CHUM Review: Shark Horror and Serial Killer Thriller Mash-Up Sinks to the Bottom

Another month, another shark movie.

 

So far, the 51st anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws has been commemorated with the grueling and paper-thin Deep Water from director Renny Harlin, as well as Tommy Wirkola's Thrash. Now comes yet another shark thriller that, while bolstering a clever spin on the genre, sinks to the bottom of our expectations.

 

From director and co-writer Jonathan Zuck, Chum takes place on the picturesque island of Malta. A dream destination wedding for a couple turns upside down when the newlyweds (Alice Eve and Eric Michael Cole), sister-in-law (Elle Haymond), and friends (Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat) are targeted by a bloodthirsty shark during an expedition in the open water. Things go from bad to worse when the wedding party encounters a mysterious fisherman (Jim Klock) and are unwillingly used as tools to aid his pursuit of revenge.

 

The most apt point of comparison for Chum is last year’s Dangerous Animals, another Independent Film Company release that blends shark horror with serial killer thriller. That film, directed by Sean Byrne and culminating in a box office gross of more than 4x its production budget, benefitted from a zany turn by Jai Courtney, unexpectedly sophisticated directing, and a suspenseful throwback score by Michale Yezerski. These attributes can be distilled into a single term: personality, which Chum sorely lacks.

 

After a fairly routine cold open relative to other shark movies, Chum orients the audience to a duo of newlyweds during their grand wedding celebration in Malta. The new husband and wife, however, don’t have the joyful relationship everyone else thinks they have; in fact, they have agreed to annul the wedding just moments after they exchanged vows.

 

Alice Eve’s character has just taken a job that conflicts with the ethics and values of her conservationist husband, played by Eric Michael Cole. With hardly any depth to and context provided for this conflict, however, the rocky relationship begins on underdeveloped footing and never quite recovers. Given that Eve and Cole’s arcs rely on their relationship ‘evolving’ as they navigate the most life-threatening of dilemmas, the film’s character work falls painfully flat and culminates in an undeserved and cringe-worthy resolution.

 

But nuanced character work isn’t exactly what brings audiences to a shark movie. Most simply want to see the massive underwater predators wreak havoc before meeting their end at the hands of a select group of triumphant heroes. Unfortunately, Chum can’t get this most essential element of a shark movie right.

 

Whether it be due to budgetary constraints or a rushed production, the result is still the same: the visual effects that bring the sharks to life are distractingly and laughably poor. At times, the sharks look like creatures that would appear in a PlayStation 2 game, while at others they resemble the quality of a pre-production animatic. Rather than hide the VFX with clever lighting and shadows, director Jonathan Zuck positions the sharks front and center of a myriad of scenes and, in turn, renders the moments that should be the most terrifying as the most unintentionally funny.

 

Thankfully, Chum has a bit more going for it than the average shark movie. Whereas everything with the killer cartilaginous fish sinks like a brick, the killer human proves far more interesting. While lacking in the unhinged personality of Jai Courtney’s Tucker from Dangerous Animals, Jim Klock’s antagonist here makes for a more grounded and subtly troubled killer. He ingratiates himself with the wedding party and even goes so far as to save them from a shark attack, only to eventually reveal that his motives are sinister and tie back to a longstanding pursuit of vengeance.

 

The backstory surrounding Klock’s killer, while admittedly a tad silly, mostly works and is delivered with surprising succinctness and clarity. Klock’s performance would have benefitted from a bit more spark, but, overall, he does well to create an antagonist so singularly focused on getting revenge that he is willing to put anyone and everyone in harm’s way.

 

The performances surrounding Klock are serviceable, albeit unremarkable. Alice Eve and Eric Michael Cole are perfectly fine as newlyweds whose marriage could not have started on rockier footing, although their shared arc leaves little in the way of interesting dialogue to deliver. Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat, meanwhile, play a trio of annoying friends, all of whom seem to be in competition with one another for being the most unlikable supporting character. And then there’s Elle Haymond, the young actress who appeared in the underappreciated Neighborhood Watch last year, in an entirely disposable role that contributes little, if anything, to the proceedings. 

 

With visual effects, filmmaking, and acting largely devoid of personality, Chum is salvaged only by its fusion of the shark movie and serial killer thriller genres. But, as this mashup was executed far better by last year’s Dangerous Animals, this new horror flick sinks, rather than swims.