In the great Italian tradition of the aquatic crime thriller Killer Fish comes Night of the Sharks, part of a handful of European titles made by Treat Williams that also includes Pupi Avati's weirdly underseen The Hideout. Shot in the Domenican Republic, this was the cinematic swan song for Christopher Connelly (Manhattan Baby) and got only minor theatrical distribution in Europe and South America before hitting VHS including a U.S. edition from Media. Buoyed by a dance-friendly and very '80s synth score by Stelvio Cipriani and Williams' usual breezy charm, this is one for fans of the twilight days of Italian genre fare with a welcome cast of familiar faces.

On the Cancun coast, David Ziegler (Williams) and his best friend, Paco (Fargas), take it easy when they aren't running their modest boating business. David's in the middle of getting a reluctant divorce from Liz (Agren), but his life gets far more complicated when his younger brother, James (Mucari), shows up. As it turns out, James has just executed a plan to blackmail the mobsters he works for using incriminating audio records to the White House, and now he has plenty of evidence (mailed in advance to his brother) and a $2 million stash of diamonds. When tragedy understandably strikes, David is put in the crosshairs of mob boss Rosentski (Steiner) and his lackeys. As explosions and chases pile up, David and Paco not only prove adept at oceanic mayhem but have a special relationship with the sharks lurking below.

You won't get a lot of nocturnal sharks here, but the creatures do play a big role in the action-packed final half hour of the film and, for once, get to be the good guys here as they chomp on an assortment of villains. In fact, Williams' shark banter is a highlight here, and it all moves along smoothly enough under the guidance of director and co-writer Tonino Ricci (Panic) using his usual mascot here, character actor Sal Borghese. You could more or less look at this as the last chapter in a stretch of nautical thrillers from Ricci with Cipriani scores including 1978's Bermuda: Cave of the Sharks and the following year's Encounters in the Deep.

Very widely bootlegged on budget DVD over the years, Night of the Sharks looks a lot better than you've seen in before on the 2025 Blu-ray from Severin, available separately or as part of a Freeding Frenzy: The Italian Sharksploitation Collection set with Monster Shark and The Shark Hunter. Either way you also get a CD of the Cipriani score, which will make for fun morning commute accompaniment. The packaging touts it as being scanned from the only uncut 35mm print, and the results are quite nice given the limitations of the source (namely some cloggy blacks especially during the few night scenes). Colors and detail look fine, and the English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo track sounds surprisingly great with peppy separation for the plentiful music and sound effects including lots of ambient beach atmosphere. The film was shot with live sound in English, but the Italian dub is included here as well (in mono); it isn't remotely as dynamic, but nice to have anyway. Optional English SDH or translated subtitles are also provided, and the sole extra is the English international trailer.

Reviewed on July 25, 2025