Is it me, or does the killer shark movie finally seem to be entering a period of creativity that goes beyond shamelessly ripping off Jaws, Open Water and The Shallows? I mean, yes, there’s only a limited number of ways you can present the plot of a hungry shark (or sharks) gnawing their way through a cast list, but lately it really does feel like anyone who approaches the sub-genre has something slightly new in store. Of course, by “anyone”, I specifically mean mean Australians, because as evidenced by the release of Dangerous Animals earlier this year, and the recent surfacing of Kiah Roache-Turner’s Beast Of War, it seems that sharks suddenly have a few new tricks up their gills.
Having already slammed the zombie movie and the post apocalypse Mad Max flick together with the Wyrmwood movies and brought the killer spider movie to an urban environment with Sting, Roache-Turner now turns his attention to trying to blend the WWII movie with killer sharks in a way that blatantly evokes an Aussie version of Quint’s Indianapolis speech from Jaws. However, with an obviously limited budget at his disposal, can he deliver something that boasts a whole lot of meat that your average man eater?
The year is 1942 and as World War II rages on, we follow a band of young, Australian men as they attempt to train for the rigours of war they’ll soon experience first hand. One thing their drill instructor is adamant adamant about pounding into them is the important of being a team and working as a unit – or has he puts it “lookin’ out for ya mates”. However, while some members of the unit, such as the noble Leo, manage to bond with his team mates by helping them out and bonding with them, others such as the unapologetically racist Des, is only interested in looking out for themselves and soon builds a sizable rivalry against Leo.
This unsurprisingly comes to a head when the boys finally ship out only to have their boat sunk out from under them by enemy fighter planes as they cross the Timor Sea. Recovering from the attack and surrounded by an untold amount of bleeding bodies, the small clutch of survivors attempt to gather together as much floating debris as they can and rope it together to form a large raft – but regrettably, drowning seems to be the least of their problems. With a thick mist covering the area and no wind to move it on, the chances of them getting spotted and rescued is virtually nil; there’s no water and only a single can of peaches to sustain them; and most of the guys have rather serious wounds which aren’t going to get the correct medical attention any time soon.
However, the most pressing concern is the presence of a nightmarishly scarred, 20-foot great white shark that been attracted by all that blood in the water that’s simply isn’t going to leave until she sinks her teeth into every single living morsel still clinging to life on that makeshift raft.
World War II, just became World War Tooth.
With the obvious reference of Jaws bobbing in the water thanks to that aforementioned speech masterfully delivered by Robert Shaw, you’d think that Spielberg’s timeless classic would be the obvious touchstone for Roache-Turner’s gutsy thriller. However, while the details of said moment are dutifully homaged (behold the sight of a man bitten in half below the waist bobbing and upending to shock effect), in an effort to make his budget stretch as far as it can go, the filmmakers have seemingly turned to another killer animal movie completely that’s famously closer to home – Australian killer boar movie, Razorback.
Anyone who’s seen Russell Mulcahy’s 1984 slice of Ozploitation will know that the movie employed some genuinely trippy visual quirks and stylised lighting that gave the entire experience a sense of nightmarish dream logic and made the prospect of getting eaten by a giant pig legitimately terrifying. Wisely utilising an unrelenting fog bank to shroud proceedings in an eerie mist that not only reduces the sun to a trippy haze, but casts the day scenes in a dreamy orange hue, the filmmakers dodge the need for expensive CGI backdrops of an unending ocean and switches out expanse for claustrophobia. With the distinct visuals meaning that the film doesn’t have to worry too much about sticking to strict realism, the director goes to town chasing that feeling of disconcerting dream logic that you’d more often find in Italian giallo films rather that a gritty war picture. While the shark itself (amusingly dubbed “Shazza” on set) is mostly a practical effect performed by a hefty, mechanical fish, the thing is so nightmarishly fucked up with zig-zagging scars, ragged gums and milky white eyes, it looks like the film is trying to evoke fishy Nightmare On Elm Street rather than the more traditional forms of carcharodon carcharias we’ve seen on screen.
It also helps that the toothy bitch literally erupts from the sea at random intervals to rip a limb off anyone resting too close the edge of the water and repeated shots of the beast sinking back under the surface with its formidable choppers bared are legitimately the stuff of lifelong phobias.
But while the backdrop and the shark regularly flirt with the realms of horror fantasy, the human cast are all in sweaty, survival horror mode and the juxtaposition of their stark, terrified faces mixed with with the hallucinatory tone proves to be quite interesting. Also, themes of camaraderie butting violently up against racism add an extra punch as lead actor, Mark Coles Smith puts in a strong performance as he and his mates, dodge sharks, avoid Japanese fly-bys and even go as far as drinking their own piss as they struggle to survive. Also, as exhaustion and accumulated injuries take its toll, the survivors end up having to not only keep a steely eye out for danger without, but they have to avoid danger within. A sizable head wound leaves one soldier unable to grasp the danger they’re all in, but other, more farcical threats arise such as someone pulling the pin in their grenade whilst in the grip of a particularly vivid nightmare.
Inventive enough to use its stripped back nature to it’s advantage, Beast Of War continues in the vein of other Australian shark attacks as Dangerous Animals (serial killer plus sharks) and Fear Below (gangsters plus sharks) buy offering up something tonally different to the majority of stuff the subgenre regularly puts out.
Smart and suitably ferocious, Kiah Roache-Turner switches from spiders to sharks with style. But while the bloody Band of Brothers plot gives the movie a nice, sturdy backbone, it’s the sumptuous visuals, delirious tone and a particularly brutal beast that gives Beast Of War something of a serrated edge.
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