Tentacles
Tentacles (1977) Rewatch: ❎
I am so knackered right now it’s taken me three days to watch this in its entirety, that’s nothing to do with the quality of the film either, just my crap body. I was determined to get through the thing though.
I was sold at the wiki entry containing this gem:
“ During filming, the production lost the large rubber octopus in the sea, so the rest of the film was shot with a diver waving the only remaining tentacle.”
That’s the stuff I’m here for. It didn’t disappoint either! There’s a couple of underwater shots here and there that make the octopus look pretty menacing, some surprisingly effective editing considering the rest of it. We are definitely in rubber octopus territory for the rest of it though and it’s magnificent. Aided, gloriously, by a soundtrack that’s less Jaws and more 70’s Italian police film. There’s a stonking Scooby Doo-y motif whenever the film focuses on something that may be important in a short while and the Octopus assault music has some serious energy to it. You can really get a groove on to those fishy murders.
It suffers, as these things tend to, from the slowness of underwater fights not being entirely the most exciting things to watch. If Fulci couldn’t make zombie vs shark edge of the seat stuff, octopus versus diver here isn’t going to cut it either. But that’s a minor complaint.
One of the better Jaws cash ins and a fair enough entry in the seventies pantheon of nature gone wrong flicks. It’s just a shame that they waste Shelley Winters really but it did remind me that it’s been a while since I last watched Whoever Slew Auntie Roo, so all is well that ends well.