Terror Beneath the Sea

In AGENT X-2: OPERATION UNDERWATER, a mad scientist is bent on world domination through his army of cyborg-mutant fish-men. Only Sonny Chiba and his scuba partner can save the Earth from hideous totalitarian control.

They'll have to stay strong as they encounter the scientist's terrible gun-toting sardines!

This movie is loaded with enough cheeeze to fill 10 nuclear submarines! Is it absurd? Of course, but it's also highly entertaining...

Okay Japanese rubber suit/monster flick. Mad scientist plans to rule the world with his fishmen/water cyborgs from his underwater base. Sonny Chiba in an early role is the hero and American Peggy Neal plays the girl in trouble. Best viewed late at night with Attack of the Mushroom People.

I like the simplicity of it. You couldn't intentionally make a movie like this; it's just some kind of magic that falls into place, but the audience has to go along with this kind of accidental wackiness or it will fail to entertain.

While this movie has all the elements that make old sci-fi movies suck,it somehow doesn't suck. The creature from the black lagoon has been cloned and is now in Japan,so of course two reporters must investigate.They immediately go scuba diving because what is a movie without scuba diving?I swear I can't remember the last time I saw a movie without scuba diving.Of course one of the reporters is a woman and wouldn't you know it...she sees the monster first.Two times when the camera cuts to him it's extremely clear that he's not underwater.As the woman swims away they superimpose the monster over her.Not content with nearly being killed, they must investigate further.That's when they discover that a guy has figured out how to transform humans into any form he wants.He explains how but then they just put what looks like a few human organs sewn together into a guy and the transformation begins.It's long,tedious and boring and the woman gasps constantly at the extremely slow process.At one point the guy even gets tiger feet before becoming a CFTBL clone. Did I mention that this guy has made a whole army of these things? And that he calls them cyborgs even though they have nothing robotic about them?And that he controls the entire army with a big knob that has settings like "work" and "fight"?And when he needs them all to stop he has to make a pa announcement so the guy standing next to him can turn the knob. I'm sure I didn't mention that he looks like Kevin Spacey in sunglasses.How do I even know who that is?? You would think that one of the monsters having his armpit "skin" ripped open would be the funniest thing in the movie but you'd be wrong.The funniest, and therefore best part of the movie, is all the underwater fire.What?I didn't mention that most of the movie takes place under water?Or that this guy has built his own Epcot center in the ocean? Doesn't matter. All that matters is this movie has more underwater fire than you will see everywhere else for as long as you live.

This is no CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, but I had extremely low expectations going in. The movie was a little better than I anticipated, but not by much.

The film concerns two journalists who realize there is something amiss going on in the waters off of Japan when they view an informational film done by the military and see something that they shouldn't. When they try to investigate, they unwillingly become part of a mad scientist's master plan to build and rule an underwater kingdom.

There are a variety of actors in TERROR BENEATH THE SEA, both Japanese and non-Japanese. Most of the film is dubbed which can always lend itself to overacting a bit - there is no exception here. I also found that the roles were somewhat one dimensional - the mad scientist was the stereotypical mad scientist (complete with dark sunglasses), the lead female was the stereotypical woman from the 60's (outside of having a job) who looked to her man to save her and whined and cried a lot, the military guys were as formal as you would expect, etc. The monsters were fairly well done for the time and not as bad as some others I've seen but their costumes were obviously cheaply made. Interestingly, throughout most of the film they are programmed to act in a certain way, but towards the end, they have a mind of their own.

The plot line is rather slow and the special effects were really saved for the end of the film. There are lots of underwater explosions that were actually pretty well done for the time although some other reviewers would disagree. The other effects were really chintzy though. The soundtrack was the typical "mod" type common in the 1960's.

This is really a movie for either kids or fans of old Japanese monster movies. I wouldn't be able to recommend it to a horror fan.