The cinematic success of the horror-comedyCocaine Bearbecame responsible for many copy-cat movies featuring beasts of the animal kingdom getting high and going on various rampages across cities, swamps and even out in the ocean. However, one of those movies,Cocaine Shark, has made a surprising leap from the screen to real-world newsreels, as it seems sharks off the coast of Brazil are testing positive for the Class-A drug.
Cocaine Sharkis an extremely silly and exaggerated story of fish becoming vicious killing machines after an explosion at a lab. The resulting movie is filled with the kind of CGI that can be generated for free online these days, and is purely for fans of “bad” movies. However, the news that all 13 sharpnose sharks used ina study by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazilhave been found to contain up to 100 times the concentration of cocaine of animals in other studies, is not nearly as entertaining. Instead, it is a harsh truth about the way humans impact the natural world.
Cocaine Bear
Keri Russell and Ray Liotta Will Fight a Drug-Fueled Grizzly in Elizabeth Banks' upcoming thriller Cocaine Bear.
Research has claimed for a long time that the drugs abandoned by smugglers in the oceans around Florida, Central and South America have had a detrimental effect on aquatic wildlife in the area. Now, the latest report based on tests carried out on 13 sharks that were caught by fishing vessels has seen all of its subjects testing positive for drugs. Tests carried out on the muscle and liver tissue of the fish saw muscle samples in particular showing extraordinary levels of drugs being present. However, it is not currently known exactly how the sharks are actually impacted by their drugged state, as the report does not go into this level of detail.
Cocaine Animal Movies Became Big Business in 2023
Along with a general boom in low-budget horror movies, films centering on the results of wild animals coming into contact with cocaine and other drugs became a strange obsession in 2023. Instigated bythe hugely successful Elizabeth Banks movie,Cocaine Bear, it took no time for films such asMeth-Gator, Crackcoon, andCocaine Sharkto surface on VOD and streaming platforms in their dozens.
WhileCocaine Bearturned out to be a surprisingly entertaining horror movie, as far-fetched it may have been, the wave of similar movies that followed became increasingly ridiculous.Cocaine Sharkfared a little better than most, even if only three Rotten Tomatoes critics bothered to review it (and only one of them liked it). For audiences though, the film was worth a 50% approval rating, which may not seem that great, but compared to the single-figure scores that many of these movies generated, it was almost Oscar-worthy.
Cocaine Bear: Where You Know the Cast From
Cocaine Bear was a commercial success, and just good fun despite its wacky style. Here’s where you know its cast from.
While the fad of “cocaine” movies seems to have lost its buzz a year on, there wasoriginally a chance thatCocaine Bearcould have a sequel. While it is still to be seen if that happens or not, it looks like the real world is stepping up to fill a gap left by the dwindling number of these movies, by delivering the animal kingdom’s very own version ofTrainspotting.
Cocaine Sharkis currently streaming on Hoopla and Tubi.
