Encyclopedia Sharksploitanica by Susan Snyder

Madness Heart Press, 2021

ISBN-13: 9781955745994

Available: Paperback, Kindle

Since Jaws emerged from the depths to create the subgenre known as sharksploitation, shark movies and their rip offs have “scared the swimsuits off us”, rendered us immobile from gut-wrenching laughter, or left us speechless with the badness of it all. Susan Snyder, a marine biologist who has experience diving with these toothy beasts, presents her perspective on a whopping 85 sharkploitation movies.

Sections are divided into “Rip Offs”, “The Bastardization of Science”, “The Swimming Dead”, “Mix and Match Mutants, Two for One”: “The “Versus” Movies”, “Bad Environments”, “The Big ‘Uns”, “Terror in the Real World”, “The Paranormals”, “Fins in Funnels: The Sharknado Franchise”, and “Shark-pourri”. Snyder’s collection includes interviews, essays, reviews, and some choice rants about the films she presents. Make no mistake, though. Despite the rants, it is clear that Snyder loves the subgenre. After reading this, I tracked down some of the movies she discussed and found a renewed interest in shark horror.

Highly recommended

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker