Sharktopus and Scary Fairy Tales on SyFy

Sharktopus is about to take a bite out of made-for-TV B-movies, as the massive monster is finally brought to life on the SyFy channel. But the sharktopus isn't the only great beast taking over the small screen, as SyFy attempts to turn our Disney dreams into nightmares with scary fairy tales, starting with 'Beauty and the Beast'. So be prepared to be scared, as I don't think Sharktopus will be shying away from the camera like a certain animatronic sea monster we all now and love, and I doubt there will be any charming singing candlesticks in SyFy's 'Beauty and the Beast'.

First of all, to really get ready for the epic awesomeness that will be Sharktopus, you have to know what this mega monster is: a giant half-shark, half-octopus beast. Don't even ask how it ended up that way (I'm sure nuclear waste or a genetic experiment gone wrong will suffice as its origin story), because it doesn't matter. So has the SyFy channel jumped the sharktopus here, or is this a brilliant new direction with its B-movie beasts?

The legendary man behind some of our favorite behemoth beasts, Roger Corman, will be working on the Sharktopus movie, as SyFy director of original movies Karen O'Hara recently tweeted. Apparently right now the two are hashing out the most important plot points of the film, namely, how many mouths Sharktopus will have and how it will kill (maybe it'll be a shark with eight mouths and one tentacle instead of vice versa?). Whatever Sharktopus ends up looking like, if SyFy computer generates him, the viewers will come, and his creation could lead to us seeing more super beast combos in the channel's original movies. Perhaps a crocophant? What about raptoranhas, vampwolves (sparkly and muscular), or the elusive manbearpig? Or we could see a liger...oh wait, Hercules the liger already exists, and he is terrifying.

But it will be awhile before you get to see Sharktopus and his spawn in action, so you'll have to settle for another SyFy beast for now. The network is taking Rocky and Bullwinkle's (hmm... a squirmoose?) fractured fairy tales a step further by making them scary, starting with their version of 'Beauty and the Beast'. In SyFy's 'Beauty and the Beast' story, the Beauty will fittingly be played by Estella Warren. She will have a power of healing that she uses to help the Beast regain his throne and defeat a powerful witch (so this one doesn't seem too off from the original story). However, I have seen some tidbits of info about storylines for some of the other scary fairy tales the network will be airing that are quite a bit different than the original fairy tales on which they are based, including a descendant of Little Red Riding Hood that discovers she's part of a family of werewolf hunters and a grownup Hansel seeking revenge on the cannibalistic witch of the classic (and already somewhat scary) children's fairy tale. 'Beauty and the Beast' will be the first of the five scary fairy tales, airing on February 27th, so be sure to destroy your childhood dream of living the Disney princess life by watching it (and get prepared as another Disney tale is turned terrifying when SyFy takes on 'Aladdin').

As great as the scary fairy tales idea sounds, don't get too excited (this is the SyFy channel we're talking about here). You'll likely end up disappointed by cheesy writing, plot holes, bad special effects, and sub-par acting. However, all of the above are what will make Sharktopus must-see TV.

SOURCES:
http://io9.com/5470224/here-comes-sharktopus
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6100Y720100201