Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent adaptation.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"Sam Rivers" (Tory Kittles) is a medical examiner who works for a police department responsible for a large portion of the swamps in Lousiana. Although he is working on a homicide case he is called away to investigate what appears to be an alligator attack deep in the bayou. However, after investigating the bite marks a bit more closely he realizes that this was no alligator attack and with the help of a biologist named "Mary Callahan" (China Chow) theorize that it may have been a bull shark which has swum in from the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, they soon realize how mistaken they were when other similar attacks occur and find that they are now being targeted as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie turned out to be a pleasant surprise as I wasn't expecting much from it. But the director (Mark A.Z. Dippe) took full advantage of the swamp scenery and the actors performed well enough within the framework of the rather generic and well-used plot to produce an adequate "creature feature" for the most part. Likewise, having two attractive actresses like K. D. Aubert (as "Eliza") and the aforementioned China Chow certainly didn't hurt in any way either. In any case, while it certainly won't win any Academy Awards, viewers who like films of this type might get some enjoyment out of this particular picture and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

I sat down and watched this movie because... while I didn't like movies such as Sharknado, they entertain me enough to just laugh at the idiocy of it all. Frankenfish was meant to be serious... Frankenfish, that was meant to be taken seriously.The plot of course is your standard "something in the swamp, people have to kill it." type thing while also hunters are going around trying to hunt whatever is in the water. Okay this does make way for a decent set-up and it does try and build suspense but there is just one problem, They called their movie Frankenfish. This means we expect either a zombie fish on a rampage or a fish genetically altered on a rampage. So all this build-up is for nothing other than time filler.The only thing I kind of liked in this movie is the odd funny attack/death scenes. Think something can top that guy chainsawing the shark in half in Sharknado? Well you should wait and see the way the final Frankenfish dies.Although with this said there isn't anything else that holds the film together. The effects are bad, the acting is amateur and the rest of it is a chore to sit through. So if you want to see a movie with a title as stupid as Frankenfish for a laugh then this probably isn't for you but if you just have 80 minutes to pass over with this as your only DVD option, then this could be worth a look.

I was not expecting to even like Frankenfish, but I did. The story is ridiculous on the whole, in the script there is a sea of corniness and eye-rolling cheesiness amid the odd sprinkle of wit, the characters are on the annoying stereotypical side and some of the effects are cheap. Despite all this, I did enjoy Frankenfish. The editing was not as choppy as I had anticipated and some of the locations are great. There is enough suspense and tense fun to make up for the ridiculousness of the story, the fish although not great in design(though I have seen far worse) are menacing and great to watch and while the lead is uncharismatic the acting is reasonably good. On the whole, not great, but I sort of liked it. 6/10 Bethany Cox

A series of brutal attacks in the Louisiana swamps leave the local police mystified. Sending in a coroner originally from the area and a biologist to investigate, they learn that a group of genetically engineered Chinese snakeheads are responsible. The fish chase the investigators upstream, where the fish trap them on a houseboat with several other locals. Meanwhile, a group of big-game hunters track down the fish. It all boils down to a fight for survival with the voracious predators slowly picking off the humans.So, I got this from the 99 cents store to see what it was and after watching it, it was horrible. Who would expect this came from the same guy who directed "Spawn"? You know, I'm all for a monster movie like "Eight Legged Freaks", "AVP", or "Godzilla" but it needs to be a good one.As you suspected, the monster wasn't shown as clear since it moves in a fast pace or that the lighting is dark. No surprise there. The dialog is also really horrible and there comes a point in this film where you don't care who dies because you know it'll be laughable. The movie is not suspenseful nor thrilling.ONE good point I would like to give for this movie is Matthew Raunch. He plays the comedic relief in the film, although he doesn't give out a lot of laughs until the last thirty minutes of the film. There also comes a point in this film where you are so tired of the clichés being played out. Black people die first. People showing nudity will be killed off. People who smokes, die. Oh, and you guessed right, ending is opened for a sequel.And here also comes the phrase "Sex sells". This film has so many unnecessary scenes with nudity it is not even funny. It's not even "hot". Okay, there is also one other good thing I would like to point out in this film: One scene in this film isn't clichéd and will surprise you a lot but one the bad side of that, you don't even care what just happened in that scene.So, you want a good monster movie? This isn't the one. Watch "Snakes on a Plane", "King Kong", "War of the Worlds" or anything else. Just stay away from this one. The only fantastic part of this film is when the credits role and you immediately forget what you have just watched. This is a good example of wasted money.