Themes: Terror in the Water, When Animals Attack, Treasure Hunts
Main Cast: Lou Diamond Phillips, Kristy Swanson, Coolio, Jaimz Woolvett, Rob Boltin
Release Year: 2003
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A treacherous Louisiana river is the setting where divorced couple Sanders (Lou Diamond Philips) and Kelly (Kristy Swanson) forget their differences long enough to search for a new source of energy. The couple is joined -- and later waylaid -- by a pair of crooks named Ice (Coolio) and Jerry (Jaimz Woolvett), who are convinced that a cache of stolen loot rests somewhere at the bottom of the river. Before long, everyone is in danger of being sliced and diced by a rogue freshwater shark. Another of the several million Jaws derivations glutting the cable TV airwaves, Red Water at the very least boasts excellent animatronic special effects -- not to mention a dead-body count that would shame a Rambo or Terminator. The film debuted August 17, 2003, on TBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Well, here's a shark flick that's somethin' -- it really doesn't go out of its way to rip off Jaws? Does that make it any better? No, not really. It's still a piece of junk, but in the proverbial sea of shark rip-offs, you need to respect one that plays it a little differently. Sadly, as with most low-budget animals-that-attack movies, there's far too much going on in the plot for one story to take on. With side plots here, there, and everywhere guiding the action away from the juicy shark attacks, this sucker begins to take on water and sink real fast. The animatronic shark is actually pretty good, especially for a TV movie. Beware, however, of the maddening gaps where there used be commercial breaks when you view it on DVD -- its episodic cliffhanger fades get old really fast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Langley Kirkwood - Brett; Dennis Haskins - Capt. Dale Landry; Gideon Emery - Gene; Charles Dumas - Hank; Clive Scott - Grandpa; Nicholas Andrews - Andre; Hilton Myburgh - Vidrine; Garth Collins - Lacombe; Tumisho K. Masha - Rick; Shirley Davidson - Tricia; Danielle Bitton - Rashaune; Lisa Larson - Eco Tour Guide; Steven Pillemer - Backpacker; Jeremy Crutchley - Shark Expert; Ronald France - Old Cajun; Nathalie Boltt - Marie Savoy; Miguel Borges - Sebastian Broussard; Mariana Tolken - Yvette; Andre Bierling - Rick's Bodyguard; Wendy Sarria - Rick's Girl; Ally Atack - Rick's Girl; Claire Ford - Rick's Girl; Monique Smit - Rick's Girl; Nadia Manjate - Rick's Girl
Credit
Mark Aurett - Art Director, Jayne Forbes - Costume Designer, Charles Robert Carner - Director, Marc Leif - Editor, Charles Robert Carner - Executive Producer, Michael G. Larkin - Executive Producer, Louis Febre - Composer (Music Score), Dominic Messinger - Composer (Music Score), Johnny Breedt - Production Designer, Michael K. Goi - Cinematographer, Mitch Engel - Producer, Grant Hulley - Stunts Coordinator, Roly Jansen - Special Effects Supervisor, J.D. Feigelson - Teleplay By, Chris Mack - Teleplay By, J.D. Feigelson - Screenwriter
(biology) red tide (veterinary medicine) A babesiasis of cattle characterized by hematuria following release of hemoglobin by destruction of erythrocytes. A chronic disease of cattle attributed to oxalic acid in the forage; hematuria results from escape of blood from lesions in the bladder. An acute febrile septicemia of cattle, and sometimes horses, sheep, and swine, caused by the bacterium Clostridium hemolyticum and characterized by hemoglobinuria and sometimes intestinal hemorrhages.
The film originally aired on the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in August 2003, and became one of the highest-rated movies in the station's history. Directed by Charles Robert Carner and produced by Michael G. Larkin and Mitch Engel, the film tells the story of a bull shark which wreaks havoc as it makes its way up a river in Louisiana.
The production built three different sharks to depict the single bull shark in the movie. One of those became the first free-swimming animatronic shark ever used in a motion picture.
In an homage, the film uses the same Louisiana license plate Hooper pulls from a shark's stomach in Jaws (1975).
Plot
An oil rig hits it big and former oiler John Sanders (who quit when a blowout occurred on a rig he was the boss of and four men died) and his friend Emery are hired to take his ex-wife Kelly and her boss to the location. Nearby, some thugs do diving for stolen goods that were dumped nearby. Unfortunately, at the same time, a bull shark enters the river and starts terrorizing and killing people. Emery's people, a local tribe, believe that the shark is a spirit that supposedly protects the area where the well is manifested in physical form as vengeance for the oil rig. Several people are killed by it and an attempt by locals to kill it drives it right back up the river, towards the oil rig. As a result of all the deaths, a $10,000 reward is posted for the shark's death. Unfortunately John, Emery, Kelly and her boss are captured by the goons and the boss is shot in the leg and ultimately bleeds to death. The oil rig has a blowout and two men are killed and the shark shows up. John and Kelly are forced to dive for the loot and recover it, but one of the bad guys kills another one in order to keep the money between himself and the other one. John manages to escape from the goons and after helping Kelly and Emery escape, blows up his boat, killing one of the goons. The other one is killed by the shark attempting to retrieve the money. John manages to lure the shark under the oil rig and Emery activates the dril and drils it into the shark's mouth, finally killing it. John, Kelly and Emery have a tooth from the shark as proof of their kill (the shark bit John in the foot and a tooth broke off that he retrieved) and debate whether or not to collect the reward, but Emery, still believing the shark is a spirit in physical form, suggests that now that its dead they should just let it rest in peace and John tosses the tooth into the river. Minutes later they're found by the local sherrif who shows up in a helicopter to check on them.
