SHARKNADO: THE 4TH AWAKENS (2016)

September 5, 2016 Bat Action, Comedy, Genres, HCF Reviews, Monster 152

Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens (2016)
Directed by: Anthony C. Ferrante
Written by: Thunder Levin
Starring: Cody Linley, David Hasselhoff, Gary Busey, Ian Ziering, Masiela Lusha, Ryan Newman, Tara Reid, Tommy Davidson

SHARKNADO: THE 4TH AWAKENS (2016)
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante
Available on DVD

After five years of peace from sharknados, thanks to the groundbreaking, tornado-stopping technology of Astro-X, Fin Shepard is looking forward to reuniting with his son Matt who’s returning home after his stint in the army. Upon his arrival in Las Vegas to meet his son, Fin spots a strange sand sharknado heading towards the city. Despite the technology surrounding him, Fin fears the worst. His doubts are realised when Astro-X’s pods are unable to stop the sandnado in its tracks and Fin once again must fight to protect the lives of his family and his country from those pesky flying sharks!

The Asylum are back with SHARKNADO: THE 4TH AWAKENS, riding on the back of the latest Star Wars title complete with inspired opening credits. You might, like I did, assume that this fourth outing for the Sharknado would be set in space, especially considering the ending of Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No, but disappointingly it’s not. However, don’t stay disappointed too long because Sharknado has gone to the next best place: Sin City, of course! With its over-the-top, extravagant yet cheesy themed hotels and casinos, neon flashing lights and barren desert landscape, where better could a tornado of hungry sharks tear through. Couple this with the return of David Hasselhoff as Fin’s father Colonel Gil Shepard, American Pie‘s Tara Reid as Fin’s wife April and Bo Derek as her mother, then we’re on course for another dose of creature feature mayhem.

April’s back, I hear you cry? Well, after the ending of Sharknado 3 that saw April succumb to a piece of space shuttle wreckage, it seems that SyFy put it to the fans on Twitter to decide whether she should live or die through hashtags #AprilLives and #AprilDies. Tara Reid is as much a part of this series as the sharks and her on-screen husband Ian Ziering so thankfully we see her character return in the most insane yet hilarious way possible. Put it this way, if you were pretty much killed off in a film previously, this is how you’d want to return! Plus, her survival provides an introduction to her father, scientist Wilford, played by the one and only Gary Busey.

As if the main cast wasn’t enough, where would we be without Sharknado’s famed cameos? We have the return of Irish popstar twins Jedward, this time as Astro-X technicians (dear lord, help us all) and fresh appearances from Dog the Bounty Hunter, Gilbert Gottfried, Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman, MMA fighters Frank Mir and Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson and WWE wrestler Seth Rollins, to name just a few of the many celebrities gracing the screen. Most of these either fight sharks or get killed off in good ol’ shark chomping fashion though my favourite clash with man and shark has to be the pelvic thrusting from the Chippendales. Deadly!

Cream Corn from Black Dynamite, Tommy Davidson, is one of the new main stars of Sharknado 4 as billionaire, entrepreneur inventor Aston Reynolds, founder of the Astro-X company, but it seems that Astro-X’s technology is only suitable for standard Sharknado’s, not the onslaught of various element of ‘nado’s on the war path. Yes, say goodbye to your bog-standard tornado full of sharks. That’s so last century. SHARKNADO: THE 4TH AWAKENS has evolved to contain bouldernados, lavanados, hailnados and even cownados. Where does it stop?! This hilarious stream of ‘nados popping up every other scene will have you rolling on the floor in a laughing fit. It’s absurd yet so utterly satisfying to watch unfold on-screen! And we’ve not even got onto the Russian Doll shark scene. Oh, it’s so good!

As with all the Sharknado movies, expect lots of one liners and puns, most of which attribute to other classic cinema such as The Terminator and The Wizard of Oz, as well as copious amounts of chainsaw activity and Shepard bragging. In many ways the film is painful to watch but because of its ridiculous nature and cringeworthy use of CGI, it becomes a hoot. Unlike the third film which appeared to take itself a bit more seriously, SHARKNADO: THE 4TH AWAKENS has gone over-the-top and off the edge of the cliff to bring viewers a tornado full of craziness that you can’t help but smile at. It’s so bad, it’s good.

SHARKNADO: THE 4TH AWAKENS may be Sharknado at its finest and silliest. The only way they could possibly top it? In space, of course! Roll on Sharknado 5!

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About Bat 4402 Articles

I love practical effects, stop-motion animation and gore, but most of all I love a good story! I adore B-movies and exploitation films in many of their guises and also have a soft spot for creature features. I review a wide range of media including movies, TV series, books and videogames. I'm a massive fan of author Hunter S. Thompson and I enjoy various genre of videogames with Kingdom Hearts and Harvest Moon two of my all time favs. Currently playing: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Yakuza Zero and Mafia III.