azathothpwiggins BARRACUDA (aka: THE LUCIFER PROJECT) opens w/ a suspiciously familiar underwater sequence, complete w/ 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 w/ 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 w/ 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...

Uriah43 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.

Michael_Elliott 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.

dustyp-1 As a fan of B-movies and creature features, I can say with much confidence that there is nothing here that makes this movie worth watching. Another reviewer claims that it "pays off in the end", and I am here to tell you that there is no pay off. Orca (1977) has a decent payoff mid way that makes it worth watching for pure "wtf" factor, this movie does not. The actors deliver their lines like they are on quaaludes and the music is so plodding and droney that it almost puts you to sleep.Also, the movie is only BARELY about killer barracuda. It has another agenda and the killer fish are only seen a couple of times. It is obvious to me that the movie was designed to be a different type of movie, but with the popularity of Jaws and Piranha, they shifted it's marketing.This movie was 90 minutes or so and it felt like 4 hours. Do not waste your time. You've been warned!