Film Sponge

I was ready to write this one off as a Jaws rip-off, and I’m not much of a Jaws fan to begin with. Not that I don’t find big sharks terrifying, but let’s be frank: Open Water is better than Jaws and all its silly sequels combined. Fact. But the trailer for Shark Night 3D hints that there is indeed something below the surface, and I detect some nice twists.

Shark Night 3D was directed by David R. Ellis (Snakes on a Plane) and stars Sara Paxton, Chris Carmack and Joel David Moore. The movie is set for a September 2, 2011 release date.

More info, plot, trailer, and poster after the break.

First of all, the shark is in a lake—a saltwater lake, but a lake nonetheless. So we got a mystery (“How did it get here?”) along with our monster. Someone in the trailer wonders, “What if someone put it here?” Now I’m wondering too.

So then I find out that Shark Night 3D comes from the producers of Hostel and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I can’t help hoping for something golden. If a person, not just Mother Nature, is behind it all, he (or she) must be a real madman. Must be rich too, since I can’t imagine the logistical nightmare involved in relocating a great white shark. Okay, I’m ready to be impressed.

Trailer: [TrailerAddict]

Poster:

Synopsis: [Apple]

A sexy summer weekend turns into a blood-soaked nightmare for a group of college students trapped on an island surrounded by voracious underwater predators in Shark Night 3D, a terrifying thrill ride from director David Ellis (The Final Destination, Snakes On a Plane), featuring a red-hot young cast including Sara Paxton (Superhero Movie, Last House on the Left), Dustin Milligan (“90210,” Slither), Chris Carmack (“The O.C.”), Joel David Moore (Avatar), Chris Zylka (The Amazing Spider Man) and Katharine McPhee (The House Bunny). Arriving by boat at her family’s Louisiana lake island cabin, Sara (Sara Paxton) and her friends quickly strip down to their swimsuits for a weekend of fun in the sun. But when star football player Malik (Sinqua Walls) stumbles from the salt-water lake with his arm torn off, the party mood quickly evaporates. Assuming the injury was caused by a freak wake-boarding accident, the group realizes they have to get Malik to a hospital on the other side of the lake, and fast. But as they set out in a tiny speedboat, the college friends discover the lake has been stocked with hundreds of massive, flesh-eating sharks! As they face one grisly death after another, Sara and the others struggle desperately to fend off the sharks, get help and stay alive long enough to reach the safety of dry land.

Saucy Josh writes a blog for intelligent Horror Movie connoisseurs called Blood and Guts for Grown Ups: https://bloodandgutsforgrownups.wordpress.com/