Steven Spielberg has a lot to answer for, with the shark attack creature feature becoming a cinematic staple ever since the director’s breakout feature Jaws made people scared to go back in the water in the summer of 1975, although it did encourage them to go to the theater seeing as it became the highest-grossing movie ever produced at the time.
Since then, the subgenre has spawned countless films that run the entire gamut from acclaimed thrillers to trashy bargain basement horrors, but for some reason, this year is shaping up to be the most notable that the giant shark pic has seen in a long time. Great White is expected to arrive in the summer, while Shark Island is also on its way to VOD, and Sharks of the Corn exists for some reason.
Even Tommy Wiseau of all people is getting in on the act, with man behind The Room directing his first feature since the 2003 cult hit and reuniting with Greg Sestero for good measure in Big Shark, which was shot in 2019 but is reportedly gearing up for release later this year. The latest addition to the rapidly expanding slate of 2021 entries is China’s Huge Shark, and the trailer certainly lives up to the title.
Also known as Deadly Shark Beach in some territories, the plot follows a group attending a birthday party who find themselves stranded on the water and forced to deal with a very hungry aquatic critter, in what looks to be an exponentially cheesier version of Blake Lively’s surprisingly great survival story The Shallows. It’s certainly not shaping up to be a classic by any means, and while fans of the genre will be sold on the title alone, as of yet, Huge Shark hasn’t settled on a locked-in release date.