Corman produced this one (instead of directing it), but his stamp is all over this minor, dull effort. I would be willing to bet that the actual director (Ordung) had maybe $20 grand and a couple of weeks to make this little lump of a film, and the results show in almost every aspect of it - from the special effect of the monster itself to the way the hero disposes of it.
(Seriously, if YOU were a giant octopus with one giant eye, don't you think that Nature would have let you learn to, I don't know...BLINK?!?!)
As always with Corman derived films, there is just enough interest and quality to it to keep you from setting your TV on fire - dull and talky though the movie is, it's still way, way better than celluloid disasters like "Mesa Of Lost Women". In this case, the film has an assertive and (mostly) dynamic heroine who persists in her altruistic attempts to aid a remote village when no one else believes there is a real problem. And she does fight off a shark with a knife at one point (even if the scene itself is badly staged and executed, it's impressive when you think about it). The movie actually builds up to the first appearance of the monster with some patience and instills a nice sense of menace and remoteness to the sea side village where the action takes place. Also, some nice underwater photography and some decent Debussy inspired piano music on the soundtrack add a bit of enjoyment to some of the ocean scenes.
On the other hand, the actress herself comes off as brittle and grumpy, there is no chemistry between her and the leading man, and some of the lines of dialog would make Uta Hagen herself despair. And the whole thing is so dark and the voices mixed so low into the soundtrack (although this might be a function of the print I saw) that it's hard to maintain even the slightest interest in the proceedings.
For what it's worth, you could kill 80 minutes watching this and not want to kill yourself when it was over. That's about the best recommendation I ever give a Corman production.
(Seriously, if YOU were a giant octopus with one giant eye, don't you think that Nature would have let you learn to, I don't know...BLINK?!?!)
As always with Corman derived films, there is just enough interest and quality to it to keep you from setting your TV on fire - dull and talky though the movie is, it's still way, way better than celluloid disasters like "Mesa Of Lost Women". In this case, the film has an assertive and (mostly) dynamic heroine who persists in her altruistic attempts to aid a remote village when no one else believes there is a real problem. And she does fight off a shark with a knife at one point (even if the scene itself is badly staged and executed, it's impressive when you think about it). The movie actually builds up to the first appearance of the monster with some patience and instills a nice sense of menace and remoteness to the sea side village where the action takes place. Also, some nice underwater photography and some decent Debussy inspired piano music on the soundtrack add a bit of enjoyment to some of the ocean scenes.
On the other hand, the actress herself comes off as brittle and grumpy, there is no chemistry between her and the leading man, and some of the lines of dialog would make Uta Hagen herself despair. And the whole thing is so dark and the voices mixed so low into the soundtrack (although this might be a function of the print I saw) that it's hard to maintain even the slightest interest in the proceedings.
For what it's worth, you could kill 80 minutes watching this and not want to kill yourself when it was over. That's about the best recommendation I ever give a Corman production.