2-HEADED SHARK ATTACK (2012), 3-HEADED SHARK ATTACK (2015)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *cosmological, sociological*

The one "sociological" element of these "giant critter films" that I didn't cover in this post is the way many of the modern iterations seek to balance "girl power" with "girls gone wild." In the first of the Asylum's "hydra-headed sharks," former Baywatch beauty Carmen Electra plays a resourceful, can-do lady scientist who's never at a loss even when faced with mutant monsters. At the same time, the film never neglects the chance to remind interested viewers that Carmen still looks good in cut-offs.

As expected the film spends no time positing an origin for the two-headed freakazoid, though as always there are assorted sea-life factoids scattered throughout the narrative. There's a little more tension here than in the 2015 sequel, simply because (a) the victims of the double-header are a bunch of students somewhat unwillingly following their college professor on a sea-exploration trek, and (b) the expedition ends up taking refuge on an unsteady atoll, which gives every indication of sinking and leaving them to Old Two-Head's tender mercies. The latter element was used to much better effect in the fourth entry (the one, oddly, with a six-headed beastie), where it took on a very slight satirical edge.

In the first sequel, the new Three-Header also goes unexplained, and there are plenty of bikini-clad young women around, even though attractive female lead Karruechie Tran keeps her clothes on. Because all of the teens and their perceptors are oceanologists (or whatever they might be called), there's not as much tension between the factions. Though the same director essayed this entry, it's a lot duller, and the only interesting aspect of it is this poster, which cleverly parallels the three heads of the shark with the three "headliners" of the movie.

No points offered for anyone who guesses which of the headliners proves most expendable. After DEEP BLUE SEA, every ought to see it coming.