One of NPR’s pop culture reviewers got the cinematic equivalent of nachos with extra cheese sauce the other day. It’s fun and tasty even though you know it’s not good for you. The reviewer seems like she has only just discovered the joy of Bad Cinema, but now she’s hooked. In particular she seems amazed that they got “Actual Actor John Heard” to pummel a foam rubber shark with a barstool.
The way that works, of course, is that the Actual Actor is hired to work for one day and the whole shooting schedule revolves around getting all those scenes done for the one day the Actual Actor is available. A logistical problem for the director, but hardly an insurmountable one, the Actual Actor gets the agreed fee, and the movie gets to boast an Actual Actor as a “star” even though the Actual Actor actually has less than ten minutes of screen time.
No one will be culturally uplifted by watching Sharknado but it sounds like it was utterly ridiculous and sublimely awesome. Another triumph for The Asylum! I’m going to have to DVR this one and watch it myself when my trial schedule eventually lightens up. (Which is why I haven’t been posting much recently. Stupid day job.)
And, of course, be on the lookout for Sharknado II: Revenge of Sharknado.
It amazes me how well-known these things get. I mentioned Sharknado in passing to my friend (I haven’t seen it) and a stranger who happened to be walking by overheard me, and stopped and wanted to discuss it.
Bad SyFy movies are apparently the only social glue still holding this nation together.
Indeed, it can transcend barriers of language: El Tornado de Tiburón would every bit as much fun as Sharknado for English and Spanish speakers alike. Especially if it’s dubbed by actors whose Spanish comes in a thick Peggy Hill accent.
Now I want to hear Peggy Hill doing Captain Quint’s Jaws monologue en espanol.
“Tiburaaaahhns…..”
Sharkquake!
Sharkano!
Sharkicane!
Sharkilanch!
I’m thinking that some of these might actually be pretty good. We could use footage from Mount Saint Helens.
Sharkroid! (Not to be confused with Sharkrrhoid!, which is a much worse situation).
shgadfhadfh