'Sharknado' Makes Landfall

So SyFy has announced that there will be a Sharknado 2. And if you have no idea what a Sharknado is, then you have the chance to wrap your struggling cinematic brain around the concept of airborne sharks this weekend.

Earlier this month, the SyFy channel (which has never been shy about keeping ludicrous z-grade movies alive in the new Millennium) unleashed possibly its most ridiculous torrent of skybound crazy yet: A water spout picks up all the sharks along the California seaboard and throws them at a beach community. Thus, the world's first sharknado was dropped on the heads of unsuspecting TV audiences.

On Friday, Aug. 2, the schlockmeisters at The Asylum and Fathom Events will be screening Sharknado on roughly 200 screens around the US, including the Arbor and the Metropolitan in Austin. Can they make this the next piece of must-see unwatchable cinema? Will it nail the The Room up for good? Can it cure Birdemic? Who knows, but Fathom EVP Shelly Maxwell explained, "Next week’s special midnight showing is a first for Fathom and will answer the age-old question: Who knew sharks could fly?"

If you don't know Sharknado then 1) which social media rock were you under two weeks ago and 2) you don't know the geniuses at The Asylum. The shameless monarchs of the mockbuster, they have been providing shockingly, wonderfully awful CGI-laden horror flicks since 1997. Aside from zero-budget ripoffs of big budget studio flicks (Transmorphers: Fall of Man, anyone?) their stock-in trade has been oversized animals eating humans (Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, 2-Headed Shark Attack, Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus.) Meanwhile, SyFy has cornered the market in weather-related Armageddon (Ice Twisters, Weather Wars, Polar Storm.)

In the ultimate "chocolate in my peanut butter" moment for low budget TV monster movies, the pair mated in some unholy fashion and out burst Sharknado. Maxwell said, "Imagine sharks invading from the skies on 40-foot screens in movie theaters nationwide." That, and Tara Reid.

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Sharknado plays one night only on Aug. 2. See our special screenings pages for listings. Tickets available via www.fathomevents.com.