Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy

Plot

Paul King (Anton Argirov) dies of kidney cancer. Five years later, his father Preston King (Jeffrey Combs), a scientist, invites the doctors that could not save his son to his uncharted island in the western Pacific. Paul's widowed wife Amelia Lockhart (Hunter Tylo), who believes Paul died five years ago from cancer, and Amelia's new boyfriend Tom Reed (William Forsythe), also travel to the island. There, Dr. King reveals that Paul never died and was saved from death by being injected with hammerhead shark DNA to modify his stem cells. This turned Paul into a half-man/half-shark creature. Dr. King releases the water from the tank where he was keeping Paul, in hopes that he will eat the doctors as revenge for them firing him from his job five years ago. As Paul, now known as Hammerhead, chases after them, they escape along with Hammerhead.

Hammerhead begins killing the workers on the island and tracking down Dr. King's "guests" until he is eventually recaptured by Dr. King's remaining workers. Dr. King's men also capture Amelia, who Dr. King hopes his son will remember and mate with to create a half-human/half-shark offspring, as he is convinced that part of Paul is still human. Dr. King forces Amelia to watch as one of the doctors, Whitney Feder (Arthur Roberts), is fed to Hammerhead. Amelia is then injected with a drug to calm her as Dr. King watches in hopes that Hammerhead will mate with her. However, instead of mating with Amelia, Hammerhead bites off his father's right arm. Tom Reed arrives at the laboratory and rescues Amelia. He forces liquid nitrogen down Hammerhead's throat, causing him to explode. As Amelia and Tom escape, Dr. King attempts to shoot Amelia, but Tom shoots him to death. The building explodes as Amelia and Tom, the only two survivors, escape.

Cast

Release

The film was first released on DVD on October 11, 2005 by First Look Pictures. First Look Pictures re-released the film on DVD again in 2009 as a part of a 2 disk double feature along with Blue Demon, another horror film about a shark.

Reception

Reviews for the film have been mostly negative. With critics panning the film's plot, characters, and special effects.

Dread Central awarded the film a score of 2 / 5 stating, "Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy has most of the usual problems movies of this type have – clichéd plot, subplots, supporting characters, and minor details that are introduced but never really followed through on, dull protagonists, illogical science, a monster that somehow manages to always be at just the right place at the right time, inconsistent special effects, etc. All of this would be easier to overlook if the movie gave us the killer landshark action we’re watching the movie for. We do get it but only in quick bursts that fail to fully satisfy". Josh Shevill from Creature Feature Corner.com gave the film a negative review calling it, "a massive waste of potential", also stating that the film had an "intelligent set-up and fast paced storyline" but was undermined by the stupidity and behavior of the film's characters. Shevill also criticized the film's low budget special effects and the monster's lack of screen time. Matt Paprocki from Blog Critics.org panned the film, calling it "Cheap and lazy", criticizing the film's cheesy action scenes and special effects. Horror.net however gave the film a positive review, calling it, "A good, goofy B-monster movie".