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The Gonzo Killer Shark film has been with us throughout much of the 2010s, becoming a whole genre almost unto itself with the surprise bad movie hit Sharknado (2013), which led to a series of sequels and imitators. (For a more detailed listing see Killer Shark Movies). The Gonzo Killer Shark film started with some amusement and most of The Asylum’s efforts and those of others have been consistently appealing in their deliberate ridiculousness. However, as the fad has dragged on, the cheaper end of the market has produced some truly shitty and terrible films.

Apex Predators falls among these shitty and terrible films. It is cheaply and pitifully made on all counts. There is a good deal of padding with scenes that have been shot underwater and of people walking or running down the beach. Typical of low-low-budget films, there is crappy audio recording. Frequently the film gives the impression of director Dustin Ferguson having shot scenes with assorted actors and then tried to figure out a way to connect them up – Raymond Vinsik Williams and his professing love for Mia Scozzafave while his ex Franquita Oliver gets jealous; Shawn C. Phillips and Ken May as two stoners on the beach; a photographer and some of the skankiest looking models ever gathered together – one of whom (Dawna Lee Heising) looks like a plastic surgery accident; a radio dj; and Mel Novak as a geriatric businessman who looks like a corpse that someone propped up in the corner and got him to say lines.

The film seems filled with bad performances. Or more to the point, it is a film dealing with a cast who frequently give the impression of being non-professionals and having no acting background. There is the odd one who is – 1980s Scream Queen Brinke Stevens as a scientist and Maria Olsen who has racked up a reasonable number of B movie credits, although both have minor roles – but most are not.

The film has no real plot to it – it just consists of various people in assorted situations with some connection to the beach or its near vicinity. The sharks are said to be attacking their way up the coastline – we lots of underwater footage of them swimming (which one suspects has been shot by somebody else). People go into the water and then disappear beneath the surf. And yet for all that this is a film so cheap that we never actually see any shark attacks. At most, we get a couple of wide angle shots of a fin in the water and all the rest is implied. It is the novelty of a killer shark film that is too cheap to actually provide any sharks – not even the digital ones that most other filmmakers opt for.

The ending is the most ridiculous part of the film. Scientist Thom Mulligan comes up with a plan to defeat the sharks that involves Raymond Vinsik Williams diving into the surf holding what looks like two hamburger patties in his hands. This supposedly defeats the sharks. Williams then wakes up the next morning with everything over only to exit the apartment and see the city being attacked by a shark so big it fills the sky.

Dustin Ferguson has produced a prolific output of low-budget horror films with the likes of Terror at Black Tree Forest (2010), Silly Scaries (2011), The Legacy of Boggy Creek (2011), Black Tree Forest III (2012), Escape to Black Tree Forest (2012), Silly Scaries 2 (2012), Slumber Party Slasherthon (2012), Die Sister, Die! (2013), Doll Killer (2013), Horror Movie Workout (2013), Gloved Murderess (2014), Invitation to Die (2014), Occult Holocaust (2014), Demon Dolls (2015), Faces of Dying (2015), Meathook Massacre (2015), Shockumentary (2015), Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival (2015), Blood Claws (2016), Camp Blood 4 (2016), Camp Blood 5 (2016), Grindsploitation 2: The Lost Reels (2016), Mondo Shock (2016), Tales for the Campfire (2016), The 12 Slays of Christmas (2016), The Amityville Legacy (2016), The Dummy 2 (2016), Tales for the Campfire 2 (2017), Tales from the Grave (2017), Aliens in LA (2019), Axegrinder 2 (2019), Dawna of the Darkness (2019), Direct to Video: Straight to Video Horror of the 90s (2019), Home Videos 2 (2019), Los Angeles Lifers (2019), Meathook Massacre: The Final Chapter (2019), Moon of the Blood Beast (2019), Penny Pinchers 2 – Scenes from the Underground (2019), American Terror Tales (2020), Angry Asian Murder Hornets (2020), Arachnado (2020), Asylum of the Devil (2020), Axed to Pieces (2020), Bootleg Death Tape II (2020), Bootleg Death Tape III (2020), Celluloid Slaughter (2020), Clowns of Halloween (2020), Creatures (2020), Found Footage of Fear (2020), Frames of Fear 3 (2020), Hollyweird (2020), I Drip Blood on Your Grave (2020), Sexiest Scream Queen Scenes (2020), Tales for the Campfire 3 (2020), Tales from the Grave: The Movie (2020), The Last Roommate (2020), VHS Violence II: VHS and KILL (2020), Amityville in the Hood (2021), Bubba’s Dead: The Final Massacre (2021), Doll Killer 2 (2021), Ebola Rex (2021), Ebola Rex Versus Murder Hornets (2021), Faces of Dying II (2021), Faces of Dying III (2021), Faces of Dying IV (2021), Last Roommate: The New Seduction (2021), Mondo Shock 2 (2021), Mondo Shock 3 (2021), Nemesis 5: The New Model (2017), Not for the Faint of Heart (2021), Penny Pinchers: The Kings of No-Budget Horror (2017), Rattlers 2 (2021), The Creeps 2 (2021), VHS Violence (2021), The Woman in the Room (2021), Zombi VIII: Urban Decay (2021), Beyond the Gates of Hell (2022), Deep Red Murders (2022), Demon Predator (2022), Don’t Trick-Or-Treat Alone! (2022), Dying Scenes (2022), Faces of Dying V (2022), Liza’s Palace of Pleasure & Pain (2022), Liza: Warden from Hell (2022), Lords of Acid: Hell Does Exist (2022), The Clown Chainsaw Massacre (2022), The Worst of Faces of Dying (2022), VHS Violence: Bootlegged (2022), A Bengal for Christmas (2023), American Terror Tales 2 (2023), Big Freakin’ Snake (2023), Book of Creatures (2023), Closet Monster (2023), Cobra Strike Force (2023), Cocaine Cougar (2023), Doll Killer 3 (2023), Demonoids from Hell (2023), Faces of Dying VI (2023), Hell of the Screaming Undead (2023), Mega Ape (2023), Stale Popcorn and Sticky Floors (2023), Summerhouse Slaughter (2023), The Beast Beneath (2023), The Creeps (2023), The Dark House of Mystery (2023), 10/31 Part 4 (2024), Apex Predators 2: The Spawning (2024), Big Bad CGI Monsters (2024), Creepypasta: Deathnet (2024), Grandma (2024), House on Haunted Hill (2024), Space Sharks (2024) and Spider Baby, or The Maddest Story Ever Told (2024).

(Winner in this site’s Top 10 Films of 2021 list).

Trailer here