There is a valid argument to be made that if you’re making a shark film peopled with nubile women and ab crunching dudes, a reasonable amount of gore and t&a, along with the requisite R or Unrated rating, is a must.  Director David R. Ellis, who’s brought yeoman’s like work to such guilty pleasures as Cellular, two Final Destination features (The Final Destination, Final Destination 2), and, oh yes, Snakes on a Plane, goes the opposite route with his recent effort, Shark Night.

Released in theaters as Shark Night 3D (it’s on Blu-ray and DVD simply as Shark Night), the picture is rated PG-13, and it’s lack of blood spurting and nudity (there’s one derriere shot, but it’s from a guy) may off viewers looking for a cheap thrill.  But even if Shark Night fails as a balls to the wall exploitation flick, it delivers on several levels.

The premise has seemingly innocent college girl Sara (Aquamarine’s Sara Paxton) rounding up her buds (Sinqua Walls, American Idol vet Katharine McPhee, former 90210 member Dustin Milligan, Chris Zylka, Alyssa Diaz, Joel David Moore) for a weekend trip to her Louisiana lake house.  With most movies of this ilk, we rarely care about the youths destined to meet the Grim Reaper, but credit Ellis and the writers (Will Hayes, Jesse Studenberg) for giving these wacky kids enough witty repartee to give them some life before…well their death.

Former The O.C. star (and Caspar van Dien lookalike) Chris Carmack, who will never live down his “Welcome to the O.C. bitch” threat, is effective once again as the resident heel who has a personal history with Sara, and Joshua Leonard, who plays his alcoholic hick sidekick, also chews the scenery (Leonard’s disgusting lechery towards Diaz and McPhee is of course deplorable, but given the context of what we’re watching, amusing).

I’ve also been a Katharine McPhee devotee (I still have the McFeever!!)  since her American Idol days, and it’s the only reason why I checked out The House Bunny (which was pleasantly passable). Why her music or acting career hasn’t taken off since her Idol run totally escapes me (although her breakthrough may come with the upcoming NBC series Smash).  With Shark Night she doesn’t break any new acting ground, but McPhee does look great in a bikini and her final exit, as she is netted, writhing around fighting cookiecutter sharks, was an undeniably sad moment for this even sadder, Shark Night lover.

David R. Ellis knows the material he’s working with.  He’s not shooting The King’s Speech or The Artist.  After years working as a stuntman, his main intent is for us to just have fun, and if it calls for a one armed guy spearing a shark or Donal Logue (oh how I miss Terriers!!) go monologue crazy on the merits of Shark Week, then so be it!!

The DVD special features include “Shark Attack! Kill Machine,” a feature that contains all the movie’s kills, and “Ellis’ Island,” which has cast members extol the virtues of David R. Ellis.  Blu-ray owners also get the extras “Shark Night’s Survival Guide” (facts about sharks interspersed with scenes from Shark Night), a digital copy of the movie, and the best feature of the entire disc “Fake Sharks Real Scares,” which delves into the use of the CGI and animatronic sharks used in the feature.

Also of note, if you actually watch Shark Night, please stay until the end credits for the Dustin Milligan directed rap video “Shark Bite!”  More amusing than much of the material you can find on Funny or Die, the video features the cast rapping (McPhee and Carmack also sing in the clip) with refreshing brio.  It’s actually a pretty hilarious clip, and it serves as a good complement to the surprisingly entertaining Shark Night.

Click on the media bar and listen to Sara Paxton talk about filming with the animatronic sharks in Shark Night:

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