Night of the Sharks (1988) User Reviews

Disconcertingly watchable.

[shawhore · 5/10 · 14 November 2013]

Treat Williams is ineffectual pretty much throughout the film in a flick with little production value or any coherence, plot-wise. The film does however redeem itself with a typical assured John Steiner turn; making the most of a script - what at best can only be described as farcical and even Italian horror muse Janet Agren finds the task of adding some much needed glamour to the film a hopeless impossibility. But before I completely write off this film; hats off to the Tiger Shark's performance - which by the way, stole the show.

All in all, a Pulsatingly mediocre film. Good for comedy value.

5 stars for the Shark!

Day of the shark

[Chase_Witherspoon · 5/10 · 17 May 2013]

A couple of Mexican-based anglers are inadvertently caught up in a messy corporate extortion plot when Williams' brother scams two million in diamonds from a corrupt businessman (Steiner). Steiner deploys his right hand man to clean things up, and Williams' sultry ex-wife (Agren) tries to convince him to quit while he's ahead. Meanwhile, a deadly ocean predator nicknamed "The Cyclops" is stalking Williams, taking bites out of tourists and showing up whenever there's action in the water.

I've read the reviews and while I agree it's no Oscar contender, it's still not that bad in my opinion. Ramon Bravo's underwater tiger shark tussling and the subsequent attacks are reasonably well orchestrated and realistic.

The cast is solid including Swedish bombshell Agren, Italian beauty Soldano as Williams' current squeeze, Huggy Bear (Fargas) and former "Peyton Place" soap star Christopher Connelly in his last film before his untimely death (his trademark raspy voice is very feint, perhaps suggesting he was unwell). Throw in the ubiquitous Brit of Italo-slasher John Steiner, and you've got a well-appointed cast.

A general undercurrent humour doesn't really elevate the tone, but it at least doesn't take itself too seriously, and the momentum is reasonably brisk. So for your approximate one $$ investment you've got a B-grade Italian crime flick, including two goddesses, a certified Silver-standard international cast, AND a tiger shark tearing up the stragglers - me no complain.

Fishing for So-Bad-It's-Good? Fish elsewhere :(

[ccatiller12 · 3/10 · 25 January 2017]

I wanted this movie to be a "so bad it's good" gem very much. The cover looked like a classic 80s cheese-fest that would fill me with much joy and laughter. The opening scene was promising. However, my initial expectations were eventually butchered and thrown into the water like fish bait.

The movie gave me little to no reason to invest in the characters. There's almost no backstory for anyone including the lead, David (Treat Williams). What little backstory you get isn't really explored or establishes solid character motivation. Even with the lack of character development, I was at least hoping for some charismatic acting or cheesy dialogue to keep me entertained. Unfortunately, there isn't much of it.

The soundtrack was laughably terrible. I'm sure they used the same track of suspense music for every "tense" moment in the movie whether it was a gun fight or a shark attack. It is super irritating after having heard it for the 100th time. It will forever be ingrained in my memory.

I wasn't expecting a stellar plot or anything but it was a complete mess. It's like the writer said, "I want to make Diamonds Are Forever," but the director said, "I want to make Jaws." So they compromised and combined them into one movie.

As bad as this movie was, there were a few moments that were enjoyable. Almost all of them involved the shark (or sharks? I'm not sure cause they seemed to use footage of multiple species like tigers, lemons, reefs and maybe bull sharks). The attacks were well shot and edited cutting between real and fake sharks. Not saying it was Jaws quality but decent enough for a movie like this.

In the end, there really isn't enough "so bad it's good" moments in this movie to recommend it. It's really boring for long stretches and the scenes with the shark are too few and far between to justify wasting 86 minutes of your life (it felt way longer than 86 minutes).

FUN FACT: Did you know tiger sharks can roar? I didn't until I watched this movie. Maybe a "nod" to a worse film, Jaws: The Revenge.

La notte degli squali: NOT a shark movie

[Platypuschow · 2/10 · 20 November 2018]

Night of the Sharks is an odd creature, based on it's name and cover you'd amost think *Drumroll* that it was a shark themed movie right? Wrong.

Instead we have a generic action film where a shark just happens to pop up a couple of times but is a side character and none of the plot has anything to do with it.

Starring the underappreciated Treat Williams and Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas this Italian made film has a lousy rating on IMDB and truth be told it doesn't even deserve that.

With a plodding pace that didn't keep my attention in the slightest Night of the Sharks is neither what its advertised to be nor in this guys opinion anything that resembles entertainment.

I'm not even addressing the plot in this review as it's so generic it hurts.

Give this movie seven shades of avoidance.

The Good:

Treat Williams & Antonio Fargas

The Bad:

The rest of the cast

No originality

Boring as hell

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Shark movies don't need to about sharks

People are willing to gamble losing a hand for $100

Though it has Treat, it's not a treat

[Wizard-8 · 4 November 2013]

Just a few years before this movie, it seemed that American actor Treat Williams was becoming a major star. So it's seems puzzling as to what he is doing in a low budget Italian movie. Despite the different environment, Treat does seem to be trying hard, but his valiant efforts aren't enough to save the movie. Though it's only 86 minutes long, it feels much longer, with barely a plot on display and scene after scene passes by where little to nothing actually happens. There also isn't that much action, and the little there is isn't for the most part particularly exciting. The movie does look somewhat better than other Italian B movies made around this time - it's nicely shot (both on land and under water), the scenery looks good, and the remaining production values are somewhat slicker than usual. But as you may know, a good look does little when you are saddled with a sorry script.

Funny all the underwater scenes took place in the daytime

[sol1218 · 4/10 · 27 October 2005]

-SPOILES- Lame south of the border adventure movie that has something to do with the blackmail of a big cooperate executive Rosenlski the president of Unasco Inc. by on the lamb beachcomber David Ziegler who's living the life of Reilly, or Ziegler, in his beach house in Cancun Mexico.Having this CD, that he gave to his brother James, that has three years of phone conversations between Rosenlski and the President of the United States involved in criminal deals. This CD has given David an edge over the international mobsters who are after him.

The fact that James get's a little greedy by trying to shake down Rosenlski for 2 million in diamonds not only cost him his life but put David in danger of losing his as well. Ropsenlski want's to negotiate with David for the CD by getting his ex-wife Liz to talk to him about giving it up, Rosnelski made a deal to pay off her debts if she comes through. David is later killed by Rosenliski's Mexican hit-man Tony, with the help of a great white shark, who just doesn't go for all this peaceful dealings on his boss' part.

Tony had taken the CD that Liz left for his boss at a local hotel safe and now want's to murder James, like he did David, and at the same time keep the CD to have something over Rosenlski.

David who had secretly hidden the diamonds that James had on him at the time of his murder is now the target of Tony and his men to shut him up for good. David also wants to take the diamonds and at the same time give his boss Rosenlski the impression that the CD that David had is lost but use it later, without Rosenlski knowing who's behind it,to blackmail him.

The movie "Night of the Sharks" has a number of shark attacks in it with this huge one-eyed white shark who ends up taking out about a half dozen of the cast members including Tony. David who's a firm believer in gun-control uses knives high explosives and Molotov cocktails, as well as his fists, to take out the entire Tony crew. Even the killer shark is finished off by Tony but with a hunting knife, not a gun. When it came to using firearms to save his friend and sidekick Paco a girlfriend Juanita and his priest Father Mattia lives from Tony and his gang guns were a no-no with David; he was more of a knife and spear man then anything else.

The ending of the movie was about as predictable as you can make it with David thought to be killed by the one-eyed shark later pops up out of the crowd,after Rosenlski was convinced that he's dead and leaves the village. David continues his life as a free living and loving beachcomber with no one looking to kill him and about two million dollars richer. to David's credit he had his friend Paco give Rosenski back his CD but under the conditions that if anything happened to him his cousin, who Rosenlski doesn't know who and where he is, will shoot his big mouth off and let the whole world know about his dirty and criminal dealings.

spagetti western with sharks

[spj-4 · 3/10 · 21 April 2008]

What's to like about this movie???

It is in colour!

It has some impressive underwater photography!

It has a rhythmic musical score in the background that works well at times!

So 3 out of 10!

Sometimes the music is speeded up! Especially when the shark or the baddies are about to move in!

Sometimes it is slowed! As if to convey to the audience it's about to be time for sympathy!

As another one bites the dust! As if in a "spagetti Western" this has much similarity to!

It's not that the Italians can't produce quality productions! There was a series of TV movies with a heading like "Octopus" numbered about 1 to 7, screened on SBS TV in Australia in the 1990s about mafia-type conflicts! And they were excellent! But alas, you won't find it here!!!

I assumed it was made about 1960s! Sadly it was 20 years out of date, as evidenced by a funeral scene near the end!

Then there was the razor-sharp bite of the speedy shark that makes for a red dust repeatedly emerging in the bluish waters!

Amidst it all, either in bar-room brawl or in observing the latest sea-side bloody demolition by the relentlessly hungry shark, the mate of the hero looks on through his glasses of little concern, as if he too was bored in his relentless role amidst a lack of much evidence of plot or anyone's character development!

At least the hero indicates a fleeting concern belatedly, for his ex-wife!

But of course, even if the music fails to awaken our realisation, we have the sinister sound in the baddies' voices, as if to nudge us that another dark deed is about to emerge!

And near the end, someone thought of a twist! Just when we thought it was all totally predictable! But stay tuned, folks, for you may find another twist! If you are watching closely! To, more or less, warm your heart!

Follow the advice of the hero, and have a few beers along the way! It'll make your viewing of "Night of the Sharks" more enjoyable!

Then you'll be ready for something like a "007" movie to ease your way back into reality when this is over!!!

That Darned Shark

[Hitchcoc · 2/10 · 8 December 2006]

I gave it a 2 instead of a 1 because I think "The Wild Women of Wongo" is worse. This is an exercise in patience. It's like having your teeth cleaned by a bad dental hygienist. There's no plot. There's no logic. There is certainly no acting (although the shark has some quality dialogue). We don't wonder about anything. We don't know how people got where they got. It's always amazing to me how things like this even get released. I agree with the previous writer that it isn't even funny bad. I know. It's about 90 minutes long and that will fill up about that much space on a DVD collection. It's like a paperweight. Or a bad painting you bought at a starving artists' sale. It covers the crack in the wall.

What am I watching?

[Aylmer · 5/10 · 7 June 1999]

Until near the end, this movie cannot seem to decide what it is. Is it an action film, a horror movie, or a crime movie? It won't take you long to figure out what kind of movie it is, it's a boring movie! Good cast is completely wasted in one of the most contrive and lazily produced Italian films I've seen. Good fight scenes and some gore, but that is basically it. Nothing else worth mentioning, besides the cheesy soundtrack. Treat Williams... I don't believe I've ever seen him in a movie that didn't have lots and lots of water in it. Sheesh. Avoid this flick, not worth the trouble.

Bruce needn't worry about the competition.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 29 July 2014]

David Ziegler (Treat Williams) is an American beach bum living on the Mexican shore with his buddy and business partner Paco (Antonio Fargas). Unfortunately, a lot of melodrama is about to be dumped in Davids' lap because his brother James (Carlo Mucari) got mixed up with a shady businessman, Rosentski (John Steiner), and figured to get rich by secretly recording the phone calls that Rosentski had made to the President of the U.S.! James mails David a CD he's made of these incriminating phone calls. The bad guys recruit Davids' ex-wife Liz (Janet Agren) to try to persuade David to hand over the CD, holding her debts over her head as a means of motivating her. David must ultimately battle the goons that Rosentski sends after him, and *also* do battle with a local one-eyed great white shark (named "Cyclops" by the natives) which has become a kind of personal nemesis for him.

Mediocre, fairly dull time waster could possibly have been more entertaining on a "so bad it's good" level, but very crude direction (by Tonino Ricci) and even cruder editing (by Gianfranco Amicucci) prevent the movie from being more fun. That isn't to say that there aren't some very amusing moments here and there, and things do pick up a little during the whole fight / pursuit sequence in the jungle. The music score by Stelvio Cipriani is fun even if it's not one of his best. The use of locations, at the least, is adequate. Williams doesn't look too happy to be here, but Fargas is rather engaging, Swedish beauty Agren offers some appreciable eye candy, and Steiner, the ubiquitous Brit character actor of so many Italian exploitation items, is a passable villain. And as one can see the story is pretty damn silly.

By the way, unless the word "shark" is used for its multiple meanings, the viewer should be aware that there's actually only one killer fish in this thing.

Five out of 10.

"What am I going to do with a dead partner?"

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 1 July 2012]

One positive for this film - it was cool to see old Huggy Bear once again, Antonio Fargas who was a trip in the late Seventies on the 'Starsky and Hutch' TV series. But they made him do that corny accent, what was it - Jamaican?

Answer this question - why keep antagonizing the shark? And why go swimming where the shark hangs out if you know he likes attacking anything in the vicinity?

Ostensibly this was a quick paycheck for Fargas, Treat Williams and whoever else showed up. "Night of the Sharks" if I recall correctly, has no night time scenes, but there are a couple of bloody encounters with the great white one that in a better flick might have been more terrifying. The story rambles and takes a tedious amount of time to wrap things up, so help yourself out with the fast forward button; you won't miss anything important.

One other positive - Juanita muy caliente!

RIP Treat for Sharks

[TheFearmakers · 6/10 · 13 June 2023]

Extremely low-budget Italian-import-exploitation involving one of the most familiar plot-lines: a flaky sibling and their inevitable, semi-deserved death from being involved with the seedy crime world to begin with...

Leading to vengeful, tropical-shark-hunting older brother Treat Williams (with sidekick Antonio Fargas and priest Christopher Connelly), whose balmy paradise gets encroached by killers... either the dorsal-finned kind or those wearing cheap suits, providing danger from the blood-soaked ocean to a machine-gunned jungle...

Throwback to the previous decade's pulpy third-world body-count action programmers, combined with what, at the time, was technologically modern: the blackmailing brother had damning information not on the usual spy-genre microfilm, but something called a CD...

Making NIGHT OF THE SHARKS more a would-be thriller than what the adventurous title attempts in a rushed third act, and, with a techno track by iconic composer Stelvio Cipriani under a similar MIAMI VICE-influence of director Tonino Ricci, this SHARK -- on land or sea or foam -- is decent way to either fill or waste ninety-minutes.

Someone should have fed this movie to the shark

[bensonmum2 · 1/10 · 20 November 2005]

This is one really bad movie. I've racked my brain and I cannot come up with one positive comment to make. The acting is atrocious. I've seen more believable performances on cable access. The plot is ridiculous. Stolen diamonds, secret recordings of the President, and a shark that attacks anything that gets near it should have made for cheesy fun at the worst. Night of the Sharks isn't even so bad it's good. The dialogue sounds and is delivered as if it were written seconds before it's filmed. And to top it off, Night of the Sharks has the worst soundtrack I've ever heard. I'm surprised my ears didn't start bleeding from the 80s techno synthesized sounds that someone actually bothered to record.

From everything I've read, the Italian film industry was dead by 1987. Night of the Sharks is like a final nail in the coffin.

Treat can't save this Italian clunker

[lor_ · 22 May 2023]

My review was written in June 1990 after watching the film on Media Home Entertainment video cassette.

Treat Williams headed to Italy three years ago to make this desultory adventure film, currently in release here as a direct-to-video title.

Except for some brief gore when a nasty old shark eats Williams' ex-wife, it's not really a horror film. Title refers to the pagan ritual of Mexican locals praying to their gods for good fishing once a year at a fiesta.

Williams is living with West Indie buddy Antonio Farga and bronzed beauty Nina Soldano when his ne'er-do-well brother drags him into trouble. Bro has stolen an incriminating disk that implicates corrupt businessman John Steiner in shady dealings. Steiner sends his ment to get the disk, which Williams receives after his sibling dies.

Poorly motivated film has Williams stubbornly hanging onto the disk until the legendary shark Cyclops eats it along with lovely Scandinavian star Janet Agren. Instead of becoming "The Old Man and the Sea", film winds up a routine actioner with a smg happy ending.

Williams has had currency in Italy since "Prince of the City" , but deserves better.

Great White or Tiger Shark? Make up your mind!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 4 August 2022]

Based on the low rating and highly unfavorable reviews from the fellow users I usually agree with, I feared "Night of the Sharks" would be a giant waste of time. Then why even bother watching it? Well, because every horror/exploitation movie featuring killer sharks eventually must play on my television set; - that's why!

And maybe just because my expectations were set so low, I was quite entertained and didn't think it was as awful as claimed around here. The plot is standard and derivative action guff, most of the performances are painful to behold, and the action footage is un-spectacular, but at least it wasn't boring and there really are shark attack sequences. That sounds obvious, but you wouldn't believe how many "Shark" movies don't feature any real shark kills, like "Shark's Treasure" or "Cave of the Sharks".

Treat Williams isn't half bad as the action hero, here trying to remain out of the hands of the gangsters that murdered his brother and violently want to recover a CD full of incriminating material. His character lives near the beach in Cancun, and whenever he sets one foot in the water, there's plenty of stock footage of prowling sharks; - like they are stalking him or something. I think the writers/director want us to believe it's always the same shark, but funnily enough there's stock footage of a Great White as well as a Tiger Shark. Oh well, although not very graphic, the attack sequences are fun to watch. Antonio Fargas (as Treat's buddy) and most of the gangsters terribly overact, and composer Stelvio Cipriani doesn't exactly deliver his best work, neither.

Although his role is rather brief here, my viewing of "Night of the Sharks" also marks me bringing homage to John Steiner; the marvelous but sadly underrated B-movie actor who passed away on July 31st, 2022.

Passable time waster

[Woodyanders · 5/10 · 13 October 2015]

Beach bum David Zeigler (Treat Williams slumming for an easy paycheck) finds his life in jeopardy when he gets pitted against a bunch of gangsters who killed his brother in order to gain possession of a CD with proof of their illegal activities. Moreover, David also has to deal with a pesky shark who has some kind of personal vendetta against him.

The slack direction by Tonino Ricci alas lets the ridiculously convoluted and meandering story drag at an often sluggish pace, but at least takes decent advantage of the local color and locations in the exotic Dominican Republic setting. Tito Cari's murky script offers more talk than action and boasts several incredibly strained plot contrivances. The whole subplot about David and the shark comes across as pretty silly and laughable, but at least delivers a few choice absurd moments which include a particularly priceless gut-busting sequence in which the shark attempts to steal David's boat (!). Fortunately, the solid cast keeps this picture watchable: John Steiner has a field day as smooth lead villain Rosentski, Antonio Fargas contributes an utterly engaging turn as David's laid-back buddy Paco, the beauteous Janet Agren provides some tasty eye candy, and Christopher Connelly does well in his last role as friendly priest Father Mattia. Both Stevio Cipriani's funky-throbbing music and Giovanni Bergamini's slick cinematography are up to speed. An okay diversion.

Not Great but Still Watchable

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 15 March 2017]

"James Ziegler" (Carlo Mucari) is a young man who likes to live dangerously and as a result decides to blackmail a rich and influential mobster for approximately $2 million in diamonds. Upon receiving the payment he then double-crosses them and flies to Mexico to see his brother "David Ziegler" (Treat Williams) who lives on a beach near shark-infested waters. Unfortunately, as soon as James arrives in Mexico he is murdered and the mob subsequently targets David who they believe now possesses the disk that implicates them in criminal activity. And these mobsters are more than willing to kill everybody associated with David to get what they want. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this wasn't a great movie by any means and could have been better if it had a bit more depth or attention to detail. For example, in one specific scene a bomb was placed on a boat but it didn't show who actually put it there. So for a moment it inadvertently appeared that David's loyal friend "Paco" (Antonio Fargas) and possibly the village priest "Father Mattia" (Christopher Connelly) were the guilty parties. Likewise, a couple of the conversations involving Father Mattia were almost inaudible as well. Even so, it was still entertaining to a certain degree and because of that I rate it as just slightly below average.

I'M TALKING ON THE PHONE!

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 23 May 2019]

The film stars Treat Williams and Huggy Bear. Antonio Fargas struggles with the accent which ranges from Mexican to Jamaican. The two live in paradise in Mexico away from the ex-wife (Janet Agren). The water is infested with intelligent shallow water sharks who can pull a boat by the anchor line. Not to worry, David (Treat Williams) can out swim and out hide those smart sharks. David's brother(Carlo Mucari) has some sort of mafia dealings where he blackmails them with a CD disc claiming to have information or something.

To make a long movie short, the disc ends up with David and the mob wants it back. This leads to...whatever except a night scene with sharks, the title of the film. The plot was confusing, but the movie wasn't that great that I really cared. It was funny in an unintentional way. This is not a horror film, but rather a crime/thriller in the loosest sense of the words.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. Brief poolside nudity.

Ugh

[BandSAboutMovies · 2/10 · 19 December 2018]

One would imagine that by now, I wouldn't be snowed by a great poster. But nope. This Italian-Spanish-Mexican film is proof that if the poster looks awesome and has sharks murdering people, I will ignore all the warning flags and dive right into a movie that lulls me into a fugue state of sheer pain.

David (Treat Williams) just wants to live in quiet along with his neighbor Paco (Antonio Fargas, Huggy Bear!) and his man-eating shark buddy Cyclops. However, his brother gets all tangled up in a conspiracy involving a businessman named Rosentski (John Steiner, who we all know was Overlord in Yor, Hunter from the Future).

There's also an appearance by Janet Agren, who was the few bright spots of Panic and Ratman, two other movies that had awesome posters and not much else to write home about. Then again, she's also in Fulci's City of the Living Dead and Eaten Alive!, two much better movies than anything else that will be discussed in this article (she's also in Hands of Steel, a movie that has an incredible poster that promises more than the movie delivers, yet I'm coming around on that one).

Plus - Christopher Connelly - Hot Dog from 1990: The Bronx Warriors and the dad from Fulci's incomprehensibly awesome Manhattan Baby - plays a priest in his final film role.

I'm just telling you these facts to cover up the fact that I could barely make it through this movie. Seriously - a movie where a man uses traps and a shark to fight gangsters couldn't sustain my interest.

"I've Always Preferred A Good Deal To A Shootout!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 4 May 2021]

NIGHT OF THE SHARKS begins with shots of a shark swimming languidly along, while David Ziegler (Treat Williams) and his friend Paco (Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargus) sun themselves on a nearby beach.

Oh no!

The shark wakes up and kills an unknown extra! David and Paco continue to relax. We discover that, in addition to sunbathing, David likes to yell at sharks.

Meanwhile, seemingly in some other movie, David's brother has absconded with something from "the mob". So, these two storylines intersect, which somehow makes this movie even less intriguing.

Unfortunately, there's just not enough shark action, especially considering the title. Mostly, this is about the brother's troubles being brought down on David and poor Paco, interrupting their relaxation to the nth degree. Fans of Mr. Williams and Huggy Bear will be ecstatic. Everyone else will probably need a cranial enema...