Chase_Witherspoon Stars swashbuckler Mathews and Mediterranean movie-starlet Angeli as the principals of an expedition into Mexico whose radiation tests prelude the discovery of a mutated octopus-human creature who they've upset when they disturbed its young.Jeff Morrow has a small supporting role early in the picture, before the film rapidly unravels into farce with the absurd octopus-man (something akin to the Creature from the Black Lagoon) preying on members of the expedition seemingly at-will. Naturally, tensions between the personalities fray with the typical preserve versus destroy interests in conflict, which basically leads to more cannon fodder for the Octaman.Micro-budget sci-fi looks about ten years older than it is (1971), features truly inane dialogue and offers very little to recommend except some unintentional laughs. Sadly though, it's also memorable as Pier Angeli's disappointing film epitaph.

gavin6942 A team of researchers discovers a strange mutation or man and octopus who proceeds to terrorize them.Early on we learn that the "octopus is supposed to be the most intelligent species in the ocean". Does this tell us more about the octopus or the scientist? I am pretty sure the octopus is not particularly bright, and this statement completely ignores dolphins, manatees, porpoises, whales, and others.But what do you expect? They show the octopus suit during the opening credits and then show it repeatedly throughout the film. The creature is hardly believable, and it is more than obvious his lower arms raise up when his top arms do (via a string). Now, conventional wisdom tells us that if you have a cheesy monster, you keep him off the screen as much as possible. Instead, they flaunt him. Foolish or brilliant? This film is like the Amazon River of liquid cheese.If nothing else makes this film stand out, it should be said that legendary, Oscar-winning effects man Rick Baker made the Octaman costume.

Coventry With "Octaman", my buddy and I were pretty much convinced to have stumbled upon the ultimate bad movie! This initially looked like brilliantly bad entertainment with a horrendously inefficient environmental message and some of the most pitiable and cheesy costumes we would ever have seen. Well, it's bad all right … but not necessarily in the entertaining way that we were anticipating. "Octaman" is a long lost relative of the wonderful Creature of the Black Lagoon"; a half man and half sea serpent monster with a ludicrous head and six tentacles. There isn't much of a plot to describe, but writer/director Harry Essex (co-writer of the original aforementioned classic – believe it or not) does his very best to show off with the rubber suit as much as possible. Octaman is literally always luring from behind a bush or with the top of his dumb head sneakily emerging from the water. The continuity in this film is far lost, the characters (supposedly another scientific expedition) are lame wooden stereotypes and the screenplay takes itself way too seriously. There isn't any attempt to insert any humor, unless you think it's hilarious that the Octaman is credited as "himself". When the monster kidnaps the girl and flees towards the water whilst holding her, the image suspiciously looks a lot like that legendary poster of "This Island Earth", with Faith Domergue in the arms of big-headed alien. This proves all the more that "Octaman" got made and released approximately fifteen years overdue. At heart, this is a genuine 50's movie, but in the 70's it doesn't even qualify as a half-decent homage and ends up being a wacky and boring film.

Michael_Elliott Octaman (1971) ** (out of 4) This semi, unofficial remake of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON doesn't shy away from ripping off various scenes from that film. In this one, a group of scientists (and of course a money hungry POS) discover that there might be a half man, half octopus's in the Mexican swamps so they try to track him down. Soon he's fighting back and killing everyone around. Okay, this is a rather hard film to judge because there's no question that this is an awful movie. Everything from the performances to the screenplay to the direction are downright bad. There are some rather interesting things about the film and we can start off with director/writer Harry Essex. He previously wrote the screenplay for Universal's MAN MADE MONSTER but also CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON itself so I guess he has the right to rip off his own work. How he wrote them amazes me after watching this screenplay, which has the be one of the worst ever written because none of it ever makes any sense. The movie never really makes it clear what the scientists are doing, where on earth they're at since the scenery is constantly changing and best of all is that they follow the monster in a RV and not a boat. The top billed Pier Angeli, who some might remember from SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME, died of a drug overdose during production, which certainly leaves a dark spot on the film. Thirdly, future Oscar-winner Rick Baker did the monster costume and effects here. Yes, it's obvious the thing is a rubber suit but I must admit that I liked the creation because it at least looks campy like the costumes from the 1950s horror films that this one is clearly trying to be like. The violence in the film is pretty good as well as the swinging arms of the monster is always knocking eyes out or ripping flesh. Again, if you're wanting art then I'd recommend checking out the work of Bunuel. If you're wanting good, drive-in fun then this film really fits the bill. This would make a perfect double feature with ZAAT, which I watched a few weeks earlier.