The year 2026 has been flooded with shark cinema. However, the vast majority of these aquatic thrillers are dead in the water long before the end credits roll. Leading the school as arguably the absolute worst entry of the year is Chum, a movie so aggressively tedious that it makes sitting through a bad wedding feel like a luxury getaway.
Warning: Spoilers ahead
The Plot
The nightmare begins with a picture-perfect destination wedding on the sun-drenched coast of Malta. The champagne flows, vows are exchanged, and the newlyweds attempt to put on a brave face for their guests. The festivities take a quick dive into absurdity. An oversized killer shark crashes the party, stranding the group at sea.
When open-water survival against an apex predator seems like the main threat, enter Roy (Jim Klock). Roy is a local fisherman. The Captain is unhinged in every sense of the word. Roy isn’t there to rescue anyone. Driven mad by grief, he decides the wedding party is the perfect chum to bait the shark that devoured his wife. The cast finds themselves trapped between a psychopath on the deck and a silent apex predator in the deep.
Long before the shark arrives, however, the newlyweds are already tearing each other apart. In an endlessly repeated plot point, we are reminded every thirty seconds that the bride is a corporate attorney representing oil conglomerates, and her new groom is a dedicated Greenpeace activist. Talk about a match made in hell.
The Cast
Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) does what she can with the material. Eve stars alongside Eric Michael Cole as her eco-minded husband, whose expression looks like he’s constantly constipated. Elle Haymond, Sarah Siadat, and Johnny Gaffney round out the rest of the floating body count. The core issue is that the script gives the audience zero reason to care whether any of them make it back to shore. They aren’t unlikable; they are insufferable, shallow, and downright dumb.
The absolute low point of the cast belongs to Lisa Yaro’s character, Brittany. She’s a hyper-sexualized, shallow caricature hunting for her next wealthy mark. Making the only woman of color in the ensemble an outdated, ditz-brained trope is a glaring misstep.
The Inspiration?
I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone on the creative end watched the 2025 movie Dangerous Animals (which was fantastic) and decided that swapping out a badass leading lady for a dull wedding party would make a decent story. Here’s an interesting fact: both movies came from the Independent Film Company. Make of that what you will. Dangerous Animals was a laviathon, real bite, and the other, a shipwreck with a budget the size of a minnow.
Co-written and directed by Jonathan Zuck alongside Joe Leone, Chum plays out like a cheap, bargain-bin attempt. It’s bogged down by atrocious dialogue and zero atmospheric tension. To make matters worse, the visual effects look shockingly cheap, relying on what looks like AI blood rather than convincing practical gore.
The Verdict
If you are looking for a pulse-pounding marine nightmare, do yourself a favor and steer clear of these waters. Chum lands on Digital on August 17. However, this is one voyage best left stranded at sea.
