After watching "Tentacles" last night - and being absolutely miserable as a result of it, there's one fact that's more resoundingly obvious than ever, which is the irrefutable fact that JAWS sure did "inspire" a tidal wave of sea-beast themed movies - and from what I've seen virtually all of them are terrible movies (lame cash-ins). But yet some still manage to be pretty entertaining, however with Tentacles, that's not at all the case......Firstly lets start with a quick cast run-down: Peter Fonda, John Huston, Shelley Winters and Bo Hopkins, so the casting is actually quite good and it was filmed on location off the beautiful coastlines of southern California, but once it's all said and done who really cares, because when movies are this exquisitely boring there's little in the way of positivity to mention. Tentacles is so completely and utterly lame it's hard to know where to start but here goes, the films all-star cast is used ineffectively (particularly in the second half) and Bo Hopkins delivers a lame and listless performance and just listen to his dialog. Terrible writing, terrible delivery, period. The films plot and basic story-line is poorly thought out and ill-conceived and from a special effects stand-point it's clearly obvious that the film simply didn't have anything near good enough to Stop Hearts or Wet Pants. Nope not all, nothing like what you see in say "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" - 22 years earlier. No "effects-wizardry" to see here, just some crudely conceived, low-budget, under-water effects that have been spliced together and intercut with some live animal footage (once again taking notes out of JAWS' playbook); and on that note let it be known that simply showing an animal up-close does not, repeat, does not effectively project any grand sense of scale or "giant" size, nor does it fool the audience - not for a second. I think it's "The Night of the Lepus" that best illustrates that fact, which technically speaking is an even worse movie than Tentacles, but yet at the same time it's much more entertaining, if not entirely for the right reasons. Oh yeah, just to mention it, this film has a soundtrack that's utterly generic, sounds like stock film music to me; my guess is that they could hardly afford John Williams, in any case the films music sucks. If there's one aspect that Tentacles isn't completely incompetent in, it would have to be in terms of its cinematography, apart from a few questionable camera angles its photography is solid throughout.Let me end my rant and review with this warning: For those who were considering wasting their time watching this pathetic garbage-pile of a movie (which is literally nothing more than an ultra-lame cash-in that's playing off of JAWS' record-breaking success), I'd recommend that you watch something else, as Tentacles scores in the bottom 1% of all movies. Lets be brutally honest it offers absolutely nothing that's good.

Sure this isn't a top of the lines creature movie, they clearly had to make do with a lot less money, but they made the best of it. In the tradition of disaster movies, they set up all of the characters only to have the octopus eat them all. The only problem was that the ones who survive you don't really care about. The ending where the two killer whales eat the monster is hilarious in that you can clearly see how they shot around puppets, but it has a certain charm anyway. It could be slow moving, but there was enough here that a watch isn't a waste of your life. For a knock off, it wasn't the worst thing I've seen, even if Henry Fonda looked like he didn't know where he was or what he was doing for his brief cameo.

In the sunny California resort community "Solana Beach", a baby disappears near the shore. This turns out to be an appetizer. More deaths occur. The bodies are being eaten by a giant octopus, who spits out the skeletal remains of its victims. Due to economic concerns, local sheriff Claude Akins and associates downplay the danger and the annual yacht race goes on as planned. Wizened newspaper reporter John Huston (as Ned Turner) becomes aware of the danger. His stout sister Shelley Winters (as Tillie) brings her young son and a friend to the shore. With his wife out of the picture, marine biologist and scuba diver Bo Hopkins (as Will Gleason) tries to eliminate the danger with his handsome friend Alan Boyd (as Mike) and some trained whales. Odd soundtrack music accompanies the action...Yes, this the plot of "Jaws" (1975) – with a giant octopus swimming in for the giant shark. Although it doesn't move or develop the story, director Ovidio Assonitis and his production team include some interesting shots and edits in early scenes. They become less flashy and more tiresome as the film progresses. The relationships between the characters is often confusing. The cast is headed up by some very dependable performers – the aforementioned are joined by "Trojan" constructor Henry Fonda as a businessman with a financial interest in the proceedings. He appears to be giving the bare basics of a Fonda performance. Mr. Hopkins, Ms. Winters and Mr. Huston can be seen "acting" on their own – each delivering dependable mannerisms and looks – in a vacuum, unfortunately.*** Tentacles (2/25/77) Ovidio Assonitis ~ Bo Hopkins, John Huston, Shelley Winters, Henry Fonda

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.