"It ain't the queen of the beach."
A 2011 science fiction action film directed by Fred Olen Ray.
An offshore drilling accident releases a giant primordial shark. When the shark flies and walks on land threatening to turn a bikini contest into a bloodbath, marine biologist Kat Carmichael (Sarah Lieving) arrives to destroy the shark and save beach-goers. Her efforts are stymied by corporate bad guy Roger Wade (John Schneider) and his flunky Stewart (Jerry Lacy) who are only interested in their own agenda of money, money, money. With time running out for beach loving humans, Carmichael recruits heroic skipper Chuck (Tim Abell) and fearless disc jockey Dynamite Stevens (Jimmie Walker) to help her blast the blood thirsty shark back to a watery grave.
The film got a very negative reception, holding a rating of 2.5/10 on IMDb and a score of 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 85 user reviews. It also got some infamy for being placed at the "top" of James Rolfe's 40 Worst Shark Movies list. note However, Sarah Lieving did still manage to win a Best Rising B Actress award at the 2012 B-Movie Film Festival for her performance.
The film also has its own funky music video. It's about as insane as you would expect.
This movie contains examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: One of the soldiers manage to briefly drive Super Shark back into the water using a flame thrower, which is the first time the shark shows a weakness against anything!
- Action Girl: One of the bikini contest winners at least tries to fight off Super Shark with a beach umbrella, but gets eaten for her troubles. Kat is a more straightforward example, after Taking a Level in Badass.
- Badass Bookworm: Dr. Kat Carmichael is a marine biologist Agent Mulder... as well as the Final Girl who successfully blows Super Shark to pieces.
- Beta Couple: Almost Inverted. Kat and Chuck get along pretty well from the beginning m, developing their relationship slowly and positively. Meanwhile, the closest we get to a Beta Couple is a drama-filled Love Triangle which is never properly resolved as all three participants are devoured halfway through the film.
- The Cassandra:
- Kat claims to have been this, claiming that her previous "far-fetched" accusations against various oil companies which got her fired from the OIB were anything but. This might very well be the case, as she was entirely right about the cause behind the oil rig disaster.
- The Sole Survivor also does not tell anybody except Kate about the giant shark in the hopes of Averting this, worried that he’ll be sent to the looney bin otherwise. He even tries to pass off his story as a joke to Kate when she initially appears to have her doubts about it.
- Cool vs. Awesome: The military send out a Walking Tank to take down the shark. It doesn't go well for the tank.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Discussed. Wade calls out Kat for treating him like a “moustache-twirling villain”, assuring her that he’s actually an Honest Corporate Executive. However, he gets some sadistic glee out of having her Out-Gambitted later, even wishing that he had a moustache to twirl.
- Decoy Protagonist: The lifeguards are set up as major characters early on, with several scenes spent on their plot line. Ultimately though, all they amount to are Sacrificial Lions
- Dug Too Deep: Kat comes to the conclusion that Super Shark is likely a prehistoric beast which has been slumbering for millennia, only to be reawoken by Wade’s experimental oil drilling.
- Embarrassing Nickname: When marine biologist Dr. Carmichael reveals her first name to be ”Kat”, Wade proceeds to call her ”catfish”. This leads to a Never Heard That One Before reaction on her part.
- "Eureka!" Moment: During her and Chuck’s first encounter with Super Shark, Kat realizes that their adversary is attracted to radio waves. Note that every other time the shark shows up somebody tends to have a radio turned on.
- Fanservice: The beach setting naturally allows for plenty of attractive men and women in swimwear (including the scientist protagonist). There's even a gratuitous bikini fashion show which serves little purpose except to introduce Large-Ham Announcer Dynamite Stevens and giving Super Shark more people to kill.
- Freudian Excuse: A heroic example. Kat’s brother was killed in a shark attack, giving her a personal hatred of sharks most marine biologists would find quite unprofessional, to say the least.
- Genuine Imposter: Played With. Kat really did work for the Oceanic Investigation Bureau, but was fired and is hiding that fact to use their name as empty leverage. Roger Wade wastes no time exploiting this information as bribe material.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: In-Universe, a beach photographer asks his two bikini models to kiss each other, an idea they’re rather uncomfortable with. Then Super Shark comes ashore and eats the whole trio.
- Justified Title: Dr. Kat Carmichael does in fact use the name ”Super Shark” in her report to the befuddled military representatives, making it an Antagonist Title.
- Karma Houdini: Roger Wade receives no punishment for accidentally causing the destruction of the oil rig or the rest of Super Sharks rampage. He doesn’t learn much from the experience either, as his stated plans for the future involve drilling even deeper for new energy sources.
- Militaries Are Useless:
- Super Shark takes out a military submarine with relative ease, the crew of which take a bit too long to realize that they’re even dealing with an aquatic life form.
- Later, when the military sets out to face Super Shark earnestly, they lose both a plane and a fancy Walking Tank. They have more success with flame throwers, but are still unable to kill the fish. Ultimately, their biggest contribution amounts to supplying Kat with the explosives and trigger needed to save the day.
- Mind-Control Music: A more ”mundane” example. Super Shark is attracted to radio signals, including music. Or maybe they attack because they hate the sound, Kat isn’t really sure.
- Nice Guy: Chuck’s a helpful, working-class skipper who agrees to take Kat on an off-the-books investigation, comforts her as she’s Drowning Her Sorrows, and eventually distracts Super Shark long enough for Kat to get herself to safety. They wind up together in the end.
- Outside-Context Problem: A previously unknown species of shark which suddenly shows up, attacks random beach goers and seems virtually indestructible? It’s probably safe to say that Super Shark fits this trope.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The military commanders — while as baffled by Super Shark as everyone else — do take Kat seriously and listen to her advice.
- Shout-Out: The Expository Theme Tune contains the lighthearted jab that Super Shark “makes Jaws look like Flipper. Of course, the film is pretty much a Whole-Plot Reference to Jaws anyway, down to a push from the authorities to get rid of the shark before the Fourth of July tourist swarm.
- Slave to PR: While Roger Wade is the closest thing the film has to a human Big Bad, he really just set the plot in motion out of sheer incompetence. His later antagonism towards Kat is born less out of a desire to cause more harm and more out of an attempt at covering his own ass.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: To Chuck’s relief, Kat is revealed to have survived detonating the C4 which killed Super Shark. However, being so close to an explosion has made her at least temporarily lose her hearing.
- Threatening Shark: And how! The titular shark is not only about the size of a megalodon (which Kat speculates its closely related to) it can also move about on land and grab planes as they fly through the air. It's basically a Kaiju in all but name!
