Written and directed by Justin Lee, and starring Nicky Whelan, Trace Adkins, Shane West, and Jeff Fahey, Maneater is a survival, horror-thriller, which is new to rent or buy on video-on-demand platforms. The film follows the story of a group of friends, who find themselves stalked by a shark while on vacation.
In the movie, Jessie and her mates are enjoying a sun-filled getaway, to help Jessie get over an upsetting break up. Shortly into their holiday, the group decide to take a boat trip to see the sights and hang out on the open water.
But after departing the main vessel, to make a short journey to a nearby island, the group find themselves in deep trouble. A shark is in the surrounding waters, and it is picking off victims one by one.
Can Jessie and Co. avoid the shark and live to tell the tale? Or will they find themselves becoming an appetiser, the main course, and dessert?!
Now, anyone that knows me, knows that I love a good shark movie. Jaws (1975) is one of my all-time favourites, I adore Deep Blue Sea (1999), and I always have time for The Shallows (2016) and 47 Meters Down (2017).
So, I’d like to say that after watching Maneater, I’ll be adding this film to my list of top shark movies, and revisiting it in the near future. However, if I was to say this, then clearly I would have lost my mind, and I’d be talking absolute codswallop!
To put things simply, Maneater is utter rubbish. It’s not quite as ropey as the Sharknado movies (sorry to all those Sharknado fans out there), but it is bad nonetheless.
The story is poor, the acting is wooden, and dialogue is atrocious. The soundtrack appears to have been lifted from an old episode of Baywatch, circa 1991, while the special effects are neither special, nor effective.
The film runs to around 95-minutes in length, which is approximately 65-minutes longer than it should, and no one involved in cutting this film seems to understand the process of editing. Scenes drag on forever, presumably to fill out the runtime, and the end result is something which feels baggy, saggy, and incredibly boring.
There’s no originality in the film, certainly no suspense, and as for tension, there’s more tension in my knicker elastic than there is on screen. Even the shark seems embarrassed about being in this dross, which I guess explains why the star attraction barely features – although I expect this may also be a budget issue.
There are only two positive things I can say about Maneater, and none of them will convince you to watch the film. And yes, I have had to dig deep for these positives.
The first is that Maneater features some rather lovely shots of a beach and the ocean. Sure, a quick Google search for the words ‘beach’ and ‘ocean’ will produce similar results, but hey, I’m trying to find something good here.
The second positive thing is that I managed to finish this movie without throwing myself over the balcony or drowning myself in the sink. I call that an upside, and a welcome result after sitting through this picture.
Will I ever watch Maneater ever again? Hell no, are you mad?!
I’d rather smear my body in peanut butter and throw myself into shark infested waters. Incidentally, I don’t know if sharks like peanut butter, but that’s not really my point, is it?
If you’re contemplating watching Maneater then maybe stop for a moment, take a few minutes to think about your actions, and consider whether this is the right idea. And if you’re still not sure, then repeat these words after me: NO IT IS NOT!
I’ve highlighted four really good shark movies in this review, so you have no excuse for not watching one of those instead. Heck, go watch ‘em all.
Just don’t watch this drivel – Maneater is utter nonsense. Plus, the title is kind of sexist, as the shark eats women too.
It's A Stampede! 
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