Thrash Movie Review: A Refreshing Twist on the Shark Horror Genre

The shark thriller Thrash has arrived on Netflix, presenting a survival story set in Annieville, South Carolina, where a town flooded by a storm becomes infested with killer sharks. Directed by Tommy Wirkola, known for Dead Snow and Violent Night, the film features Phoebe Dynevor and Djimon Hounsou in leading roles.

A Turbulent Production History

The film’s journey to the streaming platform was marked by multiple identity changes and distributor shifts. Originally shot in 2024, the project was first titled Beneath the Storm and was being prepared by Sony for a theatrical release.

In 2025, the movie was renamed Shiver and scheduled for a premiere in August of that year. However, the film was eventually renamed Thrash and offloaded to Netflix for its April 2026 release.

Critical Reception and Stylistic Approach

Critical response to the film has been deeply polarized, with reviewers disagreeing on whether the movie succeeds as a B-movie or fails as a thriller. Some critics have described the film as a suspense-free dud characterized by choppy editing and a lack of tension.

Other perspectives suggest that the film embraces its silliness and delivers the expected tone for a killer shark movie. These reviews highlight the film’s lively competence and a sense of fluid originality in its staging, noting that it avoids the dreary, claustrophobic atmosphere common to derivative shark films.

The film’s visual effects and techniques are noted to draw heavily from the gambits used by Steven Spielberg. This includes the depiction of shark attacks and the eventual fate of the great white shark.

Conflicting Perspectives on Execution

The divide in critical opinion centers on the film’s identity and execution:

• Some reviewers view it as an aggressively stupid movie that fails to deliver on its B-movie potential due to shoddy filmmaking.
• Others argue that the filmmakers got it right by leaning into the absurdity of the premise, creating a fun experience despite a lack of standout sequences.
• Some critics find the film uneven, suggesting it is neither serious enough to make a lasting impact nor over-the-top enough to be considered true B-movie fun.

While some find the production to look cheap, others argue that the film is more slickly put together than the average entry in the shark-thriller subgenre.

Industry Context

The acquisition of Thrash by Netflix follows a pattern where the streamer becomes a home for projects that other studios decide not to release theatrically. This trend has previously included films like Annihilation, the Fear Street trilogy and KPop: Demon Hunters, the latter of which was also originally intended for a Sony release.