‘Thrash’: Ranking the Wildest Moments From Netflix’s Shark Movie
Netflix takes a bite out of the killer sharksploitation market with Thrash, a survival thriller that follows residents of a South Carolina town fighting to survive a Category 5 hurricane — and the hungry bull sharks that arrive with the flood.
The town of Annieville is put through biblical-level testing. First comes Hurricane Henry, then the levee breaks, followed by packs of roaming bull sharks (and one possible pregnant great white). Now, a handful of residents are left battling for survival.
Among them are grieving teen Dakota Edwards (Whitney Peak) and her marine researcher uncle Dale (Djimon Hounsou), pregnant Lisa Fields (Phoebe Dynevor), who finds herself trapped in her flooded car surrounded by beef blood, a scrappy news team, and a trio of orphans — Ron (Stacy Clausen), Dee (Alyla Browne), and Will (Dante Ubaldi) — whose foster parents refuse to let them leave.
Like other sharksploitation films before it, the appeal of Thrash comes not from the, ahem, standout performances or a transformative script, but from its bloody, bizarre shark attacks and horrific kills that prioritize shock value over realism. The zanier the attack, the better the sharksploitation movie, and Thrash fully embraces that.
Here is a list of the best shark attacks and jaw-dropping moments from Thrash, ranked by outrageousness, that make it a bloody, over-the-top thrill ride. Warning: Spoilers ahead for the film Thrash.
11. Orphans in peril
The three Olsen kids are trapped in their house when sharks begin to enter. Realizing they need to shut the door to stop the free-flowing invasion, middle child Dee attempts to hop across the counters to reach the kitchen, but finds herself balancing between the door and the counter with a hungry shark beneath her. Luckily, her big brother Ron is there to save her in the nick of time.
10. The sibling trio uses dynamite to eliminate their shark problem
The foster siblings come up with a plan to kill the sharks by tying dynamite to T-bone steaks, creating a spicy treat for the man-eaters. The sharks fall for the bait, and soon the trio is covered in shark parts, celebrating their messy but effective victory.
9. Ron's search and rescue of steaks and guns
Big brother Ron attempts to retrieve some of Billy’s secret meat supply and weapons from the basement, which requires a little diving. Not only does he come face-to-face with a massive bull shark, but he also hits a snag. Literally. His sweater gets caught on a hook, threatening to drag him down and turn him into bait. Luckily, he manages to pull himself free in the nick of time.
8. Dakota rescues Lisa
Having watched three men be devoured by sharks, Dakota is not too eager to help Lisa, but the young pregnant woman pleads with the teen. After a tense game of “the floor is lava” in the shark-infested water inside the house, she sets out to reach her.
She immediately falls from the roof onto a crashed car. Now she just needs to jump from a floating shed to Lisa’s Mini Cooper, where she begins cutting branches to free her. Soon, the duo is at least a bit safer inside the house. For now.
7. The flood scene
Mass destruction is usually pretty fun in over-the-top thrillers. It’s the best part of cinematic classics such as Titanic, The Towering Inferno, and Airport. And for Thrash, that’s no exception. After the levee breaks and the floodwaters from Hurricane Henry roll into town, the small community of Annieville is completely decimated. Water fills the streets and homes, trapping poor pregnant Lisa in her car as she tries to get help, confining the Olsen siblings to their foster family’s house, and cutting Dakota off from communication with her father — or anyone else in the outside world.
6. The garage attack
Billy (Matt Nable) and his wife Rachel (Amy Mathews) are not great foster parents. They are barely great people, which is why they make perfect shark chow. Mean, prone to starving the wards in their care, and suffering from delusions of grandeur, Billy believes his shoddy handiwork on the house and a bit of media sensationalism will help him weather the storm and the floods. But once the water rises high enough to shatter the windows and fill his home, he is forced to act. Heading into the garage with his wife, Billy quickly makes a new friend in the form of a bull shark, which says howdy by taking his hand.
Rachel is devoured in front of the kids, who watch in horror. Then, even worse, Billy tries to flee without his wards. His attempt to get into the truck is foiled by a shark that insists the man stay.
5. The return and second demise of Billy
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the kitchen, foster father Billy bursts out of the water, terrifying his three wards and the audience, who assumed he had been eaten in the garage. Missing a hand and a buttock, he is still as vile as ever. Not mourning his wife or caring about the kids, he orders the trio into the water to get help.
After they discover he has been hoarding money from the state to pay for steaks while starving them, Billy tries to use violence to get his way, but Ron stops him, catches his fist midair, and throws him back into the kitchen waters, where he is quickly devoured. Again. And this time, for real.
4. Sharks attack when Lisa is stuck in her car
In the film’s first shark attack, two well-meaning gentlemen in a rowboat attempt to help Lisa after her car is caught in the raging current and crashes into a tree. Unfortunately, before they arrive, a truck hauling beef has also wrecked, spilling blood into the water. As they try to reach her, they are devoured by man-eating sharks that have turned the town square into a day out of snacking.
Hearing the screams, the trucker attempts to climb out of his cab, only to be immediately devoured in the feeding frenzy. From a nearby window, Dakota screams in horror as a good Samaritan is slowly eaten right outside Lisa’s car.
3. Lisa goes into labor in a shark-infested, crumbling house
The rule of Chekhov’s pregnancy is that if a pregnancy is introduced in the first act, the woman must go into labor by the third, and Thrash is no different.
As the water climbs to the second floor of the house, Lisa forces Dakota into the role of midwife. Soon, the two devise a plan to escape the flooding home. Dakota attempts to reach a rowboat, offering a quick nod to the opening of Jaws, and must swim through shark-infested water to get to the dinghy.
Then the foundation of the house begins to crumble, making the situation all the more urgent.
The scene also delivers the funniest moment in the film, when poor Lisa, writhing in pain, finally gets a signal and her phone rings with “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton as she screams.
2. The hero of the story is a great white shark
Dakota and Lisa are surrounded by sharks after one flips their rowboat, but Dale arrives in the nick of time. He manages to drive the predators back by tossing a taser into the water, though they quickly regroup. Just as a bull shark is about to make a meal of the two women and the baby, a great white bursts from the water and chomps down, saving Lisa, Dakota, and the child.
In the end, all the heroes are safe, all the creeps are eaten, the audience gets to witness the miracle of a shark-infested water birth, and all is right in the world. At least until the sequel arrives.
1. Lisa's shark-infested water birth
After the house collapses and Lisa’s labor is forced to continue in shark-infested waters, she gives birth to her son while floating in the town square. Both mother and baby are healthy, but the blood from the ordeal rings the dinner bell for the finned tourists. As the sharks close in, Lisa fends them off with large planks of wood while her son floats nearby. Dakota manages to take out another shark just as it is about to attack with a speargun she found and get to Lisa in the water.
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