Barracuda

I would love to hear the story behind how Barracuda got made. My guess is this: someone penned a land-based thriller entitled "The Lucifer Project" (which is the movies' subtitle) that was about a government conspiracy to control the populace through blood sugar manipulation. The film started pre-production, but someone said "hey, this movie called 'Jaws' was really successful three years ago and now I hear this new one called 'Piranha' is also going to do well. How about we change the title to 'Barracuda' and throw in a few scenes of hypoglycemic fish attacking divers to see if we can make more money".

The fish stuff really is that obvious of an afterthought.

If you attempt to watch Barracuda seriously, it's incredibly bad on many levels: cheesy acting, bizarre plot twists, a hilariously inept police force (complete with the fat comedy relief character) and an ending scene that strives hard for the bleakness that was so fashionable in the late 70s but only ends up being kind of funny instead.

But I will say this, if you're looking for a movie to put on with friends, maybe with a little drink, and run your own MST3K style commentary over the top, Barracuda is an absolute gem. My wife and I had a riot watching it. Unlike a lot of the intentionally bad SyFy channel movies (like Sharknado) that come across as manipulative attempts to draw crowds through corniness, Barracuda is an *actual* bad movie, not a manufactured one, and thus is much more charming and fun to experience.

When I put Barracuda on Netflix Streaming after getting home from a long train trip, I was not expecting much, just your basic Jaws rip off with some cheap gore. To my surprise, although it was definitely a cash in on Spielberg's epic, it was still a fun, interesting movie.

The plot, at least initially, is what you'd expect. Killer barracuda suddenly begin attacking swimmers at a Florida beach, sparking an investigation by a local sheriff and a scientist. Things get interesting when the investigation uncovers a conspiracy.

Barracuda delivers all the gore you would expect from a Jaws knock off, but it also features elements that raise it to above average status. In particular, the scientist protagonist acts like an actual scientist, rather than the typical doom sayer we see in these movies. He initially expresses skepticism that barracuda could be behind all of the attacks and looks for evidence, like a real scientist.

Some reviewers have complained that the conspiracy angle crowds out the barracuda in the second half of the film, which has an element of truth. Still, the plot remains interesting, and the gore in the first half of the film more than suffices.

BARRACUDA (aka: THE LUCIFER PROJECT) opens with a suspiciously familiar underwater sequence, complete with roving camera and generic musical score.

Oh no!

A pair of unwary divers is attacked by the languid, title fish! It seems that some hippie environmental-types are trespassing where they don't belong, taking water samples. Apparently, the Jack chemical company is pumping... well, chemicals into the ocean, for it's own nefarious purposes. Its owner, Papa Jack (Bert Freed) is nonplussed by the sudden hippie infestation, wanting only to continue dumping his chemicals in peace.

This all has something to do with the ornery fish and their cantankerous mood. It's got the townsfolk worked up into a froth as well. Just what is the Jack chemical company up to, and what does it have to do with our government? How many swimmers must be shredded by these toothy terrors?

Alas, as JAWS clones go, BARRACUDA is extremely tedious to watch! It's comprised of lonnnng stretches of skull-squeezing dullness, occasionally interrupted by "action" that barely registers enough to be noticed! Making it all the way to the end is like swimming through jello, while wearing a lead suit.

Co-stars Jason Evers (THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE) as Dr. Snow.

Glub... Glub...

Barracuda (1978)

* (out of 4)

Yet another rip-off of JAWS, this one here has a couple college students trying to test the waters of a beach community because a local plant owner has been dumping chemicals. Of course these chemicals turn the barracudas into man-eating monsters. BARRACUDA is one of the worst films from this genre that I've seen. Even some of the worst of the "when animals attack" genre at least keep you entertained but this sucker is pretty much bad from the start and it never gets any better. There are countless problems with this film but we can start with the screenplay, which is pretty much nothing but dialogue. I've never seen a film like this talk so much as it seems the characters want to talk about anything they can. This includes a silly love story that pops up between two of the characters and of course you get some "polution is evil" chat, which at times is rather funny. Even worse are the barracuda attacks because it really does seem that all the creatures are just stuff fished being moved around on people while someone else shoots out some blood. The effects are never believable and it's really too bad they didn't try doing something more original or at least keep you glued to what they might eventually look like. The performances are all pretty forgettable but there are a few nice supporting performances including Cliff Emmich (INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS). This film really isn't worth watching for any reason. Sure, some of the underwater photography is nice but that's not enough of a reason to sit through the entire thing.

Something strange is happening in the water off the coast of a town called "Palm Cove, Florida". For starters, the owners of a chemical plant have become extremely sensitive about their business and have hired some guards to prevent the collection of water samples taken anywhere near their facility. In one specific incident a marine-biologist by the name of "Mike Canfield" (Wayne Crawford) is arrested by the local sheriff "Ben Williams" (William Kerwin) and taken to jail for trespassing. While there he manages to help the sheriff investigate some deaths to local divers in the area. Along with these deaths the inhabitants of the town have become increasingly aggressive to one another but neither the sheriff nor Mike can connect any of these incidents together. At any rate, while this movie is similar in many respects to "Jaws" it obviously didn't have the financing of the former film and the quality of the movie isn't anywhere near as good. Even so, it had some good moments here and there and for that reason I give it a rating of average. But just barely.