MEGALODON

Antarctica. In an oil extraction base, due to an underwater accident, a passage opens in the marine cavities in the rock that hides an enormous cave. The workers who accidentally opened the passage dive to explore the contents of the cave and, with great joy, discover that prehistoric unicellular life forms were living hidden in the cave. But, to their detriment, they do not know that hidden in the cave, in addition to the harmless beings, lives a gigantic Megalodon, a prehistoric shark ready to devour anyone who gets in its way. Yet another useless American production that once again tackles the theme of killer sharks. Even though this time the path of originality was sought by replacing the simple genetically modified shark with a huge Megalodon (a mastodonic prehistoric shark), the difference is not that noticeable. At the helm of "Megalodon", distributed in our country only for the home video market, stands a relatively unknown Pat Corbitt, who as a special effects technician has tried to take ten steps forward to reach directing a film; but it seems Corbitt is quite unsuited to fill both roles. The direction is practically anonymous and flat like a surfboard; while, as for the special effects, one would expect the best, but even the digital used is quite rough and primitive (just like the Megalodon), stuff that makes you miss even old TV movies like "Hercules" and "Sinbad." The screenplay also has several holes, for example, one might wonder: how the hell did a prehistoric shark manage to live in a cave for millions and millions of years? A question that even Piero Angela couldn't answer. The cast certainly cannot represent a strong point of the film, as it is populated by perfect unknowns, quite incompetent and who do nothing to try to make the viewer interested in an already uninteresting story. But overall, the film has some scenes that, although poorly made (like the one where the shark breaks through the icy floor with its head to reach the prey faster), manage to entertain and prevent the viewer from dozing off on the couch. In conclusion, "Megalodon" fully represents what can be called a "useless film", no one felt the need to see a film like this and it would surely have been better to invest the money spent on this film in a more original and promising project.