Red Water

2003 Made for TV Movie about shark attacks on a river. Also includes a plot involving stolen mob money. Stars Lou Diamond Phillips, Kristy Swanson and Coolio. Better than its kind of film tends to be.

A crimelord sends three of his men -including a psychopathic diver obsessed with sharks and a rapper-like thug (Coolio)- to recover 3 million dollars stolen from him and hidden in a river in Louisiana, near an oil rig. Meanwhile, a bull shark swims up the river and starts attacking people. The locals Native Americans think it's a spirit angry because of the oil drilling. A reward of $10,000 is offered for killing the shark.

John Sanders (Phillips), a former oil rigger, his ex-wife Kelly (Swanson), her boss, and John's friend Emery are captured by the thugs, who force them to dive for the money when they discover the shark prowling around. Ultimately, the thugs are killed either by Sanders or by the shark, and the shark itself is killed with the oil drill.

In the end, John, Kelly and Emery decide not to cash in the reward, out of "respect for the legend".


 * Chekhov's Gun: The drill.
 * McGuffin: The case with money.
 * No Honor Among Thieves: The thugs end up betraying each other as soon as they get the money.
 * Shown Their Work: Bull sharks can breathe fresh water and swim up rivers.
 * Special Effects: Three shark models where used in the film, including an animatronic one that could swim by itself.
 * Super-Persistent Predator: The shark does nothing but eat people and show up when dramatically appropriate.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Ice (Coolio) tries to wrestle the money away from the shark. Guess what happens.
 * Voodoo Shark: Played with: despite the legend and the shark's unusual behavior, nothing specifically supernatural is shown to happen.