Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives is as TV Movie Mockumentary which was part of Shark Week 2013 on the Discovery Channel, often considered a Spiritual Successor to Mermaids: The Body Found by Animal Planet.
The story centers around a group of scientists trying figure what is the cause for a ship sinking off the coast of South Africa, leading to them to uncover evidence that the creature responsible could in fact be the giant prehistoric shark known as megalodon.
The special was noteworthy for facing heavy criticism because the disclaimers that the Mockumentary was fictional were very brief and not very clear but also having very high ratings.
In the UK the special was narrated by Mark Strong
This film provides examples of:
- Found Footage Films: The mockumentary included a few pieces of found footage that feature Megalodon sightings (such as a deep sea camera and a rescue helicopter) as well as the found footage from the ship that was sunk.
- Ignored Expert: Colin Drake is presented as this, he believes that the Megalodon still exists but is dismissed by most of his colleagues.
- Prehistoric Monster: The megalodon, a gigantic prehistoric shark, is the focus of the mockumentary.
- Shark Fin of Doom: Several pieces of "evidence" used to identify the Megalodon are photos which include the sharkâs fin and other objects for scale (whales, submarines etc.)
- Threatening Shark: The Megalodon, a giant prehistoric shark that manages to make a fully grown great white look like an anchovy by comparison is painted as a giant bloodthirsty monster stalking the ocean.
