And that is it might have been a cheesy rip-off of Jaws - but then there's any number of those around, without Jaws we wouldn't have Sharknado, or Sharktopus, or Sandsharks, or........!! - but it was a very successful cheesy rip off of Jaws. Look at the IMDB figures. Less than a million to make, made 3 mil. worldwide. So it made nearly 4 times its money. That's not a bad return. I've seen lots of better reviewed films here that didn't make 4 times their investment. I wonder if anyone could do a list of the most profitable films in terms of money received over money they cost to make, rather than just how many millions they made, forgetting the millions they COST to make? I think a well-researched list would be very interesting, would have a LOT of Oriental movies in it (because there's a LOT of Orientals who watch films - Mandarin is, after all, the most widely spoken language in the world -) and would highlight a lot of movies people otherwise wouldn't have heard of. In a list of money-received-over-money-spent movies, I wonder what the top 10/number 1 would be?? I'd be fascinated to find that out (even though it could well be Blair Witch.... or not!?!)Chris.

The haunting techno keyboard riff by one of Quentin Tarantino's long list of sampled bits of soundtrack, Stelvio Cipriani, opens the 1977 Italian made JAWS exploitation, TENTACLES, on an ominous level that deserves more praise and appreciation to the overall underrated motion picture it envelopes...With creative camera angles, including a ghost boat being towed in to bay while onlookers both move forward and recede slowly from a reverse crane shot, director Ovidio G. Assonitis, who'd produce THE VISITOR two years later and with a list of cult b-flicks under his belt, works stealthily alongside his stock composer to, like the 1975 Steven Spielberg shark summer blockbuster, not spoil the killer octopus all at once, maintaining slowburn suspense in an Alfred Hitchcock fashion...While the acting isn't as good as the overall visual, including underwater shots that look nice but tend to obstruct the body count storyline, and anticipating a boat race regalia for an inevitable mid-peak, the actors are, well... on paper, pretty darn great. And yet, John Huston, Shelley Winters (both in THE VISITOR) and Henry Fonda don't have much to do: The first plays a snoopy journalist while the other's young son prepares for that forbiddingly formidable race (Fonda literally phones in his performance) as Claude Akins's stalwart Sheriff wanders around looking for answers. But it's the always supercool and dependable Bo Hopkins... working at at an oceanic theme park with two trusty killer whales and a gorgeous girlfriend (Delia Boccardo, who could be Heather Graham's aunt, aesthetically) seems to good to be true, or to last... who is the true main character here....A cross between Robert Shaw's hunter Quint but with the friendly countenance of Richard Dreyfuss, Bo seems more the "ringer" than even the veterans. The only downfall is how much time's spent on, like in JAWS, an adventurous third act in which this Hooper-Quint hybrid takes way too long in the open sea to finish off — along with the endearing Orca duo (who both thankfully survive!) — the eight-armed monster for good. The music becomes more of a typical gallant symphony than the previous mid-tempo dirge, which had supplied the best TENTACLES had to offer with... like in most horror flicks... the (in this case fairly long and entertaining) metronomic buildup. (CultFilmFreaks.com)

The acting, the dubbed English, the script...all lousy and somehow makes the movie watchable. There are lots of cameos and it's really fun to see these stars show up (obviously for a vacation in Italy) that make sense. But best of all...it appears they tortured some octopus by poking whale dolls at it.Beware: sort of spoiler ...Somehow it appears that cutting off an arm of an octopus kills it, But worst of all...an Octopus is attacked and there is no "ink" to be seen. They should have used ink and that would have blocked the obvious puppetry...or better yet...blocked the visuals altogether.

This is a film about a giant octopus that eats a lot of people.It boasts a lot of huge stars. Henry Fonda heads the crew of Winters, Akins, Huston, and Hopkins.Henry Fonda appeared in some of the greatest films ever, then made the mistake of getting into the lowest point of movie making, the spaghetti Western. While this review is written in 2012, there are still some conservatives who won't let go of their unexplainable love for spaghetti Westerns. Leone and others destroyed film making for decades. 50 years from now, in 2062, a new breed will have no clue why there was any love for the spaghetti crap. There is no inspiration, no reality, cutout stereotypes.For those people of 2062 and later, an explanation is needed. I lived those years in the seventies. During those years, "hatred" was a theme latched onto as being "cool" by the drug addicts. They heralded these movies, because they were control freaks, and bred a generation of control freaks.Fonda teams with another Italian in an effort to amend for the sordid spaghetti garbage. No doubt, the crack-heads who praise the control freak Leone movies will vote this review down. They abound on IMDb in the early 21st century. Proof is here now in the many "reviews" for his film, all mindless pans for no cause, obviously by a few posters who use many fake user names. It is obvious in the style and complete agreement of their posts. Sad to say, they don't even realize how obvious they are, in using fake user names to vote down an excellent film to under 4/10.But then again, this is not a "control freak" movie. It doesn't praise control freaks, nor put men into the Republican category of gods, demigods, and cannon fodder.One poor thing about the film, which turns people off, is the soundtrack and film score. The sound clashes horribly. This would have easily been a 9/10 or a 10/10 if they remade the sound effects and soundtrack.Still, we get an excellent story. What turns the control freaks off first is that this film is no respecter of persons. It is craftily written. You don't escape death by being a star or a "cool" person, nor do you get eaten just for being a creep.The domino of death plays no favorites here. The cards lie where they are dealt, with no stacking of the deck. No one can out-tough or outwit or out-cute the giant creature. He eats whomever is in his way.That's what makes this film work. It is written with that in mind. It makes for much tragedy, and much pathos. There are many tragic scenes, many scenes that are sad, and may make you cry, but they are the story. Not everyone is killed. Still, there is a high body count.A lot makes this film work. Most of the best comes from the lesser known actors. In fact, the higher up the fame scale an actor is, the more "formula" his scenes tend to be here. It is the "supporting" actor who takes the show here. And that works, because we know land loving old people who stay out of harm's way, Fonda, Huston, Winters, wouldn't be in any realistic danger in a credible script, and this is a credible script. They are there for the reactions to the plight of the young who love the water.Another great move is the sheriff, played by Akins, has a more believable role in the proceedings than in JAWS. Here, he is another land lover. The course of events at sea are done by those who are experts at sea. This helps to actually make this a superior film to JAWS.There are many iconoclastic scenes here that also make the control freaks hate it. Again, this is for the people of 2062, who will be at a loss as to the hate this film receives in 2012. It is the small clique of IMDb control freaks, whom I described, that make it seem so, with multiple user names and multiple reviews. What seems to be 100 people is really just 5 or 6. Yes, they are insane, but the internet of this era is a haven for the insane.For 1977, the choice of victims is totally iconoclastic. And for IMDb. We have many Nazis on IMDb, who will pan any action film that doesn't kill a lot of women with dark hair, which makes it suffer it the "ratings" with the many neo nazi posters of IMDb. Strange, yes, but if the results of 2012 are available in 2062, you will see undeniable proof of this. I don't think the victims were "chosen" as much as just "in the wrong place at the wrong time" for the sequence of events.The characters actually are very well written, even the "formula" characters which are given to the big name stars. The emotion is very stunning here, too. The script is probably the best of any giant sea beast film after about 1960, and that includes some great scripts like THE BEAST and JAWS.What makes this film as good as it is? I have described what makes it "good", but now as to what makes it "exceptional".It is the supporting characters. I've always found supporting characters to be what intrigues me the most. And there is good reason for that. We know about how it will go for the two or three main characters, although sometimes there is a surprise. It is the theatrics and drama that plays out among the underlings that make a movie a film, that make a drama exceptional. This is an exceptional film.