BA_Harrison Despite starring no less than three Oscar winners (John Huston, Henry Fonda and Shelley Winters), this Italian Jaws rip-off is still an almighty crap-fest, the name players, clearly uninspired by the derivative plot, going through the motions for an easy paycheck (Fonda even stumbles over his lines a couple of times, but soldiers on regardless).Director Ovidio G. Assonitis opens his film with the mysterious death of baby Billy, followed by the equally strange demise of peg-legged boat skipper Bill, both bodies stripped to the bone and sucked dry. Unperturbed by the fact that his name is very similar to both victims, oceanographer Will (Bo Hopkins) investigates, discovering that the culprit isn't someone with a hatred of people called William (and variations of), but rather a giant octopus that has been disturbed by tunnel construction beneath the sea bed.With zero tension or scares, but lots and lots in the way of dull chit chat, this is film-making at its most ham-fisted: what should have been a fun slice of B-movie nonsense is made interminably dull thanks to a dreary script, cruddy special effects, lifeless direction from Assonitis, and clumsy editing by Angelo Curi, who completely botches the film's two big scenes—an attack on a sailboat race and the climactic fight between the octopus and a pair of killer whales. A bizarre choice of score only adds to the overall effect of sheer ineptitude.2.5 out of 10, rounded up to 3 for the film's only spot of gore, a brief shot of a mangled corpse with its eye hanging out.

Theo Robertson "If Jaws scared you Tentacles will shock you" ran the tagline along with some great artwork imagery for the poster when this movie was released . I can guarantee you that any young boy living on an island who hadn't seen JAWS was dying to this movie which featured a giant squid devouring swimmers . I later found out that the antagonist was a giant octopus rather than a squid but what the hell - it's got tentacles and a giant beak and an appetite for human flesh , that in the grand scheme of things is the only thing that matters . Add to this some highly regarded American character actors and I didn't really care this movie has received many lukewarm , soggy reviews over the decades because I still wanted to see it and after seeing it I don't think it's nowhere as bad as the majority view is stating . Now don't get me wrong , with TENTACLES you're not going to be watching some heart pounding , thrilling lost classic of cinema but for what it is - a B movie inspired by a much superior film that it mercilessly apes - it's more than competent The opening sequence sums up the strengths and weaknesses of the movie . A woman leaves her toddler alone in a pushchair as she crosses the road to talk to her female friend . As the two woman talk cars and buses pass obscuring the pushchair and as someone mentions lunch a bus passes and when the beachfront comes in to view the pushchair is missing . It's cheesy , a little bit tasteless but unpretentious with the audience being one step in front of the plot turns which are mainly composed of " Guess which character in this scene gets turned in to sea food ? " . The scene is also too brightly lit especially for something that's supposed to be a horror film of sorts and it's obvious it's a European film complete with bad lip sync and mood muzak . If you don't notice the incidental score in this scene don't worry because you'll notice it later especially during an octopus attack where literally dozens of people get devoured though not on screen Despite all this TENTACLES is a film I find it very difficult to hate . There is a scene a few minutes in to the opening that is classic startle scene material that caused me to jump . I'm also a constant and harsh critic of CGI in movies and here we see a giant octopus created for the big screen via film footage of a normal sized oct , miniature models featuring a normal sized oct , backscreen projection and some giant sized model . To be blunt this mixing of technique isn't often if ever successful but is still preferable to CGI and is in keeping with the keeping with rather camp goings on in this type of movie which is old fashioned and enjoyable simply because of its silliness

blazesnakes9 Sometimes you get a movie that is awful. So awful that you have a sense of dread while watching it. But, on rare occasions, an average movie-goer has at least one or two or maybe three movies that qualified as guilty pleasures. As for myself, I, too, have that syndrome. I don't know if other movie-goers have this syndrome or suffer from this scenario, but it has happen to me.And, in the case of Tentacles, this may be one of them.The story takes place on a sea resort in California called "Ocean Beach". Ocean Beach is starting see some major problems. Tourists are beginning to disappear one by one. Ned Turner, (John Huston), the local everyday man and news reporter, suspects that there's something sinister happening on his sea resort. He appointed the deputy sheriff, (Claude Akins),that a octopus is picking off the tourists, turning the beach into a snack shop. Enter the biologist, (Bo Hopkins), who explains to Turner that there is a very angry octopus eating up the townsfolk. Meanwhile, Turner's wife, (Shelly Winters), takes her children out on a sailboat and one of them volunteers to participate in the town's sailboat race. When Hopkins' girlfriend is killed by the monster and one of Winters' children's friends gets eaten by the beast, it's up to Hopkins to find the octopus and kill it. To do this, he must enlisted the help of two killer whales that can find octopus and kill it. While that is going on, the local oil tycoon, (Henry Fonda), gets blamed for waking up the angry beast.Yes, I know Tentacles is an awful movie. Yes, this is one of those ensemble cast movies or all-star movies that took its course during the 1970's. But, you got to admit that this movie is ridiculous to watch even if you hate it. I've always say that in implausible films that you don't ask any questions during the viewing of the movie. Well, I ignored answering some of the obvious questions that this movie asks. Sometimes you got to accept things for what they are. In this movie, all high expectations go right out the window for me.Where do I begin to say which parts I like? Well, I'll begin with the most stupidest. And that is, the cast of some of the most talented actors and actresses that are included in this movie are probably their money's worth. I got a feeling that Huston, Fonda, Winters, Akins and especially Hopkins, got their money's worth for making Tentacles. But, I will say that I enjoyed their performances even if they were on the big screen trying to impress in any which way possible. As for the octopus, it's shoddy. Yet, I have to admit that I enjoyed both the octopus and the two killer whales. Of course, it's is simply a bad rip-off of Jaws and Orca. In fact, if I had to rank Tentacles or Orca as being the best or worst rip-off of Jaws, I would have to say that Tentacles ranks high and below Orca, even I enjoy less of Orca.Tentacles is a stupid movie and goofy at the same time, but it's quite terrifying for a second up until the final confrontation between the octopus and the two killer whales. Now that I got that out of the way, I can say now that I just reveal one of my guilty pleasures. ★★★ 3 stars.

kevinxirau Move over, Spielberg, because there's a new aquatic horror in town! Released in the same year as "Orca", this film is essentially the poor man's version of "Jaws", having the same basic idea as the hit blockbuster but using a giant octopus instead of an over-sized shark.The story takes place at Ocean Beach, a tourist spot where an underwater excavation disturbs a massive tentacled terror on the ocean floor and it soon goes on a rampage. Victim after victim, everyone becomes baffled by how these horrible events are occurring, until finally scientists and reporters alike deduce the eight-armed culprit and its cause for such violence. It all leads to an underwater battle of titans.The movie has an overall decent cast such as John Huston, Bo Hopkins, and Henry Fonda. Music is sorta hit-and-miss, sometimes being creepy and suspenseful and other times being silly and dated. The setting is good and some of the underwater scenes are interesting to watch. On the downside, a few of the human characters are somewhat uninteresting, certain dialog is a tad hokey, and a scene or two have the tendency to drag a little.The octopus is definitely the biggest highlight of the movie. The way they did the creature is pretty clever (you'll have to see for yourself how). The beast is actually more of a threat than the shark from "Jaws" is, being more elusive, intelligent, has a higher body count, and is less conspicuous. It's also quite merciless as it's not as picky with whatever human victim is in/near the water as the shark is. This coupled with the great climax is what gives the majority of points I give this creepy creature feature.All in all, this is an overall decent movie. Not as spectacular or groundbreaking as "Jaws", but at least worth a watch once or twice. Check out Tentacles and enjoy!