Marine biologist Steven McKray (Casper Van Dien) travels to Port Amanzi, a small fishing village in Africa, after receiving an email from fellow biologist Marc DeSantis (Cordell McQueen) asking for his help dealing with a sudden increase in deadly shark attacks. When Steven arrives in Amanzi, however, he learns that Marc has been killed by a shark, leaving only him and Marc's sister Corine (Jenny McShane) to investigate. What they find may prove to be deadlier than the sharks.
Shark Attack is a made-for-television film based on a screenplay written by Scott Devine and William Hooke. It was followed by three sequels: Shark Attack 2 (2000) (2000), Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (2002) (2002) and Shark Zone (2003) (2003).
Dr Miles Craven (Bentley Mitchum) of the Amanzi Marine Research Centre was using thumpers to attract the sharks into Koisi Lagoon in order to feed them with synthetic growth hormones to accelerate their growth, but the steroids were destroying their brains and deforming their livers, reducing them to brain-stem feeding-machines who can't distinguish between being hungry and not being hungry, so they're hungry all the time. After depleting the fish in the surrounding waters, the sharks began going after people as a food source.
In the movie, a "thumper" is a low-end frequency modulator that emits a signal similar to a fish in trouble, which attracts sharks like a dinner bell.
Based on the fact that the shark's immune system is extremely resilient to disease, Craven theorized that he could harness the sharks' serum to create a medicine that could cure cancer in humans.
After Steven and Mani () alert the local fishermen about the discovery of oil, Steven heads to Craven's laboratory, as planned, in order to exchange the computer disk for Corine. Instead of being greeted by Craven, however, Steven is met by the police chief (Chris Olley) and his thugs along with local financier and land developer Lawrence Rhodes (Ernie Hudson), who admits that he was supporting Craven's research, not because it was his wife's pet project, but because oil had been discovered in the lagoon. It was his plan to foreclose on Amanzi's businesses and take ownership of the port while making a deal with a British Offshore Petroleum Company. He also admits to stealing Craven's thumpers and planting them along the beach in order to attract the sharks and scare off the people. Meanwhile, Mani is leading the fishermen to the laboratory. A fight breaks out, Craven is killed with a speargun, and Rhodes escapes in a helicopter. Steven grabs onto the copter as it lifts off and manages to knock Rhodes into the lagoon below before jumping in after him. Immediately, the sharks hone in on them while they try to swim towards a buoy and climb on it for refuge. Rhodes pulls Steven off the buoy, but Steven manages to climb back on and tries unsuccessfully to help Rhodes get on it...to no avail. The sharks get Rhodes. In the final scenes, Steven and Corine prepare to leave Amanzi. Steven says goodbye to Mani and promises the fishermen that he will return with a team to help with the sharks. Corine hints that she would like to get on the team and asks Steven if he'll give her a recommendation. He agrees, and they finally kiss.
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