NIGHT OF THE SHARKS (1990) **

Night of the Sharks was a late era entry in the first wave of the Killer Shark films that were released in the wake of Jaws’ success.  (It was made in Italy a year after Jaws the Revenge and released in America two years later.)  It was made at a time when the country’s exploitation output was in a gradual state of decline.  It’s not up to snuff with something like Great White, but if you’re an undemanding fan of Italian shark movies, it’ll be an OK way to kill 90 minutes.

Treat Williams stars as a beach bum who is out to kill a one-eyed shark named “Cyclops”.  His brother gets mixed up with some unsavory characters and comes to the beach to lay low.  Naturally, the bad guys follow him and kill him.  It seems he was blackmailing some pretty powerful people and was in possession of an incriminating disc.  Treat winds up with the disc and soon, they come after him too.  

Let me be honest.  I’ll pretty much watch any Blood in the Water movie.  That of course is any film that features a shark attacking someone as the waters slowly turn red with blood.  As far as these things go, it’s tolerable, although it comes up way short in the exploitation department.

I’m also a big Treat Williams fan.  He’s fun to watch and gives a charming performance.  His charisma shines through, even if it’s obvious he only took the job so he could hang out on the beach all day.  

There are some amusing moments to be sure.  I liked the scene where the shark steals Treat’s boat, and the big bar fight scene is kind of funny.  I also enjoyed seeing Antonio Fargas popping up as Treat’s right-hand man.  I even got a chuckle out of the electronic suspense music, which sounds less like a rip-off of John Williams’ Jaws theme and more like music from the boss level of a video game.  Italian exploitation vets John Steiner and Chris Connelly also turn up, which fans of this sort of dreck will appreciate.  

Sounds like a walk on the beach doesn’t it?  Well, despite a fair amount of good points, Night of the Sharks (there’s only one shark, by the way) just never works itself up into a frenzy.  At one point, the movie forgets all about the shark as it turns into your typical jungle actioner.  After that, it just never recovers.  It goes without saying that the scenes of blackmail, political intrigue, and Treat tangling with assassins is far less entertaining than the scenes of the shark eating people. 

Treat fared much better ten years later with another aquatic horror flick, Deep Rising.

AKA:  Jaws Attack.