Vague Visages’ Hotspring Sharkattack review contains minor spoilers. Morihito Inoue’s 2024 movie features Kiyobumi Kaneko, Takuya Fujimura and Yuu Nakanishi. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

Thanks to movie magic, sharks have invaded everywhere, from pools to swamps to the very sand beneath our feet. And now, with Hotspring Sharkattack (Onsen shâku), they’re in the bath too. Suffice it to say that there are two very different kinds of sharksploitation films that typically get made. The first seeks, often to its detriment, to ape the fear of getting in the water so winningly evoked by Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975). Although typically campy, these flicks want to scare viewers first and foremost. They aim to be as convincing and realistic as possible, even if it means keeping the beast itself offscreen for much of the runtime. The other kind is made as cheaply as possible, with barely passable VFX, dodgy performances and a threadbare plot that exists solely to showcase as much shark-related mayhem as possible. Take a wild guess which category Hotspring Sharkattack fits into. 

Set in Atsumi, the so-called “Monaco of the East,” and filmed on location in picturesque Atami City, Hotspring Sharkattack wears its Jaws references on its sleeve, whether it’s a t-shirt here, a key line of dialogue there or a mayor who’s obsessed with tourism above all else. Unlike its forebear, though, the politician learns his lesson quickly and comes good in the end, thanks to a plucky female scientist with a vast knowledge of sharks. Hotspring Sharkattack shares some thematic similarities with The Meg (2018), given that it’s about prehistoric sharks reemerging to devour unsuspecting citizens. In this case, though, the species in question is pliable enough to squeeze through the pipes, giving the sharks access to every hot spring in the city. And, as one character hilariously points out, hot springs are everywhere in Atsumi, so there’s really nowhere to hide (the sharks eventually swim under the pavement too). 

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In Hotspring Sharkattack, an already bad situation continues escalating to an insane extent, leading to military involvement and the creation of a submarine using a massive 3D printer (a normal sized one is cleverly shot using a forced perspective to make it look huge). Likewise, there’s a key kaijū element to the proceedings. This isn’t just about one person or city; the whole nation is at risk and the heroes must generate a response to the threat under mounting pressure. Inoue also spends much of the movie teasing a mysterious man, and Hotspring Sharkattack does not disappoint on that front. There’s a lot going on, and much of it doesn’t make any sense; however, with a 77-minute duration, there isn’t a huge amount of time to ruminate on what works and what doesn’t.

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To say everything is thrown at the screen to see what sticks would be a massive understatement. There’s Claymation, traditional animation and tons of unconvincing CGI. During the opening sequence, the shark doesn’t even look like it’s in the same ocean, never mind anywhere near the characters in peril. Hotspring Sharkattack also features a charming shark puppet, and there definitely could’ve been more of it. Perhaps it was a budgetary concern, or maybe the blasted thing simply misbehaved just like the infamous “Bruce” animatronic on Jaws. Regardless, several actors perform the hell out of being trapped in a hot tub with what is clearly just a model, thrashing around like they’re truly in danger of being eaten. 

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Inoue makes some impressively wild choices, from weirdly orange blood spurting out of people’s mouths to perhaps the first time in film history that a shark has quite literally rasped “shaaaaaaaaaark” while on the attack. Ahead of Hotspring Sharkattack’s release, the director stated that, “Shark movies are popular in Japan as well, but the number of shark films produced here has not yet met the growing demand.” Inoue was seemingly eager to see how non-Japanese audiences would receive his take, and it goes without saying that those with little to no experience of movies from this particular region will probably be confused by the wacky tone, alongside the tendency to hop from one scene to the next with little to no real transition between them. Plenty of stuff is left completely up in the air too, and much of the dialogue feels throwaway. But there’s a madcap charm to Hotspring Sharkattack, a real sense of DIY ingenuity and, crucially, fun, which makes the film impossible to resist. Inoue’s production may not be a genre-redefining sharksploitation movie in the grand scheme of things, but the director enthusiastically presents his strange little story completely without cynicism, in contrast to Anthony C. Ferrante’s Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017). Hotspring Sharkattack is nothing if not memorable.

Joey Keogh (@JoeyLDG) is a writer from Dublin, Ireland with an unhealthy appetite for horror movies and Judge Judy. In stark contrast with every other Irish person ever, she’s straight edge. Hello to Jason Isaacs. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film reviews at Vague Visages.

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