Title – Thrash (2026)

Director – Tommy Wirkola (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters)

Cast – Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak, Djimon Hounsou, Matt Nable, Stacy Clausen

Plot – When a large-scale hurricane makes landfall on a small coastal town, residents quickly discover that flash flooding and other natural disasters are the least of their worries.  

“If the flood doesn’t kill you…”

Review by Eddie on 06/05/2026

It’s convenient that Netflix’s latest direct to streaming release is titled Thrash as it feels like its leading into its more fitting title, Trash.

The latest film in a long line of predecessors to centre around a shark/sharks terrorising unsuspecting human victims, this time in the middle of a life-threatening hurricane that has decimated a small American town, Tommy Wirkola’s latest effort, that fits very much in the director’s wheelhouse alongside the likes of Violent Night and Dead Snow, is a film that isn’t intended to be taken seriously but that doesn’t mean it needed to be this level of cringe.

Produced by Adam McKay, with the Anchorman and Step Brothers kingpin’s presence making it even more clear that Thrash lends itself more to the comedic side of things rather than horror or thriller, but there’s a distinct lack of personality or imagination on show here, meaning this Australian shot genre ride is more boring than anything, not even bad enough like Sharknado to make us enjoy our trashy trip.

With a barebones story that breaks down to a bunch of sharks making their way into a flooded township where Phoebe Dynevor’s pregnant Lisa, Whitney Peak’s grieving Dakota, Stacy Clausen and his fostered siblings and Djimon Hounsou’s Dr. Dale Edwards are all stuck in, Thrash takes a Crawl like approach to proceedings as we are mostly confined to small-scale locales as some fishy friends meander about nearby looking for some meaty snacks.

There’s little glimmers found in the film that arguably showcase a B-movie delight that might have been, Matt Nable’s fiery foster parent, some fun lines of dialogue (a late film speech by Hounsou harkening back to his childhood is an all-timer) and some potentially tension riddled shark encounters are highlights and help the film from sinking to extra dark depths but overall this sub-90 minute feature is hard to swallow.

With some minor moments that make one think we could be in for a Deep Blue Sea or Lake Placid like guilty pleasure or even a z-grade delicacy such as Sharknado or Jaws: The Revenge, Thrash isn’t the worst film of its kind in recent time but it’s a disappointingly dull and lifeless one without a redeeming character making it a feature that should’ve done better with the ingredients at its disposal.

Final Say –

There are perhaps worse options for those looking for a quick and mindless streaming distraction but despite some fun scatterings found throughout, Thrash is mostly a D.O.A shark flick that is not worth a dive into the waters of Netflix’s filler pool.

1 1/2 unconventional water births out of 5