Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast

Director - Sam Qualiana (The Legend of Six Fingers)
Starring - Sam Qualiana, Michael O'Hear (Killer Rack), and Jackey Hall (Bigfoot Wars)
Release Date - 2011
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline(s) - "Everyone else is just CHUM!" "Frozen in the ice for thousands of years... the beast has finally awoken" "Ancient snow beast. Modern killing machine." and "Legend or legendary beast?"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I was born in 1986 at the height of what I like to refer to as the greatest decade for horror.  So many fans of horror talk about how amazing the 1980s were when it came to horror flicks.  This was the decade we got Evil Dead II, Hellraiser, Night of the Creeps, Day of the Dead, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and the list could go on and on.  However, I wish I was alive during the drive-in cinema boom of the late 50s and 60s that carried well into the 1970s. The films from this time in cinema were bad but in a good way.  You could go to the drive-in, grab some candy and popcorn, and let giant beasts, martians, and doomsday machines take you on a cheesy and cliched adventure that had been told hundreds, if not thousands, of times before.  Recently, I watched Sam Qualiana's newest film The Legend of Six Fingers and really enjoyed myself.  I knew of Qualiana before seeing that film because I am a huge fan of Razor Sharp films and he has starred in numerous films of theirs.  I also knew that he directed the absurd flick Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast.  I had seen trailers and it reminded me of the drive-in era monster flicks and I loved the idea so I reached out to Alternative Cinema and they were kind enough to shoot me a review copy.  Thanks guys!
     The film follows a trio of scientists as they head out into the woods in the dead of winter to do some scientific research to see what has caused all the wildlife in the area to disappear.  While there they discover the carcass of a deer and soon find a giant crater in the snow.  While they are investigating they soon discover what has been causing the disappearance of all the wildlife in the area...the ancient snow shark.  The team is attacked and all are thought to be dead.  We then jump forward some years and the snow shark is now a legend, a cryptozoological tale told to kinds but one man, Mike Evans (Qualiana), believes in it's existence.  Mike is a hunter and bagged the snow shark once before but the town's shady mayor burned it to cover it up.  Now, a new series of murders has sprout up forcing Mike to come out of seclusion to hunt down the fierce beast.  The mayor also puts together a team of scientists, cryptozoologists, and hunters to track it down.  However, once in the snowy woods all hell breaks loose and the snow shark turns them into chum.
     I have seen so many monster movies in my short life and very few have blew my socks off so to speak. However, they do tend to have a charm all their own.  Some are campy and cheesy while others are dark and disturbing with most stink of stale shit and no originality.  When you do get a great creature feature that is original they usually don't have the funds needed to make it as good as can be.  That is what happened to Snow Shark.  You get a fun and slightly original idea but funds, among other technical problems, prevent it from being a hit.  The acting in this one is riding the line between great and amateurish.  Most of the cast showed real talent and charisma in front of the camera but lacked the experience.  This also goes for Sam Qualiana as well.  This film showed how much he has grown as an actor from this film to his more recent bodies of work.  The story for this one is a fucking classic.  A monstrous shark that travels through snow and devours anything that moves.  This story would have been one hell of a drive-in flick.  Finally, the film has a lot of practical and visual effects that are not as impressive as the story itself.  The visual effects are laughable at best.  Some of them made me shake my head a few times while other just didn't make sense to have in the film.  The practical effects and gore is fun at times but I was a little bummed I didn't get a real clear shot as the snow shark even if it was for just a few more seconds than what we actually got.  Overall, Snow Shark is a great premise by real fans of the genre but the special effects failed to make this one the creature feature it could have been.  It deserves at least one watch if you are fans of cheesy monster movies.