Chum
June 3rd, 2026
MOVIE: CHUM
STARRING: ALICE EVE, ERIC MICHAEL COLE, JIM KLOCK, ELLE HAYMOND
DIRECTED BY: JONATHAN ZUCK
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 0 Stars (Out of 4)
RATED: R
RUN TIME: 87 MINUTES
Any film critic will tell you that we don’t like hating movies. In fact, we would much prefer that every movie we saw was a good one. The past few weeks have been great for independent cinema, with Obsession crossing $100 million domestically and A24’s Backrooms becoming a massive hit from a YouTube-born director. Not to mention Boots Riley’s imaginative and delightfully loud I Love Boosters, a reminder that artists are still making bold, original movies. Then along comes Chum, a shark-attack movie that cuts every corner, relies on every lazy trick in the book, and delivers nothing of substance. It is easily one of the worst films of 2026. Chum is so painful to watch that swimming with sharks sounds like a more enjoyable way to spend your time.
The premise follows a group of friends vacationing in Greece for the wedding of Tina (Alice Eve) and Tom (Eric Michael Cole). They board a yacht for a leisurely excursion across the Mediterranean Sea—some swimming, great food, drinks, good company, and perhaps even a glimpse of a shark or two. What they don’t expect is that Captain Mackey (Vince Jolivette) is a psychopath who has been chumming the water with blood and provoking a ferocious killer shark.
A setup like this is hardly original. In fact, I began to wonder whether Jonathan Zuck’s film was intentionally bad. Just last year, Dangerous Animals featured a nearly identical premise, elevated by an excellent performance from Jai Courtney, and that film looks like a masterpiece compared to this slop. Beyond its contrived story, Chum is visually hideous and somehow becomes uglier as it goes along. Green-screen photography, AI-generated- or at least AI-looking-imagery, stock footage, and awkward editing constantly pull you out of the experience. If there were a budget for Chum, I would investigate it for tax fraud. Where did the money go? My best guess is the cast, but even they seem stranded by the material.
I wish I were exaggerating when I say a film can be this bad. There are multiple sequences plagued by disjointed audio, endless stock footage of sharks swimming through the ocean, and editing that makes Sharknado look polished. The shark attacks are laughable, the bloodshed is rendered with terrible CGI, and after a while, the story repeats itself until the shark is finally put out of its misery. The entire production feels like a sad waste of resources, effort, and Alice Eve’s talents.
No critic enjoys giving a movie zero stars. It pains me every time. I hope everyone involved with Chum at least had fun making it, got a brief respite from more demanding projects, or was fairly compensated for their work. The reality, however, is that this barely qualifies as a movie. If the director were wise, he would delete every copy, erase all evidence of its existence, and leave Chum to swim with the fishes.
0 STARS
CHUM IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO RENT ON AMAZON PRIME AND OTHER STREAMING PLATFORMS.
Written by: Leo Brady
