Blu-ray Review: Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre

I admit to having a weakness for shark movies. That’s led to me viewing such masterpieces as Sand Sharks, Snow Shark, Swamp Shark and Avalanche Sharks. Yes, sharks can turn up anywhere, even in tornadoes. Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre is not only a shark movie, but is also a women’s prison movie. It’s a two-for-one deal. And it is surprisingly enjoyable, much better than the majority of shark movies. It stars Dominique Swain, Cindy Lucas, John Callahan, Christine Nguyen, Amy Holt, Corey Landis and Traci Lords, and was directed by Jim Wynorski (certainly not known for making great films; he directed Ghoulies IV, for example).

Explosions free some sharks from an underground ocean, and they surface to terrorize a group of women on work detail from the local prison. Is it that only sexy women are criminals? Or that only the sexy ones get caught? Or perhaps only the sexy ones are permitted to go out on work detail? Well, whatever, the point is the women look good. They’re out clearing stumps from a section of swamp (why the warden would want this done is never quite explained). But the girls take a break to drink from their water bottles (in slow motion, of course), and also pour some of the water on their white tank tops. When one girl sees a shark coming, she has time to say, “You gotta be kidding me,” but not time to take two steps back out of the water.

Honey (Dominique Swain), Anita’s hot red-haired girlfriend, shows up to break Anita (Cindy Lucas) out, and takes the prison employees hostage. So there is a whole plot outside of the weird sharks. They drive to a small house in the swamp, where three of the girls get in a hot tub. They’ve somehow acquired bikinis, but hey, shouldn’t they be naked? What kind of exploitation flick is this? Anyway, soon it is clear that these sharks are not confined to water, and everyone must team up against this larger threat.

Meanwhile, two detectives (played by Traci Lords and Corey Landis) are searching for… Wait, what are they searching for? I’m not sure, but soon they are on the trail of the escaped female convicts. And they too come into contact with what one character calls sharkosaurus.

This movie has fun with its subject, but is not a goofy comedy. It does approach the characters and situations with enough seriousness and sincerity to make us interested. This is partly to be credited to the cast, who turn in believable performances, not always an easy feat in films like this. I especially like John Callahan as Carl, one of the prison employees. This movie also takes a lesson from old monster movies, as it doesn’t show too much of the monster too soon. It also certainly leaves room for a sequel, and if one is made, I will definitely be excited to see it.

Special Features

The Blu-ray disc contains a commentary track by director Jim Wynorski and cast members Cindy Lucas and Amy Holt. Jim mentions how the producer and production designer play the guys driving through the swamp at the beginning, and how the vehicle really did get stuck in the swamp. They talk about shooting in Florida, where it was surprisingly cold, as the girls mention many times. Jim mentions that the film was made for American television. Ah, so that’s why there’s no nudity. They do get onto several tangents, and as Jim says at one point, it isn’t the most informative commentary track ever, but it’s fun.

There is also a photo gallery, which is presented as a slide show running approximately four minutes. Also included is the film’s trailer (which has a shot of a great white shark in the ocean, which has nothing to do with the movie).

Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre was released on Blu-ray on May 3, 2016 through Scream Factory, a division of Shout! Factory.