Thrash (2026)
Directed by: Tommy Wirkola
Premise: Various people in a small town struggle for survival when a hurricane floods the streets with sharks.
What Works: Thrash is less a traditional shark movie and more of a disaster film in the style of The Towering Inferno and Earthquake and The Day After Tomorrow. The opening establishes several sets of people including a group of foster children, shark scientists, a pregnant woman, and an agoraphobic all of whom become stranded by the storm. This establishing section of the story is quite good. Each person is distinct. They all have different backgrounds and become stranded for credible reasons. The flooding sequences are tense and exciting. The camera is often placed at the water level which suggests a feeling of drowning. The characters also repeatedly go on a limb to save each other which is a sure way to bond characters to one another and to endear them to the audience. The special effects are convincing. Computer generated sharks have an inconsistent track record but the sharks of Thrash mostly look real especially in medium and wide shots of the sharks swimming in the flooded streets. The filmmakers don’t overexpose the sharks which maintains their mystery.
What Doesn’t: Once the characters are put in place, Thrash loses a lot of its credibility. The continuity is sometimes an issue especially the time of day. The film shifts from nighttime to morning very quickly. Thrash is frequently dumb. The characters make stupid choices like wading through shark infested water for no reason. They take shelter on tabletops that are just above the waterline as though the sharks could not get to them. The climax of Thrash has some absurd action especially the subplot of the pregnant woman (Phoebe Dynevor) who of course goes into labor amid a flood and shark attacks. The tone of Thrash is inconsistent. Some parts of the movie are straightforward and serious but the subplot of the foster children comes across as a horror version of Home Alone. The very conceit of Thrash—sharks swept into town by a hurricane—inherently invites comparison to the Sharknado series but the filmmakers vacillate between a serious disaster picture and something goofier. The shark scientists team up with a news crew and navigate toward the survivors but they don’t really do anything except deliver redundant exposition.
Disc extras: Available on Netflix.
Bottom Line:Thrash is an inconsistent shark film. The filmmakers can’t settle on a tone and the credible parts of the movie are offset by moments that are very stupid.
Episode: #1096 (April 26, 2026)