Shark Night (advertised as Shark Night 3D) is a 2011 American 3-D horror action film directed by David R. Ellis and written by Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg. It stars Sara Paxton, Katharine McPhee, Alyssa Diaz, Dustin Milligan, and Joel David Moore.
The film, which was negatively received by critics and grossed $40 million worldwide, was released in Real D 3D and Digital 3D. This is David R. Ellis' final film before his death.
Plot[]
Jess goes for a swim in the lake. Her boyfriend scares her and takes her bra off. He leaves and she goes to retrieve it. She is then attacked and devoured by a shark.
At Tulane University, Gordon and Nick are in their dorm when Malik bursts in. Malik tells them that he got a B+ on a exam and that they are going to Sara Palski’s house for the weekend to celebrate. As the three walk out, Malik says he is going to marry his girlfriend Maya. Maya pulls up in a car with Beth. Blake and Sara arrive. The kids drive toward the lake and stop at a bait shop. They meet Dennis Crim and Red. The seven college kids drive toward the lake until Sheriff Sabin appears. Malik, Maya, Nick, and Blake take the boat out to go water skiing. Malik is attacked by a shark and loses his arm. Maya, Nick, and Sara take him in the boat to the hospital. Malik is still bleeding from his arm. It bleeds into a hole in the boat, leaking blood into the water. A shark bumps the boat and devours Maya. The other three are forced to jump off the boat as the steering and brakes stop working.
By night, Red and Dennis appear and offer to take two people to the hospital. Beth and Gordon decide to go. While on the way Dennis explains that he and Red put the sharks in the lake. He then shoots Gordon in the arm. Gordon swims towards a tree and climbs it but is caught by a shark. Beth gets thrown into a net and gets attacked and killed by a pack of cookie cutters.
Blake tells Malik that Maya is dead and in a burst of rage, Malik tries to kill the shark responsible. Nick notices a camera attached to the shark. Blake tells the others he is taking Malik to a hospital on Sarah’s WaveRunner. As they drive toward the hospital, Malik sees a great white shark following them. He sacrifices himself and is killed. As Blake tries to escape, the shark jumps out of the water and decapitates him.
Sheriff Sabin arrives at the house, where he notices the dead shark on the shore. He radios for backup. Nick passes out, knocking over a container of chicken noodle soup that the sheriff had. Sherman the dog eats it. Sara overhears on the radio about Beth’s death. She and Nick are kidnapped by Dennis and the sheriff.
Nick wakes up tied to a chair. He panics as the sheriff explains that Sabin, Red, Dennis, and a bait store clerk were heavily influenced by Shark Week. They decided to record people getting brutally devoured by sharks. Sabin cuts Nick’s leg and spills gasoline. Nick uses his lighter to burn the rope to free himself. He then throws it at the sheriff who catches on fire. The sheriff falls in the lake and is devoured by a shark.
On the boat, Dennis chops up fish and dumps the blood and guts all over Sara who is in a shark cage. Nick jumps aboard with a dart gun aimed at Red’s head as he demands that Dennis bring Sarah back up. Dennis agrees, but then pulls out a knife and throws it, hitting Red in the heart. Nick throws the body overboard. Dennis and Nick fight. Nick knocks Dennis into the water and brings Sarah up out of the water. Dennis grabs a lever and pulls it re-submerging the cage.
The two start to fight again and a shark appears. Dennis gets his leg tangled up in the rope attached to the cage and is eaten. Nick dives down to retrieve a weapon from the ship and kills the sharks. Nick and Sara make it back to the boat along with the dog.
List of deaths[]
| Name | Cause of Death | Killer | On Screen | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jess Winslow | Pulled underwater, eaten(off-screen) | thresher shark | Mentioned | |
| Maya Valdez | Knocked off boat into water/eaten | Bull shark | ||
| Gordon Gutherien | Shot in stomach by Dennis/yanked off tree branch/eaten | bull shark | ||
| Beth | Bitten all over body/face/eaten | Dennis, Red, Baby Cookiecutter Shark | Forced into water, later buried to her funeral by her family after death | |
| Malik Williams | Arm bitten off(off-screen), drowned, eaten | Unknown Shark, Mako Shark | Sacrificed, jumped off jet ski | |
| Blake Hammond | Head bitten off/plucked off jet ski into water/eaten | Great White Shark | ||
| Sheriff Greg Sabin | Burned, fell into shark tank/eaten | Nick, sand tiger shark | Bad guy | |
| Red Alljuy | Knife thrown into chest, drowned in water | Dennis | Betrayed | |
| Dennis Crim | Ripped apart/eaten | Sara, Great White Shark | Handcuffed to underwater cage, Revenge for killing her friend |
Cast[]
- Sara Paxton as Sara Palski
- Dustin Milligan as Nick LaDuca
- Chris Carmack as Dennis Crim
- Katharine McPhee as Beth Mazza
- Chris Zylka as Blake Hammond
- Joel David Moore as Gordon McCracken
- Sinqua Walls as Malik Williams
- Alyssa Diaz as Maya Valdez
- Joshua Leonard as Robert "Red" Allyjah
- Donal Logue as Sheriff Greg Sabin
Production[]
Principal photography took place in the fall of 2010 in Louisiana around the Ark-La-Tex and at Caddo Lake in Uncertain, Texas. The sharks featured in the film were animatronic sharks built by Edge Innovations, who previously built sharks for movies such as Deep Blue Sea (1999) Austin Powers, and even the Orca in Free Willy. Two models for each shark were built. According to Walt Conti, the head of Edge Innovations, two models for each shark were built. One "attacker" and one "swimmer." Each of which required very different internal mechanisms. "Sharks are this total contrast of stealthy, cruising lurking and these intense bursts of power," Conti says. "We split those two behaviors into two different types of models, and optimized each to do one of those things best." The film was originally titled Shark Night 3D, but Ellis has stated he would rather have the title be Untitled 3D Shark Thriller. However, in March 2011, Box Office Mojo indicated that the title had gone back to Shark Night 3D.
Reception[]
Shark Night 3D received negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that the film holds only a 17% approval rating from critics
with an average rating 3.3/10, citing 'A joyless excursion into the water that doesn't even produce good gore or nudity thanks to the neutered PG-13 rating." The film has a normalized score of 22/100 on Metacritic, indicating generally unfavorable reviews. The positive reviews praised the film for providing "dumb fun."
