Pretty terrible all around with laughable effects, bad acting, and a total disregard for any originality. That said, there are a couple of saving graces, like the part when the newscaster laments the lack of good shark footage and his cameraman says "just put in some stock footage, no one will know the difference" which is EXACTLY WHAT THEY DO IN THIS MOVIE! Barely watchable, there are at least a couple of good kills, but other than that, not much here.

Port Harbor's, a small ocean-side community, preparations are in full swing for the big upcoming windsurfing regatta. However, their plans are rocked when a local windsurfer turns up missing. The only thing that can be found is a portion of his board that appears to have been gnawed on by a rather large great white shark. The mayor is against canceling the big event. The town turns to a salty old sea captain (Vic Morrow doing his best Robert Shaw impersonation) to help capture the shark before anyone else is killed. Sound familiar? There's absolutely no way to hide where the inspiration for The Last Shark came from. It's as blatant a rip-off of Jaws as I've ever seen – and I've seen a bunch of them. But this one just might be among my favorites. It's so corny in parts that it's often laugh out loud funny. For years, I had read reviews on the internet of a Jaws-type cash-in with a roaring shark. Well, I finally saw it. The repeated roaring of the great white in The Last Shark every time it surfaces is the stuff of legend. It's comedy gold. The special effects are anything but special. The shark in this movie is so fake its mouth doesn't really move. The one person you see eaten is actually lowered into the unmovable jaws. The dialogue is another source of amusement. Utterly ridiculous dialogue presented with a completely straight face – I don't know how they did it. Finally, there are moments that defy description. The best example has to be the scene where the shark targets and rams a small boat from the bottom. The person on board is sent flying 20 feet in the air like a rocket just went off. You need to see it. Hysterical. Actually, as ridiculous as much of the movie is, I still enjoyed it – maybe for the wrong reasons at times, but it's all harmless and entertaining enough. The movie moves at a good pace and never gets bogged down and boring. There are a couple of decent acting performances and some nice location shots. I think a 6/10 for The Last shark is about fair given the entertainment I got out of it. One final thing I noticed, The Last Shark has to hold some sort of record for the most mustaches in a movie. Mustache-less lead James Franciscus looks out of place with the rest of the cast.

The era of the late '70s/early '80s was chock-full of JAWS rip-offs: they came from Mexico, the Philippines, and most of all, Italy. This is one of the most blatant copies out there, directed by cult action favourite Enzo G. Castellari, and it has the dubious history of having been pulled from North American theatres by Universal because the similarities with JAWS were just too many. For what it's worth, I love rip-off films and I love "when animals attack" horrors, so I was well placed to enjoy THE LAST SHARK. It's no masterpiece, but it is a fun, brainless film.Castellari was famous for his 'polizia' flicks in the '70s, usually starring Franco Nero. His trademark was slow-motion; he used it in stunts, in shoot-outs, you name it. It's present here in some superbly hilarious death scenes and at random other times (usually when somebody is falling slow-motion into the water). Otherwise, his direction is good, although he's let down by a pedestrian script that never strays far from Spielberg territory. Roy Scheider is replaced by James Franciscus (who already tried his hand with underwater monsters in KILLER FISH), and Robert Shaw by a slumming Vic Morrow. There's a lack of decent eye-candy, and Castellari's daughter, Stefania Girolami, doesn't really cut it. As another negative, none of the characters are very well developed and they all seem rather unpleasant.Still, for a thriller this isn't bad, and by Italian standards it's decent. It helps that THE LAST SHARK has an absolutely brilliant score which, I thinks, rivals that of JAWS itself. The action sequences are also pretty good, and they don't skimp on the gore either. My favourite scenes include the half-a-victim gag (when said person is pulled out of water/trapdoor/ladder/hole etc. and it's revealed their legs are missing), an absolutely hilarious set-piece in which the shark attacks a helicopter (ripping off JAWS 2) and bites a guy's legs off, and some other fun bits where victims literally 'explode' out of the water (the obvious dummies add to the fun). The ending is abrupt, and crucially it doesn't reveal the shark's death (apparently it was blown up or electrocuted or something) but the special effects are surprisingly great and there's one moment of a real-life shark devouring raw meat which is absolutely terrifying. THE LAST SHARK is a treat for those who like movie cheese.

I wish IMDb had a 0 of 10 rating. This was a terrible piece of cinema. Absolutely no creativity, no originality, and no talent went into the making of this film. It is an utter piece of sh*t.The one saving grace of the film is that it ends eventually. I am glad this was banned in the United States, because it shows a total lack of professionalism in regards to theft of ideas.There is one funny part... When the jackass town mayor smacks his son in the hospital and a great Kung-fu slap sound is added. Other than that it fails on all levels, I was seriously hoping that the shark killed everyone in the movie, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Nice try on making a Robert Shaw worthy character, but I would rather watch Zombie Planet with my testicles attached to a car battery than watch this again...