sddavis63 This gets off to a decent enough start as an American atomic submarine gets caught and held by ... something! We don't know what it is, they don't know what it is - but whatever it is, it's big! Eventually the sub escapes and reports what happened to the somewhat skeptical Navy brass, bringing with them a hunk of flesh that got trapped in the propellers. Experts are called in, and eventually it's determined that this thing is a giant octopus that has developed a taste for human flesh and appears to be wreaking devastation throughout the North Pacific.It's a 50's sci-fi flick, so you have to set your expectations accordingly. I appreciated the fact that there was a bit of a twist involved in this. While the giant octopus was radiated (presumably by US atomic tests) it wasn't a giant octopus because of the radiation. It was just a giant octopus that had been radiated. Apparently there might be lots of them down there. We're told that, in fact, there have been reports of such beasts going back hundreds of years. Go figure. I thought that made for a more interesting story than just a normal octopus who got radiated and grew huge as a result. And the special effects by the famous Ray Harryhausen were pretty good - by the standards of those pre-CGI days anyway - and the attack on San Francisco was pretty well portrayed. The creature's tentacles are moved by stop action work, and they're pretty effective. The cast was about as you'd expect it to be - not great, not awful. They played their parts.Some of the backdrop to the creature scenes are less than riveting. This being a part of the 50's radiated monster genre there has to be a romance, because a giant octopus should never stand in the way of romance. That was provided by Kenneth Tobey as the sub commander and Faith Domergue as one of the scientists. There's an attempt to portray Domergue's Dr. Joyce as a very liberated woman. She comes across well in that way sometimes. On the other hand, she sometimes stares wide- eyed as the men make various points, she falls for Cmdr. Matthews pretty easily and I thought it odd that a highly liberated woman and expert marine biologist would scream like a little girl every time the creature appears and throw herself into Matthews' arms for protection. I mean, I get that it's a giant octopus - but it's still an octopus and she's an expert marine biologist and ... Well, I guess in the 50's you could only take women's lib so far.It's not a disappointing movie and it fits well into the genre of which it was a part. But on the other hand it was a part of that genre - so don't set your expectations too high. (6/10)

classicsoncall I can't tell you how many times I tried to catch this flick over a span of years but was always stymied in the attempt. Chalk it up to bad timing, falling asleep or missing it in the cable listings. I might have blown this one too but thanks to DVR, even nodding off would have had a remedy.The first thing I noticed here was that the black and white transfer I viewed on Turner Classics was phenomenally crisp and offered a first rate viewing experience. Ray Harryhausen's monster effects and the film makers' stop motion wizardry really brought a level of sophistication to this otherwise B grade sci-fi/horror film. Granted, the action isn't what modern day viewers would expect given the prevalence of CGI, but for the mid-Fifties, this was pretty cool.But you know, the picture had it's share of goofs too, and it's the kind of stuff I live for with these old pictures. Remember when the airplane pilot spotted the pair of survivors in the rubber dinghy after the sailors abandoned ship during the first attack? When the scene transitions to the naval hospital, there are four men brought in! Then this next scene, I had to wonder whether it was intentional or not because it was just so ironic. In the lab where the scientists and Commander Pete Matthews (Kenneth Tobey) are working, there's a prominently displayed sign that says 'No Smoking', but the commander spends his entire time taking drags on his cigarette.But the one that really doubled me over was when Commander Matthews and Professor Joyce (Faith Domergue) are on the beach investigating the latest missing person headline, and the professor explains to the Admiral that the potential sea monster probably hasn't gone away from the area. Yet she and the commander are out in the ocean swimming!Well if you can take your sci-fi with a grain of sea salt, this is probably one of the better giant mutant due to atomic radiation flicks you're likely to come up with from the era. The octopus attack on the Golden Gate Bridge was a pretty creative affair, and if you're going to make a stand for humanity, you might as well have the movie heroes blow the monster all to hell with an explosive torpedo. It sure does rule out a sequel though.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Unfortunately, time has not been in the least bit kind to this creaky, badly-dated Sci-Fi/Monster Flick from 1955.Rugged Submarine commander Pete Mathews, along with diligent scientists Lesley Joyce and John Carter, battle an understandably peed-off monster-octopus who has been driven up from the darkest depths of the ocean by an H-Bomb explosion.In search of non-contaminated food, this tentacled tyrant of the sea counts among its victims a fishing trawler and its passengers, a family sunning at the beach, several San Francisco skyscrapers, and even the Golden Gate Bridge.With a daring attempt to destroy the monster, while at the same time trying to save themselves, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA features some incredibly fake-looking "back-projection" visual effects and a corny, out-of-place romance that somehow transpires between Commander Pete and Scientist Lesley Joyce. -

AaronCapenBanner Kenneth Tobey stars as Commander Pete Mathews, who is in charge of a nuclear submarine that encounters something very large and mysterious on a deep sea mission. Later, it is discovered that a giant octopus has been awakened by H-bomb testing, and makes its way to California, attacking San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Donald Curtis and Faith Domergue play two scientists who identify and try to stop the rampaging creature before it wrecks all coastal communities across the country. The F/X by Ray Harryhausen are fine, though limited, and the clichéd story lacks any depth itself. Only Kenneth Tobey seems really involved with his role, but it isn't enough.