When Hurricane David moves up the Mexican coast toward southern California, it brings with it massive waves, torrential rains, and a huge influx of man-eating sharks. Santa Monica Pier restaurant owner, surfing legend Finley "Fin" Shepard (Ian Ziering), fearing for the safety of his estranged wife April (Tara Reid) and daughter Candice (Heather Jocelyn Blair), tries to make it to their house in Beverly Hills. Accompanied by his Tasmanian friend Baz Hogan (Jaason Simmons), waitress Nova Clarke (Cassandra Scerbo), and steady bar customer George (John Heard) (and George's bar stool), the four of them brave floods that bring sharks up through the sewers and waterspouts (tornadoes over the ocean) that rain sharks from the sky.
Sharknado is a made-for-television disaster film based on a screenplay by Thunder Levin. It was followed by Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014) (2014), Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015) (2015), Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens (2016) (2016), and Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017) (2017).
Yes, there are several scenes that seem to pay homage to the mother of all shark movies, Jaws (1975) (1975). For example, when the crowds are scrambling to get off the Santa Monica Pier, there is a scene where Baz shoves an oxygen tank down a shark's mouth and Fin blows it up with gunshot, similar to a scene in Jaws. In another scene, Nova compares scars with Fin's son Matt (Charles Hittinger) in a manner reminiscent of Quint (Robert Shaw) and Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) on the Orca one-upping each other with their scars. This is followed by Nova's explanation of how she got the scar and why she is afraid of sharks. She ends by saying "Six people went into the water and one little girl came out. The sharks took the rest." just like Quint's description of the Indianapolis. Finally, toward the end of the movie, when Matt and Nova are flying over the waterspouts in a helicopter, Nova exclaims, "We're gonna need a bigger chopper" (Jaws: "You're gonna need a bigger boat").
Matt and Nova's attempt to drop bombs into the tornadoes, on the idea that the bombs will kill the sharks and also equalize the mixture of warm and cold air that created the waterspouts, proves successful on the first two of the three tornadoes. While Fin shoots the sharks as they fall from the sky, Matt and Nova go after the third and largest tornado, but the bomb doesn't land right and Nova falls out of the chopper. On the way down, she is gulped up by a large shark. On the ground, Fin drives the bomb-laden Humvee into the third tornado, jumping out just as the Humvee drives into it. The explosion neutralizes the tornado, but Fin is swallowed by a great white as the sharks begin to fall from the sky. Fortunately, Fin was carrying a chainsaw and, moments later, he is able to saw himself out of the shark's belly. He reaches back in and pulls out a blood-covered but still alive Nova. In the final scene, Matt asks Nova about her real name, and she replies, "Jenny Lynn." April kisses Fin, and the four of them turn to look over the shark-covered tarmac.
No. Waterspouts and hurricanes have, however, deposited many smaller animals, like frogs and fish, in populated areas. See here.
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