “Go get ’ em, Fin!” when he tries to hail a cab, would love to keep doing Sharknado films, though he’s well aware the franchise won’t be winning any awards.
“Whatever the critics say, it really doesn’t matter,” he says, conceding “these are bad movies” that “capture the imagination of not just science- fiction fans, but bubble over into mainstream entertainment.”
By appealing to the entire family, and striking a chord on social media, “this movie accomplishes something that major motion pictures studios spend hundreds of millions of dollars” to do.