Hot Spring Shark Attack

Every backer who chipped in a thousand yen bought one more shark on screen, and 432 such pledges came in. That's partly how 'Hot Spring Shark Attack' got made, an independent Japanese production written and directed by Morihito Inoue, who had already won a national contest for independent monster films two years running. The idea came from producer Masayuki Nagata, who wanted to bring tourists to Atami, the Shizuoka spa town he lives in, by crossing shark movies with tokusatsu, the craft of miniatures and rubber suits that made Godzilla famous.

In Atsumi, a seaside town that bills itself as the Monaco of the East, people soaking in the hot springs start to vanish, and their bodies later wash up at sea, torn apart by sharks. Police chief Tsuka works out that the culprits are a prehistoric species brought back to life, with skeletons so flexible they slip through the spa pipes and can even swim through puddles in the street.

Mayor Kanichi Mangan won't hear of closing the baths, because he's about to open a huge tourist resort being built by a giant 3D printer. Dr Kose, a marine biologist more thrilled than scared, names the creatures Carcharodon fons calidus. As influencers flock to town to film themselves hunting them, the mayor and the scientist end up teaming up with an unlikely recruit: Maccho, a bodybuilder who fights sharks with his fists.

Kiyobumi Kaneko plays Chief Tsuka, Takuya Fujimura the mayor, Yuu Nakanishi the doctor and Sumiya Shiina the muscle man Maccho. The location work was shot in Atami in 2023, while the miniatures and gunpowder explosions were filmed in Sukagawa, hometown of Eiji Tsuburaya, the father of Japanese special effects. Inoue makes no secret of what he owes to 'Jaws' by Steven Spielberg: there's a mayor who puts tourism before safety, a shark hunter and even John Williams' theme.

In 2024 it won the audience award at the Tokyo International Shark Film Festival, and that autumn it played at the San Sebastián Horror and Fantasy Film Festival in Spain. Utopia released it in the United States in July 2025, in cinemas and on demand on the same day. Critics were split: many warmed to its enthusiasm and handmade effects, while others tired of a joke that keeps repeating itself. A sequel, shot in Kumamoto, opened in Japanese cinemas in September 2026.

• Horror
• Comedy
• Action