Project UFO: The Phillip J. Roth Files

Shark Hunter

(2001/USA)

‘‘Guys, we’re gonna need a bigger sub’’

Carcharodon Megalodon, everyone’s favourite super monster-shark has come to the hallowed halls of UFO, and of course… it has to make a big impact. For those who don’t know, a MEG is one jumbo shark that is really long extinct.
After all the splash made by Steve Alten, about making a movie of his book MEG, it would seem there are now literally tons of them… somehow I don’t think Alten’s check is in the mail though. This one starts off with a Meg attack that takes our main characters family down and out for lunch, seemingly leaving him alive to suffer… or not ?. That is how he interprets it though, because he drinks and looks kind of haunted. This is, as any shark flick fan can tell you, the Lorraine Gary effect, under the spell of which undersea predators will hold grudges and say, “I told you so” all whilst attempting to eat every living relative of the first victim.
The trauma of his past is not a psyche health enhancing event at all, and now Spencer Northcutt may have found his evil shark. Divers at an underwater research facility seem to have encountered a monster, yes an eating machine… and perhaps it is THAT extinct dino-shark, MEG ! As one character says, “You should know better than to bring Captain Ahab to the bottom of the ocean.”

Yes, Antonio Sabato Jnr. has his eyes set on beating up a 60 foot monster. Dogged and relentless as Tron (1982) with a bad accent, he heads down into the depths with a half baked plan and a mini-sub, and proceeds to go nose to giant nose with the beast. Thankfully, the cannon fodder known as other characters are in abundance, and ready to be eaten.
Well shot and acted, this is great low budget fun. Giving the usual underwater science fiction setting some bite, the script by Phillip J. Roth and Sam Welles, is peppered with decent dialogue, and a mean streak that has many of the crew biting down and saying AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH more often than not. The Meg gets in the ship (at least his snout and eyes do), the Meg smashes the research facility… it bites, it slices, it dices, and makes guppy snacks out of everybody it can find.
While CGI sharks aren’t new, the work done for Shark Hunter is particularly impressive, as are the submarines. As is the case with many UFO productions, not only does the shark become CGI, but so does much of the flicks environment. Sharks versus Torpedoes, Antonio Sabato Jnr. looking grim, a blonde with attitude, and all set to a good Tony Riparetti action music score. Bliss.
If nothing else, you’ll certainly get a kick out of this Meg’s final solution. Yow… only in the low budget movies can you have this kind of ending !

Movie Rating: FUN

Review David Zuzelo / Source Region 1 NTSC DVD

Shark Hunter(2001/USA)

Director Matt Codd

With Antonio Sabato Jnr, Christian Toulali,

Grand L. Bush, Heather M. Marsden & Velizar Binev