This film that was riffed by Mystery Science Theater 3000 was directed by Lamberto Bava. I am kind of surprised at this, as this film is really bad and was made in 1984 just two years before Bava's Demons film was released. Demons was a totally great splatter and gore film featuring people trapped in a movie theater being turned into and killed by demons. This one is a really weak shark film that is kind of a combination of Jaws and the lesser known film Barracuda. I say it is more of a combination of the two because while there was a shark killing people in this one, there was also conspiracy stuff going on with a lab that was more in line with the Barracuda film. So, while it does feature a shark, it is not a pure ripoff of Jaws.
The story has a shark terrorizing the Florida area, only it is not just a shark, but a shark with tentacles thus making it a devil fish! Should have called the film, Devil Shark, that would of had a lot more punch. A woman who works with Dolphins and a guy who drives around his boat drinking beer enlist the help of an electrician to try and capture this beast's roar! However, all is not as it seems as the WOI, a company that either really loves the ocean or is strictly in it for the profits has enlisted the aid of an ugly dude to try and sabotage the electrician's work! Meanwhile, the devil fish leaves people without their appendages and in the care of a doctor who isn't very good. They finally get their act together and attempt to burn the shark to death because it apparently forgot that it was a shark and can breath underwater and could have easily avoided the flames.
This made for a rather good episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, though I imagine they had to do a lot of editing for this one. Just like they did in Squirm, mainly due to the gore they had to take away all the goriest scenes and such. I can only say I imagined, because I have never seen an uncut version of this one, but I know Bava's Demons was gory as all get out. This one had plenty to riff though and to me the riffing only got better on the show as the seasons progressed.
So the film is not good; especially, when one compares it to Bava's other works. Granted, I only saw Demons and Demons 2, but both of those were totally awesome horror films that never let off the gas, while this one seems to ride the breaks as there are speculation scenes galore. However, I do realize it is just hard to make an undersea creature with a limited budget look really good. Then you cannot really show it that much and it is just much simpler to add makeup to people and have them look like really convincing demons. Still, not a lot of good in this one other than at least there are a couple of attractive girls in it...not the main one though, she was way too skinny.
The story has a shark terrorizing the Florida area, only it is not just a shark, but a shark with tentacles thus making it a devil fish! Should have called the film, Devil Shark, that would of had a lot more punch. A woman who works with Dolphins and a guy who drives around his boat drinking beer enlist the help of an electrician to try and capture this beast's roar! However, all is not as it seems as the WOI, a company that either really loves the ocean or is strictly in it for the profits has enlisted the aid of an ugly dude to try and sabotage the electrician's work! Meanwhile, the devil fish leaves people without their appendages and in the care of a doctor who isn't very good. They finally get their act together and attempt to burn the shark to death because it apparently forgot that it was a shark and can breath underwater and could have easily avoided the flames.
This made for a rather good episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, though I imagine they had to do a lot of editing for this one. Just like they did in Squirm, mainly due to the gore they had to take away all the goriest scenes and such. I can only say I imagined, because I have never seen an uncut version of this one, but I know Bava's Demons was gory as all get out. This one had plenty to riff though and to me the riffing only got better on the show as the seasons progressed.
So the film is not good; especially, when one compares it to Bava's other works. Granted, I only saw Demons and Demons 2, but both of those were totally awesome horror films that never let off the gas, while this one seems to ride the breaks as there are speculation scenes galore. However, I do realize it is just hard to make an undersea creature with a limited budget look really good. Then you cannot really show it that much and it is just much simpler to add makeup to people and have them look like really convincing demons. Still, not a lot of good in this one other than at least there are a couple of attractive girls in it...not the main one though, she was way too skinny.