For mockbuster specialists The Asylum you have to say that Sharknado is their instance of capturing lightning in a bottle. Up to this point they've cranked out countless thinly veiled copies of Hollywood movies (usually getting released a week before the flick they're cloning) as well as tons of bad creature features packed with horrid CGI effects for SyFy network with little interest and definite dismissal from most - which is why the over-the-top success of Sharknado is just puzzling. Gaining steam through social networks and loaded with all the expected inanity and bad effects this is truly a "so bad, it's good" time that's mass appeal perplexes me almost as much as people I know who'd never be caught dead watching stuff like this proudly exclaiming they watched it does.

We know we're in trouble right off the bat as we see numerous, badly rendered, CGI sharks being sucked up into a tornado. This leads to a pretty much unrelated opening scene where a Russian sailor (with a bad put-upon accent) is making a deal to sell shark fins to an Asian buyer only for them to be chomped on by some wind-propelled sharks. From here we head to the California coast and meet Fin (Ian Ziering), a former surfer who now has taken to running a coastline bar inhabited by such characters as the young, flirty waitress Nova (Cassie Scerbo), his Australian buddy Baz (Jaason Simmons), and always drunk barfly George (John Heard).

Not long after taking a quick jaunt on the waves, Fin witnesses the incoming typhoon (while everyone else is seemingly oblivious) and finds himself in the middle of a coastal disaster. There's a whole bunch of giant waves, a ferris wheel busts loose and rolls down the street before smashing into a building, and there's those darn sharks to contend with.

Gathering together the aforementioned group of patrons/employees, Fin hits the road for his bitchy ex-wife April's (Tara Reid) house to make sure his kids are safe and things get more and more ridiculous involving scenes where they're constantly shooting sharks, blood is floating all over the place, Baz is constantly making bad quips (including the hilariously bad one, "Looks like it's that time of the month" upon being surrounded by bloody water), a set piece where Fin has to save a busload of kids surrounded by sharks by rappelling down a bridge, an awful car chase scene that, at least, contains a nitrous button, and a finale that trots out skeet shooting and chainsaws. And that's before I mention that the final last scene is the most priceless thing here and totally worth waiting for.

With a title like Sharknado and a premise like that you know the makers never took themselves seriously and it's this outright sense of abandon that oozes from the entire movie that makes it compellingly watchable. It's lousy, for sure, but I couldn't tear my eyes away due to waiting for the next eye-rolling moment to come along. This really does define the "so bad, it's good" mantra and is the first flick in recently memory to live up to that - I really can't remember the last time I agreed with that assessment. There's a reason that star Ziering has jokingly referred to this as his "Pulp Fiction moment", it fits the entire production's goofy tone.

In the lead, former "Beverly Hills, 90210" co-star Ziering just pastes on a serious face and goes for it. The same goes for Scerbo as our snappy waitress and she's actually pretty good amongst all the over-the-top performances even if she gets to clone (in what I hope is a "wink, wink" way) the most infamous scene in Jaws: The Revenge. Heard is doing your typical slumming that you see in a lot of SyFy/Asylum efforts but is pretty amusing and Simmons channels some low-budget Mel Gibson Mad Max attitude. As is usual, Reid is absolutely awful here. She's always been terrible, though, even in the American Pie movies and every time she was on screen I let out a pained groan.

Is Sharknado going to make me appreciate The Asylum more? Not a chance. Am I going to hit Netflix and watch some of their past productions like 2-Headed Shark Attack or Snakes on a Train? Nope. However, I will admit that if you're in the right mood and have the right group of people to watch this with it makes for an entertaining 86 minutes. (Chris Hartley, 8/12/13)

Directed By: Anthony C. Ferrante.
Written By: Thunder Levin.

Starring: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, John Heard, Cassie Scerbo.

Picture Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Given its lower budget and pretty horrible CGI effects, Sharknado looks pretty decent in 1080p. It's a little soft at times and seems less bright a transfer than expected but generally definition is good and, really, why do you need such a pristine picture for what's essentially an incredibly silly B-movie.

Extras: We get a pretty goofy "Making of" featurette (11m.) with cast and crew interviews (I love how Tara Reid tries to make things sound higher class than they are) as well as a mostly skippable gag reel (5m.). There's also trailers for other releases from The Asylum.

THe main extra here would have to be the commentary track with director Ferrante and co-stars Jaason Simmons, Aubrey Peeples, and Scerbo.It's pretty breezy and offers mild insight into the making of what everyone knew was a ridiculous effort from the get go. If you're a fan of the flick it's worth a listen but, otherwise, just watch the movie again - though if you stick around Ian Ziering calls in for a few minutes at the end of the commentary.