Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 2013
Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives
Buy Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives' is a 2013 film purported as a documentary by the Discovery Channel, about the potential survival of the prehistoric shark. The story revolves numerous videos, photographs, and firsthand encounters with megalodon, and an ensuing investigation that points to the involvement of the prehistoric species, despite the long-held belief of its extinction. The film is presented as a factual documentary that includes accounts of "professionals" in various fields such as marine biology. Soon after the film premiered however, the "documentary" was swiftly debunked as a fictional production with actors posing as scientists, accompanied by "evidence" which was completely manufactured. It wasn't until public outrage had followed that the network was forced to add brief disclaimers at the beginning and end, indicating the program is in fact fictional.
The show, similar to the Animal Planet's pseudo-documentary 'Mermaids: The Body Found', came under heavy criticism by both scientists and viewers due to the blatant attempt to present something fictional as a documentary. Despite the disclaimers, viewers were offended that a docufiction would be aired on Discovery Channelthe preeminent US network for producing educational and credible scientific programs.
'Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives' ranks as the biggest Shark Week show to date, with 4.8 million viewers. Much of the infamy it gained from this was mostly backlash at the network itself, though the host Brian Switek said that the film "gave science communicators like me an easy target". The special received a sequel titled 'Megalodon: The New Evidence'. During Shark Week 2018, Discovery aired 'Megalodon: Fact vs. Fiction', a new special with experts that reflects on the original.
See also
* Shark Week
** 'Ocean of Fear'
** 'Blood in the Water'
** 'Capsized: Blood in the Water'
* 'The Last Dragon', a similar program airing on Animal Planet that attempted to describe dragons in a scientific manner.
References
Buy Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 2013