SYNOPSICS
Tentacoli (1977) is a English movie. Ovidio G. Assonitis has directed this movie. John Huston,Shelley Winters,Bo Hopkins,Henry Fonda are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1977. Tentacoli (1977) is considered one of the best Action,Adventure,Comedy,Horror,Sci-Fi,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
Several people disappear from and at the sea. Their bodies are found gnawed to the skeleton, even the marrow is missing. The scientists have no idea which animal could do such things. Dr. Turner begins to suspect that the company which builds a tunnel beneath the bay might have poisoned the environment and caused an octopus to mutate to giant dimensions. Just at the same time a great sailing regatta with many children is started - among them Turner's nephew Tommy.
Tentacoli (1977) Reviews
I had a sudden urge to do housework during the action/suspense sequences
When people start disappearing in a small seaside resort town, Ned Turner (John Huston), a newspaper reporter, becomes suspicious that is has something to do with an underwater construction project being conducted by Trojan, a company run by Mr. Whitehead (Henry Fonda). As Turner digs deeper into the mysterious events, his suspicions that something more sinister is responsible begin to grow. These suspicions are supported by marine expert Will Gleason (Bo Hopkins). The above sounds much more appealing than it has any right to. This is one of the worst films I've ever seen, and I like Ed Wood! Tentacles is one of the many films that were made in the wake of Jaws that tried to capitalize on Jaws' incredible success. Unfortunately, almost everything about the film is completely incompetent. There are only two minor saving graces that caused me to give this film a "high" rating of 2 out of 10. One, there are some quality actors involved--Huston, Fonda, Hopkins, and Shelley Winters have all done fantastic work in other films, and two, there are a couple moments where the incompetence achieves a level of sublime ridiculousness so that Tentacles becomes "so bad it's good". However, don't put too much weight on either of those "pros", as the better performances (Huston and Hopkins) can't even begin to save this film and you have to sit through a tortuous, boring hour to get to a point where the film starts being more funny than painful. There are a couple reasons you might want to watch this film. If you're a completist with respect to a member of the cast or crew, you'll have to watch, and this will likely be the lowlight of their career for you (at least no other film will "top" it, even if others can match it). Also, if you're a horror film completist (as I am), you'll want to grin and bear it once. Another good reason to watch it is as a lesson in how not to make a film, from every technical aspect. The script is horrible and at times completely incoherent. It may also set a record for the largest number of abandoned threads. The director appears to have slept through most of the shoots. The composer scores every scene inappropriately, and to top it off, one of the primary instruments is a harpsichord. The score basically sounds like random 70s porno music. The editor seems to think that his job involves not leaving any footage unused. At about the hour mark, the director decides to employ a lot of freeze frames during a "high tension" sequence. It's also accompanied by bizarre non-sequitur "jokes" told by a guy in an Uncle Sam outfit while Shelley Winters desperately tries to reach two other characters on a walkie talkie, only we can't hear anything she says--we just see her mouth moving while we hear Uncle Sam's performance art. This is where the film finally becomes unintentionally funny. It makes little sense in the context of the film, although that seems to be a leitmotif. Tentacles contains the most boring action/suspense sequences I think I've ever witnessed. There wasn't one for which my attention didn't drift. I started thinking about things like mowing the lawn, cleaning out the refrigerator, and so on. It's difficult to believe that any of the crew had a career after this, but amazingly, most of them did.
Fun 70's camp
I guess the actors were excited about being sent to Italy, and the downside is that..it was to be in this movie. I guess the producers were thinking they would make some money doing a version of "Jaws" with an octopus instead. But the casual moviegoer, who has reasonable intelligence, will either be laughing at the whole thing or bored to death. Either way, the movie is not insultingly awful. At least Shelley Winters is under control, for the most part, but John Huston as a reporter is a riot. Danova had all his dialogue dubbed, which seems strange since he speaks English (he did in "Viva Las Vegas" and "Mean Streets", to name two instances). Henry Fonda & Bo Hopkins are also along for the ride.
I have to wonder how this star-studded train wreck came about
I have to wonder how this star-studded train wreck came about; I hope there's a better story than "they were in it for the money." Three legends - Shelley Winters, John Huston, Henra Fonda - in a low-budget, poorly..., well everything movie. The giant octopus is rarely seen, and when it is, it's pretty much obvious that it's a regular octopus filmed at angles and with bubbles thrown in to demonstrate violence in the water. And despite the three stars having above-the-title billing, they really only have supporting roles, and none of them get to Roy Scheider the octopus. Actually I think I have it all figured out. Trying to cash in on the Jaws craze, they commissioned people to create another sea monster but overreached in hiring stars and blew their whole budget on their salaries. There we go.
Hysterical-
Well, hysterically bad! Everyone else's comments already hit the nail on the head, so I don't know what is making me laugh harder- this movie or the comments! I hope everyone involved in making the movie at least had a good time in Italy and Southern California. Hopefully they were laughing, too. Huston was way too much of a genius not to have seen this as what it is- dreadful. Perhaps he thought it was a farce of some kind? I would love to have been a fly on the wall during the after filming drinks Huston, Winters, and Fonda must have shared. The effects are bad, the dubbing atrocious, I couldn't tell if the weird sounds were music or sound effects, some scenes were lifted almost exactly from Jaws... I could go on, but I think you've got the idea. If it is rainy outside, and you're bored and ready for a laugh, go ahead and watch. But don't say you haven't been warned.
Totally Enjoyable B Sea Movie!
I thought this movie was great. I had a blast watching it. It was mellow and took it's time nicely. I don't understand why all the hate. Yes it's a "Jaws" ripoff but so what? Bo Hopkins was neat to watch as basically "Chief Brody Hooper Quint", playing the lead character ocean expert tough guy. John Huston has a side role as a roving investigator trying to figure out the deaths of people being sucked from land into sea. Henry Fonda has a phoned in role as the bigwig who might be responsible for making this octopus such a hungry beast. And one of my favorite cult actors, Claude Akins, as a cop. The best thing about this film is the keyboard soundtrack that you can also hear in Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" and Mario Bava's "Rabid Dogs", and a handful of other films. Whenever the Octopi attacks the music plays and it's quite cool sounding. I thought the action scenes were nice and yes, the octopus looked fake, but then again so did the shark in "Jaws", and "Jaws" is one of the best movies ever made. Mind you, I'm not saying this is anywhere near "Jaws", but still, they did a good job covering up the fact that a rubber coat with arms was used as the terrorizing beast. I thought this movie was totally enjoyable and I find it relaxing, and there are some beautiful Italian women, all blondes. The girl who plays Bo Hopkin's wife looks a lot like Heather Graham (or vice versa). Kick back, and enjoy. Don't expect much. Just have a good time.