You probably didn’t see “Sharknado,”  a made-for-cable movie on the SyFy channel last night.  I didn’t either and we should probably consider ourselves fortunate to have missed it. Or maybe not.  It has been hard to ignore, however, as a “Sharknado” frenzy erupted on social media, particularly Twitter.   According to Alexander Abad-Santos writing in Atlantic Wire, the number of mentions the movie received on Twitter rivaled those of the presidential debates last year.  According to Amar Toor, writing in the Verge blog, “At its peak, the film was generating more than 5,000 tweets per minute,….undoubtedly impressive for a low-budget cable movie about airborne killer sharks.”  It was also huge on Google Trends, rocketing to the #2 spot.  The movie itself apparently only attracted between 1 and 2 million viewers.  Nevertheless, it made quite a splash on the internet.

‘Sharknado’ Was the Only Thing Worth Talking About Last Night

So, what is “Sharknado” about?  The title apparently summarizes the entire plot. It is a movie about a huge tornado that sucks sharks out of the ocean — and then hurls them out of the sky and onto the sidewalks of Los Angeles.  It stars Tara Reid and Ian Ziering and may indeed rank way up in the “so bad, it is good” category of wretched “B” movies.

Sharknado (2013) Trailer

But what sets  “Sharknado” apart from so many other badly made shark horror movies that have spawned recently in the fetid pools of cable television programming?  How is it so much better or worse than Dinoshark, Sharktopus, Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus , Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, Swamp Shark, Snow Shark, Sand Sharks, 2 Headed Shark Attack and on, and on and on?

Having not seen any of these movies, I have no answer, though it does appear that “Sharknado” has crossed a threshold of campy badness/goodness that these other finned pretenders can only dream of.

Allahpundit of the Hot Air blog comments: After 100 years of filmmaking, we’ve reached the summit. And sincerely, Syfy deserves credit for it. Anyone can make an unwatchably stupid, terrible movie; making a stupid, terrible movie that’s compulsively watchable is sufficiently difficult that I’d say it qualifies as art. This is the apotheosis of schlock. Recognize the divine when you’re in its presence.