It wouldn’t be summer if horror fans didn’t get a slew of new entries in the shark attack subgenre, which just so happens to be my second favorite tier under the scary movie umbrella. Swim Swim Entertainment fittingly released their latest aquatic adventure Shark Girl on streaming platforms including Tubi, Roku, Amazon and Apple. I thought I was going to see a variant of Jaws, Shark Night or The Reef, but what I saw instead was closer to Ginger Snaps, Teeth or Return of the Living Dead 3. Not that I’m complaining! Honestly, I was gagging at the colors used on the movie poster featured above and failed to notice it’s a shark and a girl, not some sort of monstrous hybrid. To break down the plot a little better, an accident at a nearby power plant leaks toxic chemicals into the water, where great white sharks swim through and unknowingly gain some sort of ability to pass their thirst for blood onto potential victims. When a blonde bombshell takes to the beach for a bikini photoshoot, she’s nibbled on by a shark and wakes up that night to find herself with lust for blood and concealed teeth that can tear through flesh.
Shark Girl was written, directed, produced and edited by Justin Shilton & Rob Zazzali. Cast members include Alexandra Corin Johnson, Nick Tag, Sumayyah Ameerah, Ryan Bertroche, Rob Zazzali, Brian Guest, John Griffin and Devon Odessa. Believe it or not, making Venice Beach the setting of this film was a smart move because a little Google search told me the city had 47 shark sightings last year. However, overall, the state of California only saw one actual attack in 2024. Still, I’m giving points for realism here. Because Shark Girl isn’t going to be a movie that features a lot of rhyme or reason. I mean, we’re talking about a social media influencer who goes crazy and starts eating people after being bitten by a radioactive great white. No, to enjoy this film, you just need to kick your feet up and enjoy. Turn off the bullshit world we live in, turn on this title, maybe even crack open a beer, and watch a sexy, bloody, shark attack flick that’s perfect for summer.
There are underlying themes of taking control of your own destiny and getting what you want present in Shark Girl. Who knew there would be any sort of thematic integrity in a movie like this. Using a social media influencer as the main character and watching her dissolve into a ruthless killer was absolutely the right vehicle for this story. Social media influencers always paint themselves as picture perfect, but one can never truly know what’s going on behind the scenes. This is touched upon amongst the bloodshed as well as a little romance and crime drama. In the same way that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was successful for making its hero a petite blonde, Shark Girl showcases its killer much in the same way. She’s stunning, toned, soft spoken and secretly intelligent, but she’s also about to flip the script and chew out your throat in a matter of seconds. No one expects the hot blonde to be responsible for seven deaths in a matter of days, but that’s why her murder spree is to able to go unnoticed – much in the same way sharks aren’t seen by swimmers until it’s too late.
My only two complaints with Shark Girl are a little bit of stiff acting and that I wish they showed the main character as a half shark/half human at some point – even if it was just for a second. Although, noting that CGI makes or breaks a narrative, so maybe keeping this one away from such territory ended up doing it justice in the end. Overall, it felt very nostalgic to me – which is a good thing. A whodunit type of story with the killer staring you dead in the face. From a production standpoint, it looks very modern, and I don’t remember seeing any glaring mistakes during my viewing. It has a modest death count and knows when to call it quits before getting boring. It’s not going to be the Sharknado of 2025, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think it was well done. It’s certainly worthy of a stream if you’re into the shark attack subgenre like I am. And what’s great is that it’s open to a sequel and I know I’d tune in to a movie called Shark Girl 2 or Shark Man. That’s it, folks. Shark Girl team, well done!
Final Score: 7.5 out of 10.
