One of my personal favorite subgenres, the shark attack horror movie will be explored in a documentary titled Sharksploitation, we’ve learned from a Variety report this morning.
From director Stephen Scarlata (Jodorowsky’s Dune), Sharksploitation will look at the various aquatic nightmares that came in the wake of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, which of course popularized the shark attack movie back in the 1970s. Countless imitators followed the classic film, with some sinking and others swimming – but none ever reaching the same heights.
Of course, the subgenre goes back much further than Jaws, and the documentary will also be exploring that long history that predates Spielberg’s game-changing masterpiece.
“The feature-length documentary will delve into the sub-genre of sharksploitation films, from Corman’s 1958 She Gods of Shark Reef to the release of Jaws and the subsequent knock-offs.”
“The movie Jaws had a massive impact on me becoming a filmmaker, and it began my lifelong fascination with sharks,” Scarlata said in a statement shared by Variety. “This documentary is the ultimate love letter to the shark movie genre, filmmakers who work hard to make these films, and to the misunderstood species themselves.”
Sharksploitation will be participating in the Frontières co-production market, and confirmed interview subjects include Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, and Wendy Benchley.