Da-dum. Da-dum da-oh wait, wrong movie
12 Days of Terror is a 2004 DocuDrama TV Movie directed by Jack Sholder for Animal Planet and Discovery Channel, based on the accounts of the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks
from the book of the same name by Richard Fernicola (who was also associate producer on the film). It stars Colin Egglesfield, Mark Dexter, Jenna Harrison and John Rhys-Davies.
The story is based on the real-life series of Shark attacks that occurred along the New-Jersey shoreline between the 1st and 12th of July 1916 with five swimmers that were attacked by what is believed to be a juvenile great white shark. The story primarily follows Alex, a lifeguard who witnessed the first attacks and the response by local authorities and scientific experts.
Previews: Trailer
Tropes
- All for Nothing: Just as Stanley pulls Lester to safety, the shark dives up and attacks them both. Stanley dies from his injuries and Lester’s remains are eventually found days after their deaths.
- Based on a True Story: The film is based on true events that happened on the New Jersey shore in the summer of 1916 (obviously it also has many parallels to the Peter Benchley Novel and Steven Spielberg Motion Picture which were likely inspired by the real-life events of 1916).
- Best Friend: Alex's best friend is local businessman Stanley Fisher. But things are more complicated since Stanley is engaged to Alex’s ex-girlfriend, but Alex made it clear he’s happy for their engagement. Once Stanley is killed by the shark, Alex is heartbroken and goes out to help kill the shark. It’s implied that Alex and Alice get back together, but he stills mourns the loss of his friend.
- Cassandra Truth:
- Alex tries to convince the local authorities that it was a shark that was responsible for the attack and that it could happen again.
- Captain is horrified to discover the killer shark moving into fresh waters and tries to warn the whole town, but everyone calls him crazy, until Lester is made the next victim.
- Death of a Child: One of the victims was 11-year-old Lester Stillwell who was attacked by the shark while swimming in Matawan Creek, this is averted in the case of 14-year-old Joseph Dunn who is rescued by Captain.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Charles Vansant calls out to his dog to swim with him at the beach, but the dog refuses to so much as take one step in the water and barks in rapid succession. Then we see why the dog acted so frantic, as his owner is claimed as the shark’s first victim.
- Hazardous Water: The New Jersey coast becomes this after the first shark attack.
- Love Triangle: Alex and Alice were previously in a relationship before they broke up, they still seem to have feelings for each other although Alice is engaged to Alex’s best friend Stanley, despite this the three are still good friends and there are no hard feelings. After Stanley dies from being fatally wounded by the shark it is implied that Alex and Alice may have got together.
- Narrator: The film is narrated by the main character Alex.
- Never the Obvious Suspect: While the shark that is caught in the film is a Juvenile Great White, scientists (both in the film and real-life) have speculated that the real shark responsible for the attacks may have been a Bull Shark, although the mystery still remains open to this day.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Lester’s parents are Forced to Watch as a shark mauls him to death.
- Papa Wolf: After witnessing Lester’s gruesome death, Captain chases the shark downstream and rams his boat into the shark the second it attacks another child. Captain wastes no time in carrying the kid off to a hospital, who ends up becoming the sole survivor of the shark’s attacks.
- Suit with Vested Interests: After the first shark attack the local authorities are hesitant to close the beaches and claim that it was a shark, it's not until the second attack on a lifeguard that they set up steel nets at the beaches and offer a reward for killing the shark.
- The Unsolved Mystery: Although the attacks stopped after a young great white was caught and found with human remains in its stomach. It is still a mystery of whether they caught the shark responsible for the attacks and why the attacks happened in the first place.
- Threatening Shark: Although this is the case for the Shark that attacked the five swimmers (despite experts at the time believing sharks were incapable of attacking humans in shallow water). It should also be recognised that sharks normally don't behave like the shark of the 1916 attacks.
- (For an example of more normal shark behaviour this video shows Craig Ferguson dive with sharks on Shark Week.)
- (For an example of more normal shark behaviour this video shows Craig Ferguson dive with sharks on Shark Week.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Lester’s friends really want to go swim at a nearby lake together, but he points out his working shift isn’t over. His father sees this and jokingly decides that because he’s “overstocked” then Lester must finish early. Lester happily thanks his father and joins his friends at the lake, which just so happen to have a killer shark in its waters, claiming Lester as its next victim. You next see Lester’s parents heartbroken reactions at the dock as they’re witnessing rescuers try to save him but to no avail. His father takes this the worst.
- Works Set in World War I: The events of the movie are set in July, 1916 (one year before America joined the war) the war is only occasionally mentioned but never seen (besides some stock footage at the beginning).
