Tentacoli (1977)

Director:

Ovidio G. Assonitis

Writers:

Steven W. Carabatsos (writer)
Tito Carpi (writer)

Release Date:

15 June 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Each year 10,000 tourists visit Ocean Beach. This summer Ocean Beach has attracted SOMETHING ELSE!

Plot:

Several people disappear from and at the sea. Their bodies are found gnawed to the skeleton, even the marrow is missing...

Plot Keywords:

Octopus | Ocean | Sea | Harbor | Children

Cast

John Huston	...	Ned Turner
Shelley Winters	...	Tillie Turner
Bo Hopkins	...	Will Gleason
Henry Fonda	...	Mr. Whitehead, President of Trojan Construction
Delia Boccardo	...	Vicky Gleason
Cesare Danova	...	John Corey
Alan Boyd	...	Mike
Sherry Buchanan	...	Judy
Franco Diogene	...	Chuck
Marc Fiorini	...	Don
Helena Mäkelä	...	Jane's Mother
Claude Akins	...	Sheriff Robards
Alessandro Poggi
Roberto Poggi
Giancarlo Nacinelli

Also Known As:

Tentacles (USA)

Runtime:

Germany:92 min | USA:102 min

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Italy

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

The film's distributor offered theatres a promotional poster that listed several points about octopuses - including the fact that they can reach sizes of over 38 feet from arm to arm.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When they are discussing what to do about the giant octopus, Turner incorrectly refers to the beast as a giant squid.

Quotes:

[Tilly Turner says that she'd like to join her two boys in a sailboat race]
Little boy: Then we'd need a tornado to move the boat!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Aquanoids (2003)

Soundtrack:

The Octopus First Victim

Who's Been Lousing Up My House?

That's what the giant octopus wants to know. It seems as though an undersea tunnel that Henry Fonda's company has been drilling in the briny deep off the California coast has disturbed the deep underwater habitat of a giant octopus. Having been evicted so to speak the octopus is busy taking it out on humankind.

Written to take advantage of the recent mania over Jaws, Tentacoli is an Italian production with their Riviera serving as Pacific shoreline and it has several American actors doing roles to insure some box office. Bo Hopkins is the marine biologist who helps finally do in the beast with some beasts of his own. Smaller roles go to Shelley Winters and John Huston as brother and sister and Claude Akins as the local sheriff. Hopefully all these people had their checks clear the bank before they started working here. This film has the distinct odor of tax write off.

The special effects are cheesy to say the least in the final battle with the octopus you can't tell what is going on at all. Cecil B. DeMille's Reap the Wild Wind had a much better undersea battle with a giant squid facing off against Ray Milland and John Wayne. And his stuff is even older than this film by 35 years.

Tentacoli gets three stars because of the presence of these name players, but each one of them can barely get out the lines. Pass this one by unless stars in distress pleases you.