Movie Review - 12 Days of Terror

If you are a big Jaws fan like I am, you know that the book and the movie originated from an incident(s) in New Jersey round about 1916. There were a few shark attacks off the coast and at some point a shark swam up a stream and also killed a few people.

Scary stuff. But also just the kind of incident that would be the fuel for one tremendous book and one tremendous movie.

So imagine my surprise when I was running through my Blockbuster account and I stumbled across a little gem called 12 Days of Terror. Essentially this movie deals specifically with those incidents in New Jersey nearly 100 years ago, following the protagonist of a lifeguard at the small Jersey town of...while...somewhere.

I'm going to be honest. I wasn't expecting a whole lot with this movie. The title doesn't exactly inspire a whole lot of confience. Don't let it fool you.

With its 1916 setting, the movie benefits from not needing a whole lot of flash-bang special effects and instead benefits from some pretty solid acting performances, including John Rhys-Davies (of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Lord of the Rings triology fame) who is solid as always.

One interesting thing about this movie is how many elements of Jaws resurface. For instance, after the first shark attack, it is covered up so the beach dollars don't dry up.

But all in all, the movie is certainly better than you would think, the shark effects are limited, but stand up (more so than most shark movies) and the movie also raises an interesting question: why is it so hard to believe that two sharks were to blame?

Sure it could have been a great white shark that attacked people along the coast, but it is the calling card of the bull shark to be in freshwater. Bull sharks are certainly nothing to mess around with and have a real ugly attitude - yet it is the great whites that always get tagged as man-killers.

All in all, this movie made a bit of an impression on me. I would certainly suggest anyone who enjoys shark movies to give it a watch. 3.5 stars out of 5.