Sara Paxton and Dustin Milligan appearances on Much Music's New.Music.Live to promote the film 'Shark Night 3D'. (WENN.COM)

On-screen, Shark Night 3D is all about the fear. Off-screen, shooting in the bayou country of Louisiana, it was all about the fun, according to co-stars Sara Paxton and Dustin Milligan.

"It was really exceptional," says the Yellowknife-born Milligan on a trip home to Canada to promote the Friday opening of the horror movie. "One of my favourite shoots of all time!"

"I think what makes our movie a little different," says the Los Angeles-born Paxton, "is that we all got along so well and I hope that that sort of translates onto the screen. We all really cared about each other and I think that's kind of cool. It doesn't happen all the time."

Among other antics, 23-year-old Paxton, 26-year-old Milligan and the entire ensemble of twentysomething friends found themselves spending hours on the bayou in a boat "and no bathroom in sight for miles," Paxton says, "so we got to know each other really well."

"What she is alluding to," Milligan offers, "is that there was a lot of peeing off the side of the boat."

Shark Night 3D plunks a gaggle of university students down on an island in a brackish Louisiana lake near the Gulf of Mexico. As friends, they're on a break from school and ready to water-frolic for a few days at the family mansion of Paxton's character Sara. Trouble is, they suddenly discover the shimmering lake is "infested" with man-eating sharks. How they got there, and what makes them so ferocious, is part of the "mystery" of the plot, although most secrets are given away in the trailer.

Sharks are obviously the fear factor here. Shark-horror movies, from Steven Spielberg's Jaws to the Roger Corman-created Sharktopus, are in a sub-genre of their own. Some are serious scare dramas, like Jaws. Some are comedies, like Sharktopus.

"It is very easy to get ridiculous with that animal," Milligan says. "I think maybe people want to downplay how terrifying they are, so they make it kind of crazy."

Shark Night 3D is kind of crazy, with its Friday the 13th group of young victims. "Here's the thing," Milligan continues, "the movie demonizes sharks but these sharks, they have an ulterior motive." Then there is the human backstory that explains how ocean dwellers ply the waters of an inland lake. The sharks, Milligan says, are not the real villains here.

"That was something we were conscious of: We don't want to have people go out and get revenge against sharks. The idea is: Stay away from them."

Paxton picks up the conversation: "But the idea also is: This is just a movie!"

Milligan again: "A really, really good movie!"

That remains to be seen. Audiences have not weighed in yet and shark lovers could hate a movie that shows these animals just as mindless killing machines. Milligan and Paxton want to remind us, however, that this is a horror movie and not a documentary.

"Everyone is afraid of sharks," Paxton says. "Generally," Milligan adds, "most people are afraid of what they can't see or what could be lurking underneath. So I think that is essentially what the shark movie preys upon, the fear of what's in the water."

"I concur with that," Paxton says. "And scary movies: Why do people go to see them? Like Dustin said, with sharks, you don't know what's lurking beneath you and there is an instinctive fear that, not everyone, but most people have. Sharks are mysterious animals. They've had a lot of time to perfect what they do." And she does call them "killing machines" that will terrify audiences.

As a result, Shark Night 3D could become a perfect date movie for young couples, Paxton says. "Yeah, it's fun to be scared, have an adrenaline rush and scream with a whole group of people in a theatre. You'll want to sort of cuddle up."

bruce.kirkland@sunmedia.ca

 

More Artists