Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World.
‘Shark’s gonna kill you.’
If you subscribe to our channel then you’ll already know how the success of Jaws inspired a shoal of copycats,
with filmmakers groping for a marine killer to match Great White Shark.
‘I’m thinking giant octopus.’
and I’m thinking what could possibly go wrong?
Like Jaws, Tentacles establishes the underwater threat with an opening kill.
'I'm fine, I was just taking him out for lunch.'
'Say why don't you come with us.'
'I'm meeting Burt.'
'Where is he?'
Never has the onscreen death of an infant been so stunningly undramatic
and the film continues in that vein.
'Bill!?'
Probably nothing.
Our lead is reporter, Ned Turner, played by John Huston,
‘If you want my opinion we’re in for a nightmare’
alongside Shelley Winters, who is unfortunately upstaged by her own hat.
'Don't be so smart.'
Ned links the deaths to a tunnel being built in the bay by businessman Henry Fonda,
who was only on set for one day and had just had a heart operation, so may not have been that engaged.
‘If you persist thern you better get yourself a good lawyer or you’ll – your career will be over’
Ned figures out what connects the victims.
‘Radio. Radio, they all had that in common.’
I’d guess most boats have radio and most babies don’t, but okay.
He enlists the help of Marine biologist Will Gleason and his wife, Vicky.
‘Well I was just thinking that I could be the happiest woman in the world’
You look it.
This is the film’s clumsy way of introducing a personal storyline
as Gleason’s wife feels he is taking too many risks.
‘You’re willing to bet your life on three minutes’
The wife of a marine biologist never knows if he will be coming home in the evening.
‘If there’s one thing the street’s taught me it’s survival.’
Unless the street was flooded I’m not sure that’s totally relevant,
but this is character-building; Gleason came to marine biology the hard way.
‘Tough city kid, crawls or rather swims his way up out of the gutter, not through sports but in the back of a fish.'
Just an oxygen tank and a dream.
Meanwhile the octopus continues to kill.
‘No one likes a fat man’
I’m guessing somebody will.
What the hell?
The girl was Vicky’s sister and Vicky goes out to look for her.
This is one of the few times we see the full size tentacles
because the puppet they built at great expense sank.
Not dissimilar to Jaws,
but while Spielberg turned a negative into a positive,
implying the presence of the shark through editing and music…
Photographing in close up, doesn’t make it look big.
With 6 people dead in one day, the community mourns.
Next day…
They continue with the kid’s yacht race.
Well this looks perfectly safe.
Obviously, this is drawn from the 4th July weekend in Jaws but this doesn’t seem to be local authorities being bastards,
it’s a failure in communication.
‘The Race? My God the races, how many miles is that coastguard warning good for?’
Did we forget to tell them? That was careless. Well, no harm done.
Uh oh.
That was one hungry octopus.
Actually the kids are mostly fine, the death toll limited to Shelley Winters’ son’s friend,
really bringing the tragedy home.
‘Sure there wasn’t anyone else?’
I don’t know. Is it important?
After an event like this the authorities are bound to spring into action.
‘Well, what now?’
Not quite the rallying cry I anticipated but they have a plan.
‘I’m asking you to help me kill this octopus’
They’ve brought in a couple of killer whales to do the job.
We also get the famous drunk scene from Jaws but with subtle character-building dialogue replaced by…
‘I have a feeling the octopus won’t come back to his lair anymore’
based on what?
‘But all octopi large or small have a sense of foresight’
Gee the science had been impeccable right up until the fortune-telling octopus.
Incidentally, you’re probably wondering who that guy was
and it does feel like this conversation should have been between Ned and Gleason but,
half an hour from the end, Ned, who has been our lead throughout, wanders off never to return.
Although all he misses are some dodgy sound effects,
#BLURP#
and a death scene for the octopus as lacking in drama as all the other death scenes have been.
Despite the whales heroic introduction.
#Heroic classical music#
How this is related to an underwater tunnel and why radio irritates a giant octopus into killing
is largely forgotten but that’s not the biggest problem,
‘There’s just a little bit too much tension around here’
There’s none.
It is unforgivably lacking in drama, thrills or anything that might engage you.
‘I’m disappointed’
At the end Gleason is free to pursue other interests.
‘I’ve been thinking about going on a safari’
Yeah, I’m sure your marine biology training is eminently transferable.
Thanks for watching. For more underwater horror reviews click here.
What are your favorite Jaws clones and ripoffs. Let us know in the comments below.
'Why don't you go to.'