Sharks! Tornados! Watch the Sharknado Marathon on SYFY

SYFY started a phenomenon 10 years ago when they debuted their original film Sharknado on July 11. Now they are acknowledging the importance of the made for tv movie by hosting a celebratory marathon of Sharknado and its five sequels.

Nothing says summer for a horror fan like a film about deadly sharks, right? Jaws set the bar high in 1975, but true fans don’t necessarily expect high quality from shark films…they love ’em all, whether they have great special effects or bad CGI.

Although Sharknado wasn’t a huge success out of the gate, with less viewers than most SYFY films, it quickly began to trend on social media, and received an encore airing  on July 18, then another on July 27. Each of those two airings gained even more viewers than the premiere.

Obviously, a lot of people hate it and make fun of it, but I think they are missing the point. Does it have deep, insightful plot? No. Does it have fantastic practical special effects? Uh, no. Is it realistic? HELL, no. But it is a lot of fun to watch!

I only recently watched it myself, but I was thoroughly entertained, and I believe that’s the whole point of Sharknado. You would be a fool to expect an entirely serious film based on the synopsis itself anyway. Set in Los Angeles, the storyline presents us with a waterspout that hits land, bringing with it hundreds of sharks. When they fly through the air and swim in the flooded freeways, they bite people as our group of heroes hatch a plan to stop subsequent shark-filled waterspouts from making landfall.

Lead actors Ian Ziering and Tara Reid appeared in all six films as Fin and April, who follow later shark-infested tornados all over the globe. One of them even features Fin travelling through time in an effort to conquer the very first of the toothy weather patterns.

The SYFY Sharknado Marathon begins on July 18 at noon ET, but if you want to catch them all in order, tune in at 6:00 p.m. Here’s the schedule:

12:00 p.m. – Sharknado: The 4th Awakens

2:00 p.m. – Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!

4:00 p.m. – Sharknado 2: The Second One

6:00 p.m. – Sharknado

8:00 p.m. – Sharknado 2: the Second One

10:00 p.m. – Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!

12:00 a.m. – Sharknado: The 4th Awakens

2:00 a.m. – Sharknado 5: Global Swarming

4:00 a.m. – The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time

For film highlights and behind the scenes info, visit the SYFY website. You can also join in on the social media conversation by following @SYFY on Twitter and Instagram.