Have made no secret in the past of intensely disliking, and even outright hating a lot, a vast majority of SyFy's (near-universally maligned for good reason) output, though there is curiosity as to whether they are capable of making something good and compulsive about their output's badness. Admittedly, SyFy do have a small group of watchable films and the occasional (big emphasis on that word) above average one, unfortunately outweighed by the lacklustre at best and often dreadful films they churn out.Before anybody gets defensive, am well aware that films like 'Ozark Sharks' are not ones to be taken seriously, have been well versed enough seeing previous SyFy efforts to not expect that. Have seen my fair share of low-budget shark films, and any other kind of low-budget creature film, and will admit to finding some guilty fun in some of them (i.e. the first two 'Sharknado' films). There are far worse shark films certainly. 'Ozark Sharks' at least has occasional splashes of fun and some semi-decent scenery. There is also far worse acting in other low-budget shark films, not that that is saying much.Due to that the acting largely is pretty poor, with the usual mix of overplaying and blandness. Any few attempts to develop the characters results in padded and pointless scenes, development is at best flimsy and it's all overwrought and does little to make the characters endearing or care or learn enough about them.The execution of almost everything is severely underwhelming, not just being visually cheap and poorly acted and written even worse but what seemed like a decent, if very generic, idea was executed in typical SyFy shark movie fashion, with no imagination whatsoever and only occasional splashes of fun.Faring worse are the production values, story and writing. 'Ozark Sharks', aside from the scenery, is drably shot and sloppily edited, but it's the truly abysmal special effects that are the worst. As the sharks were made on a low-budget it would have been forgiven a little if it was not great, but when the effects for the sharks look as if no effort was given in making them without looking so goofy and unfinished-looking that is hard to ignore or forgive.Can say no better about the portrayal of the sharks either. They exude little personality either, no menace, not even any unintentional goofiness. Generally the attack scenes, apart from the odd mild amusement, are sloppily edited, too brief and devoid of suspense or sense of horror.Writing ranges between incredibly bad to appalling. Any comedy is incredibly forced and is so cheesy it is enough to make the eyes roll in disbelief, while the more serious moments are very awkwardly written and as trite as anybody can possibly go. The silliness goes well overboard as the film progresses and it becomes intelligence insulting even when one tries to take it for what it's trying to be.Really wanted to like the story here because the concept was intriguing slightly, but while it starts nicely the further the movie progresses the lazier, cheesier and more formulaic it gets, also making the mistake that most SyFy films make of trying so hard to be over the top and stupid but in a painfully predictable and less than fresh way that it becomes tiresome. The stupidity gets stale quickly and the film is lethargic generally in pace. Altogether, have seen worse but poorly done. 2/10 Bethany Cox

I watched about a minute of this, (maybe less) and the effects were the worst. If you want to see not how to do special effects, this is the movie for you. Ridiculous!! The acting was really bad. I didn't recognize anyone. And the Sharks looked like they came from a bad Scooby doo cartoon! I'm supposed to write ar least ten lines here so I will keep going. When they shot the shark with fireworks I actually laughed out loud. So stupid. Don't waste your time with this garbage. Have a sandwich and a beer and watch Zoo instead, or Jaws 3-D. Either of those would be better! There are so many better third rate horror/suspense movies that you could watch. This one just sucked!

I love the Syfy shark movies. Don't know why because I know they're dumb, but it seems like the more bizarre place they can find to put sharks, the better the movies actually are. This one was great, and I enjoyed every moment of it. These movies cannot be taken seriously. Anyone who does is just looking for a movie to hate. And while these movies can be hated very easily, if you just have fun with them, you'll have a much better time.Grade: 9.7/10 (Excellent) Final Grade: A+ Plot: 10/10 (Perfect) There isn't really much in the way of actual "plot" for this movie, other than a family goes to the Ozarks where their grandmother grew up and the family gets attacked by sharks that have somehow found their way into the river system. This was a fun effort because you don't really ever think that there might be sharks in your local river and lake, and it shows ingenious ways to kill them should you ever find that happening. Just make sure you have a Bigger Betty gun to deal with them. There were a few clichés in the movie, but not enough to detract from what was going on--a few even made the plot better.Character Development: 10/10 (Perfect) Typical horror fare with people who are in the movie just to be eaten by the sharks and the Final Girl, who was actually a lot better developed than most I've seen. She had a rather boring story in the beginning, but she grew as a character into someone I liked and even rooted for in the end. Her brother wasn't as much of a jerk as you might see in other movies, truly loving and wanting to protect her. The parents were a little more willing to have the boyfriend around than they probably should--especially since he showed up uninvited--and they were far more willing to let their underage girl go off with him and do whatever they wanted, but that's the world we live in, and it did help with overall motivation for the lead. Good character development all around, though, with nothing completely out of place.Directing: 10/10 (Perfect) Second movie by Misty Talley that I've seen, the first being Zombie Shark, and this was a much better endeavor by her. She told a very good story, giving the audience exactly what they wanted- -beautiful girls in bikinis getting preyed on by sharks--and I mean real sharks not horny boys...though there were a couple of those in there, too. I enjoyed the way Misty Talley told this story, and I cannot wait to see what she gives us next year.Casting: 9/10 (Excellent) I was surprised to see that Laura Cayouette (Ms. Candie from Django Unchained) was in this movie until I realized she was also in Zombie Sharks. In fact, a lot of the cast from Zombie Sharks was in this movie, as well. I liked everyone for the most part and really wouldn't change any of the cast given the chance...except for maybe Molly's boyfriend. All the extra girls were hot and did their job looking great in their bikinis, so well done there.Acting: 9/10 (Excellent) Not perfect by any means, but for a movie of this quality, the acting wasn't bad. You could tell they were actually doing more than just reading lines and getting paid, which is a big step up from a lot of Syfy movies. Cinematography: 10/10 (Perfect) Good camera-work all around, steady, with no shaky-cam. Good lighting, and the special effects were half-way decent.Music: 10/10 (Perfect) Music gave the movie the right mood and didn't interfere with the movie at all. In fact, it kinda faded into the background where it should.Pacing: 10/10 (Perfect) I was going to knock a point off for the pacing when I stopped the movie at one point and saw only an hour had passed, but then the second hour flew by and the movie was over before I wanted it to be. So, no points off for pacing.Sets and Costumes: 10/10 (Perfect) Sets were good if not amazing, but costumes (bikinis) were amazing, so this gets a perfect in my book, as do all the girls in the movie.Re-watchability: 9/10 (Excellent) I'll enjoy watching this movie again in a few days, but it's not an instant re-watch movie. All-in-all, good Syfy effort here as long as you keep in mind that it is a Syfy effort.

"Ozark Sharks" was rolled out as part of SyFy's annual festivities leading up to the premiere of the fourth (!) Sharknado flick. "Ozark Sharks" was a serviceable, if a bit generic, entry in the killer-sharks-on-the-rampage genre. The story is paper-thin: a suburban family (Mom, Dad, Grandma, annoying Emo daughter Molly and big brother Harrison) - are going on vacation to a run-down camping resort in the Ozarks. Some sharks happen to swim upriver from the ocean and begin chomping on all the puny humans in their path (including poor Grandma), which threatens the town's annual lakeside fireworks festival. You can pretty much write the rest of it yourself. Molly and brother Harrison (plus Molly's doofus boyfriend Curtis) take up arms against the shark invasion, aided by kindly campground bait shop proprietor Mr. Jones, who happens to have a full arsenal of weaponry stockpiled in the back room of his store for just such an occasion. I will leave it to you to find out how it all turns out for yourselves."Ozark Sharks" had the misfortune to premiere right after a re- airing of 2011's similarly themed (but far superior) "Swamp Shark," so for much of "Ozark" I felt like I was sitting through a re-run. At least "Swamp Shark" had some recognizable faces in it like Kristy "Original Buffy" Swanson and Robert Davi. The cast of "Ozark" appears to be mostly unknowns, who are likely doomed to stay that way.At least it was better than the director's previous SyFy Sharknado Week effort, 2015's "Zombie Shark," which was mostly unwatchable. Feel free to skip this flick unless you absolutely have to watch every shark movie that SyFy pumps out.