This was a total let down. I was expecting something either truly over the top or something so bad that it was good, but director Ovidio Assonitis just sails right down the middle with a Jaws rip-off that is mostly dull, with the odd stupid scene to almost keep you awake.
Our aquatic nemesis this time around comes in the form of a mutated octopus, somehow changed into a man-eating monster by some sort of industrial, experimental tunnel (didn't quite catch that). It starts off by eating a baby and a sailor and the local police, plus nosy reporter John Huston, are baffled by the state of the bodies. You know the drill. Giant sea monster. Shady company covering up its errors (run by Henry Fonda of all people). Marine expert brought in to sort things out. Local authorities trying to stop public learning of monster in order to go ahead with big event (these days they would have been clapping their hands together with glee at all the money they'd save for cancelling).
There. That saved a few paragraphs, now let's look at some other details of the film. For some reason, John Huston lives with his sister Shelly Winters, and Shelly is divorced with a young son and his mate who are both taking part in the forthcoming Regatta. That whole scenario there smacked more of a US disaster film than an Italian rip-off film. Henry Fonda doesn't do much at all and unless I fell asleep, and may very well have done, the whole plot about the company creating the mutated octopus just kind of wafted away like a fart.
There are some laughs to be had, however, and not from that crappy comedian they have entertaining the crowd before the regatta (what was that all about?). First off, there's the big fat guy from Strip Nude For Your Killer going swimming while a guy false scares him twice (complete with dramatic music), only for the octopus to grab hold of him and stick his feet out of the water upside down like it was playing pee-a-boo with Sherry Buchanan. Before eating her too. I also burst out laughing when the authorities finally decide to stop the regatta after its already started by flying around in a helicopter with a tiny sign that says 'danger: go back'. The film cheated at this point by making me think the octopus had eaten every single person in the regatta, which would have been a much better result than the single person it actually at.
Best of all however was Bo Hopkins as the Orca whisperer. Here he gives a dramatic pep-talk to his two pet killer whales before they go into battle against the octopus in a sequence that seemed to last about a week. The speech was pretty funny though. Not enough to save the film.
So, boring then. Strange freeze frames here and there two which made me think the version I was watching was glitching.
