There are some movie titles that tell you exactly what you’re getting into. Sharknado promised tornadoes with sharks. Snakes on a Plane delivered snakes. On a plane. But Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws? That title alone sounds like a drunken game of Mad Libs gone rogue. It has everything — ghosts, sharks, cities, and apparently a sequel no one asked for.
Yet against all odds, directors Andrew Todd and Johnny Hall managed to make a movie even stranger than its title. This 2015 New Zealand supernatural horror “drama” (a term used here more loosely than a shark’s jaw) is not a parody, not a comedy, and not connected in any way to SyFy’s Ghost Shark. It’s a completely serious film about an invisible undead shark terrorizing Auckland.
If that sentence made you laugh, congratulations — you’ve already had more fun than the film’s 90-minute runtime.
The Plot: Ghost Shark Returns (Except It Never Existed Before)
Despite the “2” in the title, Ghost Shark 2 is not a sequel. It’s a spiritual continuation of an idea that never actually happened — sort of like if someone made Titanic II: Atlantis Boogaloo and just told you to roll with it.
The story follows Mayor Jack Broody (Campbell Cooley), who’s struggling to keep his city together after a ghost shark begins terrorizing Auckland. Yes, a ghost shark. Not a regular shark. Not even a zombie shark. This is a shark that’s both dead and supernatural — the aquatic version of Casper if Casper ate surfers and ruined the local economy.
Luckily, Broody has an ally: Tom Logan (Johnny Hall), an “expert ghost shark hunter,” which is somehow a real job in this universe. Together, they must stop the vengeful spirit of a shark from eating its way through urban infrastructure.
If that plot sounds ridiculous, just wait until you see how seriously the movie takes it. Everyone acts like this is Jaws meets Schindler’s List, solemnly delivering lines like:
“It’s not just a shark… it’s everything we’ve done wrong.”
What does that mean? No one knows. But it sounds deep, so we’ll allow it.
The Tone: Deadly Serious, Tragically Hilarious
Here’s the real magic of Ghost Shark 2: it refuses to be self-aware. This is not a campy, winking satire of bad creature features. It’s played entirely straight, as if the filmmakers genuinely believed they were crafting an emotional urban thriller about redemption, trauma, and spectral sea life.
The result is like watching a mockumentary where the mock never arrived. Every scene teeters on the edge of absurdity — from heartfelt monologues about “the spirit of the sea” to the mayor’s tearful confession that the ghost shark “represents the city’s soul.”
At one point, a character literally says, “You can’t fight what you can’t see,” before being eaten by nothing. It’s almost art.
You get the feeling that the entire cast was told this was their Oscar moment. And to their credit, they commit. Campbell Cooley delivers his lines with Shakespearean gravitas. Johnny Hall looks perpetually haunted, as though he’s seen things no man should — which, considering the title, is technically true.
The Shark: Blink and You’ll Miss It (Because It’s a Ghost)
Let’s talk about the shark, the titular phantom fish, the reason this cinematic fever dream exists.
The first problem is obvious: you can’t see it. Ever. The ghost shark, being incorporeal and invisible, rarely appears onscreen. When it does, it’s either a bad CGI blur or just… splashes in the water. Sometimes it’s represented by a shaky camera and a scream, which feels less like horror and more like a shark having stage fright.
There are no practical effects, no terrifying attacks, not even a good jump scare. Instead, the movie relies on characters dramatically yelling things like, “It’s here!” and “Run! It’s in the fountain!”
Watching this invisible predator menace people is like watching a mime perform Jaws.
The only real clue that the shark has struck is when someone gets splashed with water and falls over. It’s the least threatening apex predator in cinematic history — a poltergeist with a swim bladder.
The Characters: Emotionally Shipwrecked
Every good disaster needs survivors, and Ghost Shark 2 gives us a collection of confused citizens and vaguely traumatized heroes who look like they wandered in from a community theater production of The Walking Dead.
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Mayor Jack Broody (Campbell Cooley): Imagine a man trying to balance civic duty with the knowledge that a supernatural fish is haunting his coastline. He’s the mayor New Zealand deserves — exhausted, sweaty, and perpetually shouting, “We need to shut down the beaches!” like it’s still 1975.
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Tom Logan (Johnny Hall): The world’s only professional ghost shark hunter, who never explains how one hunts a ghost. Does he use holy water? An exorcism net? His main weapon seems to be brooding.
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Emily Morgan (Kathleen Burns): The film’s designated “scientist” and emotional anchor, who spends most of the movie looking at sonar screens and whispering, “It’s changing.” Whatever “it” is.
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David Farrier (as himself): The real-life journalist cameoing in a movie about spectral sea predators. He looks appropriately confused — which might be the best acting in the film.
There’s also a subplot involving a tragic backstory about the mayor’s past mistakes with the first ghost shark, which, again, does not exist. But don’t let continuity stop you from having feelings.
The Cinematography: Murky Depths, Murkier Direction
Shot primarily in Auckland, Ghost Shark 2 has all the production value of a tourism ad filmed during a fog machine malfunction. The camera wobbles, the lighting alternates between “too dark” and “apocalypse at noon,” and the editing feels like someone was trying to exorcise the footage itself.
The special effects are equally… well, special. The shark attacks are achieved through the time-honored tradition of splashing a bucket of water at the actors and having them flail like they just stepped on a Lego. Occasionally, we see blurry CGI fins gliding through asphalt or sky. Yes, this shark swims through air. It’s the Aquatic Grim Reaper, and it’s apparently unionized.
If Steven Spielberg saw this movie, he’d sue on behalf of all aquatic predators.
The Music: Jaws Redux on a Casio Keyboard
The score deserves its own obituary. It’s clear someone tried to emulate Jaws’ iconic two-note tension, but it sounds more like a ringtone from 2003. During “dramatic” moments, the music swells into what can only be described as haunted elevator jazz.
There’s one track that plays whenever the shark “attacks” — a low rumble mixed with whale sounds and maybe a man burping underwater. It’s deeply unsettling, but not in the way they intended.
The Message: Grief, Guilt, and Ghost Fish
Believe it or not, Ghost Shark 2 tries to say something profound. It’s a story about loss, trauma, and redemption — except all of that is buried beneath layers of absurdity. The mayor’s quest to defeat the shark mirrors his guilt over letting it destroy the city once before (again, a nonexistent event).
In a better movie, this could’ve been compelling. Here, it feels like watching someone give a TED Talk about climate change while being eaten by a transparent guppy.
The Verdict: So Bad It Transcends the Living
Watching Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws is like being haunted by a film that died halfway through production. It’s not scary, it’s not funny, and it’s not even entertaining in a “so-bad-it’s-good” way — it’s so-bad-it’s-existential. You begin to question reality. Are you watching the movie, or is the movie watching you?
It’s an unintentional parody wrapped in melodrama, coated in digital fog. It takes itself so seriously that it loops back around to comedy, then tragedy, then back to confusion.
Final Score: 2/10
Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws proves that the only thing deadlier than a ghost shark is misplaced sincerity. A movie that wanted to be Jaws for the afterlife but ended up as Waterworld for masochists. The only true horror is realizing they might make a Ghost Shark 3.
