Shudder Exclusive Beast of War is the awesome shark/war mashup you've been waiting for

Shudder Exclusive film Beast of War is not just any other shark film. It definitely pays a lot of homage to the granddaddy of shark movies, Jaws – but it is also a strong depiction of young soldiers discovering what war is really like.

Writer-director Kiah Roache-Turner based his film on the real-life story of the Australian HMAS Armidale corvette, which was dive-bombed by Japanese soldiers in 1942. Some of the ship’s survivors assembled a raft from debris, and were later spotted, but the seas were too rough to allow for rescue, and the raft was not seen again. In all, 40 Armidale personnel were killed, along with 60 men of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army.

This made me think of the scene in Jaws, where the character of Quint (Robert Shaw) tells the equally true story of the men of the USS Indianapolis in 1945. The Imperial Japanese Navy torpedoed the Indianapolis, and 890 of the 1,195 men who were aboard were stuck in the ocean on lifeboats. Many of them died of exposure and dehydration, and many others were killed by sharks. Only 316 men made it home.

Obviously, Beast of War veers from the true story of the Armidale. The characters are engaging, with Mark Coles Smith taking on the lead role of Leo, a young man who still has nightmares about the loss of his younger brother Archie.

The other men in Leo’s unit include Will, who Leo saves when he sinks into thick mud, and Des, who sneers racial slurs at Leo. When their ship is dive-bombed, a small handful of the soldiers create a makeshift raft and hope for safety. A few of the men are injured, including Tommo, who has received a head injury that results in confusion and the inability to realize where he actually is. Tommo provides some comic relief, as do moments such as the men discussing whether or not drinking your own urine can stave off dehydration.

Of course, what we really want to see is the shark, and it’s a doozy. This is not a CGI shark, it’s “the world’s most technologically advanced animatronic great white”, which the crew christened Shazza. Shazza and the human actors filmed most of their scenes in a custom-built tank that held 2 million liters of water. The shark is not over-used, which keeps us wondering when it will pop up next.

All of this works, and it works well. The shark looks fantastic and absolutely terrifying, and we feel as if we are trapped with the men on that raft, cloaked in sea fog. The actors all give solid performances, and the shark kicks ass.

Beast of War kept me on the edge of my seat, made me laugh at times, and kept me thoroughly engrossed. Roache-Turner was also responsible for last year’s Sting, so he definitely has horror chops, and I look forward to seeing what fresh horror he will bring us next.