AceShowbiz - The shark-themed disaster movie Thrash offers a blend of horror, humor, and pulpy thrills as it plunges viewers into a coastal South Carolina town flooded by hurricane waters teeming with aggressive sharks. Featuring Phoebe Dynevor in the lead role, the film embraces outrageous plot points, including a harrowing water birth amid rising floodwaters filled with hungry predators.

Every shark movie carries the legacy of the iconic film Jaws, but Thrash draws more direct comparison to Alexandre Aja’s tense thriller Crawl. Instead of alligators trapped by a hurricane in Florida, this story focuses on bull sharks and a pregnant great white shark invading a town after levees break and floodwaters surge. The movie’s title, spelled with an extra “h,” might benefit from a trim, but the film itself is a fun, if disposable, addition to the shark subgenre.

Directed and written by Tommy Wirkola, known for mixing horror and humor in projects like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Thrash leans into absurdity while also attempting to touch on real-world issues such as the increasing frequency and severity of Atlantic hurricanes and the dangers posed by storm surges. The result is a movie that straddles the line between self-aware camp and disaster thriller, running just under 90 minutes to deliver a fast-paced, action-filled experience.

The story unfolds as Hurricane Henry approaches, with on-screen timers counting down to landfall. The central character, Lisa, played by Dynevor, is a pregnant woman working at McKay’s Meats, a nod to producer Adam McKay. She has recently moved from New York and is now alone after her fiancé abandoned her. Lisa’s mother repeatedly pressures her over the phone about considering a water birth, an element that gains significance later in the film. As Lisa drives through the town, she notices residents scrambling to evacuate, but finds herself trapped when the interstate closes, leaving her no escape.

Another key character is Dakota, portrayed by Whitney Peak, an 18-year-old coping with trauma and severe anxiety that makes her agoraphobic. She refuses to leave her home until her uncle Dale, a marine biologist played by Djimon Hounsou, arrives by boat two hours away. When a fallen tree traps Lisa in her car just as she begins labor, Dakota must overcome her fears to help her.

Meanwhile, a subplot follows a group of foster children—Ron, Dee, and Will—who are left to fend for themselves after their negligent foster parents prioritize their own comfort over the kids’ safety. Their adoptive father, Billy Olson (played by Matt Nable), is confident that his reinforced home will withstand the storm, dismissing it as “a little bit of weather.” However, when floodwaters breach their house, turning the living room into a shark-infested pool, the children’s survival skills are put to the ultimate test.

Much of the movie was shot on a studio lot and in a specially constructed tank in Melbourne, Australia. Wirkola manages to convincingly portray the hurricane’s destructive power by mixing practical effects with stock footage and occasional CGI. Scenes of trees snapping, cars being swept away, and buildings collapsing are effectively realized, despite some moments where the visual effects are noticeably artificial.

The film populates its world with numerous minor characters who serve as shark victims, keeping tension high as the main cast battles both the elements and the relentless predators. A memorable detail is a McKay’s Meats tanker truck that splits open, spilling tons of chum into the floodwaters—an ironic touch that boosts the sharks’ appetite.

While Wirkola previously balanced horror and comedy more skillfully in his Dead Snow films, Thrash sometimes struggles with tonal consistency. Forced humor, such as Dynevor soothing herself with Vanessa Carlton’s music during contractions or quips about “Shark Week,” occasionally fall flat. Similarly, Hounsou delivers a cringe-worthy backstory about surviving a hippo attack thanks to intervention by bull sharks, which he narrates with admirable seriousness despite the scene’s absurdity.

Critically, the film’s plot logic is elastic, and its spectacle is unlikely to impress major filmmakers. However, as a bloody, campy shark thriller with a natural disaster twist, it is more successful than recent shark survival films like The Requin or The Black Demon. Its mix of thrills, gore, and occasional humor makes it an enjoyable watch for fans of the genre, especially given its brisk runtime and pulpy style.

Produced by Sony Pictures and HyperObject, and distributed by Netflix after Sony shelved its theatrical release plans, Thrash is rated R with a runtime of 1 hour and 26 minutes. The cast includes Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak, Djimon Hounsou, Matt Nable, Andrew Lees, Stacy Claussen, Alyla Browne, and Dante Ubaldi. The film’s production team features producers Adam McKay, Kevin Messick, and Tommy Wirkola, with Matt Weston as director of photography and Dom Lewis and Daniel Futcher composing the score.

Ultimately, Thrash offers a fast, pulpy shark survival story that doesn’t take itself too seriously but still delivers enough tension and spectacle to keep viewers entertained. Its mix of disaster movie elements and shark attack thrills makes it a notable, if somewhat silly, addition to Netflix’s growing catalogue of genre films.