Jay Rohr
Hot Spring Shark Attack simmers in the subgenre of horror comedy. This odd ode to Jaws (1979) proudly wears its inspirations prominently. Yet, it manages to be its own movie in many ways. How much of that is for the best comes down to taste. After all, hákarl, a fermented shark dish, is a delicacy in Iceland. That doesn’t mean everybody is going to like it.
The story starts in Atsumi city which will soon be home to a state-of-the-art luxury spa. To the mayor’s dismay, several remains have begun washing up on the beach. The pieces suggest shark attacks as well as a connection to the famous local hot springs. Frightened at the prospect of losing tourist income, the mayor demands that police officials handle matters quickly and quietly. Thanks to a professor of marine biology, it soon becomes clear that a breed of shark, previously believed to be extinct, is the culprit. However, these prehistoric predators will not go softly, though they will go comically.
Hot Spring Shark Attack isn’t afraid to get ridiculous. Suspension of disbelief has rarely been asked to carry so much weight. Perhaps using whatever rig held up the premise of The Fast and the Furious franchise, writer-director Morihito Inoue aims to deliver a knowingly goofy plot. It’s highly unlikely anyone will be surprised to discover Hot Spring Shark Attack isn’t a serious movie.
Animal attacks have long been a breeding ground for shlock. While Hot Spring Shark Attack may be closer to the tongue-in-cheek tone of Piranha 3D (2010), it never comes close to the sad efforts of Sewer Gators (2022). That’s because the movie isn’t trying to cover up its shortcomings with snarky humor. Hot Springs Shark Attack embraces the small pond where it could be a big fish.
That said, for a flick which tops out at an hour and seventeen minutes, the movie could be shorter. Certain scenes throughout the beginning are a tad repetitious. Most conversations are exposition dumps stating facts rather than exploring situations. Captions will identify certain main characters, who then introduce themselves as if reading their own labels. While this could be generously considered mindful of the visually impaired, it can get tedious.
The blind are also arguably spared the clearly low-budget caliber of many effects. However, there is a case to be made for that being an intentional choice. Some of the sharks on display are so phony one couldn’t be remotely expected to see them as real or even frightening. As such, they feel more like punchlines than scares. Since Hot Spring Shark Attack has a certain obvious goofiness, such instances come across more intentionally than, say, settling for what they can get with a low budget.
Being a bit off kilter also gives Hot Spring Shark Attack a degree of freedom. For instance, not to risk spoilers, Atsumimaru, an experimental anti-shark submersible, comes into existence by using 3D printers. The revelation of how the sharks can attack people in hot springs, bathtubs, etc. is… more acceptable than it would be under other circumstances. Still, there are narrative shortcomings.
The intentional humor doesn’t always land. Since this is technically a comedy, the hit or miss nature of things makes the movie uneven. And that’s putting it kindly. Hot Spring Shark Attack often falls victim to the horror comedy mistake of not being as funny as it thinks it will be. The hilarious premise on paper stretches too thin to support the picture since there isn’t enough supplemental humor to keep things up. In other words, this is mostly a one joke movie without enough sidewise snickers to keep it afloat.
Hot Spring Shark Attack falls squarely into the category of flicks I like to call beer and a pizza movies. Those wonderful motion pictures that are perfect for getting together with folks looking to laugh. There are plenty of risible scenes in Hot Spring Shark Attack, and better yet, the filmmakers are in on the gag. The same schadenfreude that can occasionally come with watching a movie so bad it’s good won’t happen here. This isn’t inadvertently amusing bad art.
Overall, the narrative does build to satisfying, albeit kooky, conclusion. The cast does some solid acting at times. They often deliver performances far more sincere than one expects from a B-movie. The film includes Takuya Fujimura (One Cut of the Dead), Daniel Aguilar (Shin Godzilla), Shôichirô Akaboshi, Masaki Naito (Mayonaka), Koichi Makigami (Hear the Song of the Wind), Kiyobumi Kaneko (Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories), and Mio Takaki (Ultraman: Tiga). All of them take the film seriously, though their talents can only lift the material so much.
While Hot Spring Shark Attack may be closer to the Sharknado franchise than the one good Jaws, that doesn’t make it open to mockery. The sincerity of the film’s goofiness allows for a certain respect. That said, this is miles from a high caliber feature. It often feels like a high budget TikTok video and should probably have been as long. Whole chunks of the story could have been chomped down to speed things along. It’s telling when a flick that runs an hour and small change feels long.
That brevity is only a saving grace insofar as Hot Spring Shark Attack won’t feel like a total waste of time. Set snuggly in a shark movie marathon, perhaps as a break during a run through Deep Blue Sea one through three, it could serve as a curious palate cleanser. Those looking for a more serious fright flick, though, might do best to stay out of these waters. Not unlike hákarl, Hot Spring Shark Attack is for those who have acquired a specific taste.
If you happen to be such an individual, Hot Spring Shark Attack (a.k.a. Onsen shāku) will have a run in a few theaters. For a full list of U.S. locations, click here. Otherwise, the shark attack starts Jully 11th on VOD.
