Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Scott LeBrun Screenwriter Harry Essex, who'd worked on such classics as "It Came from Outer Space" and "The Creature from the Black Lagoon", does his first genre feature as a director in this 1971 schlock favourite that could just as easily have been made in the 1950s. It has that sort of feel to it, and one can believe that this script of his may have been in existence since that decade.It's silly fun with an ecological function as scientists working in an unidentified Latin American country seek to prove the effects of radiation on the animal kingdom. As one can clearly see, Essex still had CftBL very much on his brain with the way this ultimately turns into a beauty and the beast tale.Well meaning Dr. Rick Torres (fantasy star Kerwin Mathews, looking incredibly serious) and his crew soon run into the almighty Octaman, a humanoid octopus thing shambling along in the way that only men in rubber costumes can do.Character actor Read Morgan is the man in the suit, and does what he has to do quite adequately. Co-starring are lovely Pier Angeli (who died during production) as a typical damsel in distress, whose function is to basically scream at the monster and be carried off on more than one occasion, and Jeff Morrow ("This Island Earth", "The Giant Claw") who actually has only one scene as Ricks' associate Dr. John Willard. The supporting cast is mostly made up of unknowns, although Buck Kartalian, as the ill-fated Raul, had a long career in film, doing everything from "Planet of the Apes" to "Please Don't Eat My Mother".Octaman himself, limply flopping tentacles and all, is endearing all the way, and represents an early effort for Rick Baker, who designed the costume with Doug Beswick. Essex makes no attempt to reveal the monster a bit at a time, preferring to showcase it every chance he gets. His movie isn't totally without atmosphere and suspense, but it goes on too long and gets too talky. It tends to get boring whenever the monster isn't doing his thing.However, it has undeniable bad movie charm that makes it impossible to truly dislike. And in the tradition of "Bride of the Monster", it's a hoot to see the victims of Octaman have to basically kill themselves while fumbling with the fake arms. A little bit o' gore here and there is an asset, while in one scene one of the most obvious and unconvincing dummies of all time gets tossed off a cliff. This isn't as much fun as one could want, but lovers of so-bad-it's-good cinema should be moderately entertained.Five out of 10.

Michael_Elliott Octaman (1971) ** (out of 4) This semi, unofficial remake of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON doesn't shy away from ripping off various scenes from that film. In this one, a group of scientists (and of course a money hungry POS) discover that there might be a half man, half octopus's in the Mexican swamps so they try to track him down. Soon he's fighting back and killing everyone around. Okay, this is a rather hard film to judge because there's no question that this is an awful movie. Everything from the performances to the screenplay to the direction are downright bad. There are some rather interesting things about the film and we can start off with director/writer Harry Essex. He previously wrote the screenplay for Universal's MAN MADE MONSTER but also CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON itself so I guess he has the right to rip off his own work. How he wrote them amazes me after watching this screenplay, which has the be one of the worst ever written because none of it ever makes any sense. The movie never really makes it clear what the scientists are doing, where on earth they're at since the scenery is constantly changing and best of all is that they follow the monster in a RV and not a boat. The top billed Pier Angeli, who some might remember from SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME, died of a drug overdose during production, which certainly leaves a dark spot on the film. Thirdly, future Oscar-winner Rick Baker did the monster costume and effects here. Yes, it's obvious the thing is a rubber suit but I must admit that I liked the creation because it at least looks campy like the costumes from the 1950s horror films that this one is clearly trying to be like. The violence in the film is pretty good as well as the swinging arms of the monster is always knocking eyes out or ripping flesh. Again, if you're wanting art then I'd recommend checking out the work of Bunuel. If you're wanting good, drive-in fun then this film really fits the bill. This would make a perfect double feature with ZAAT, which I watched a few weeks earlier.

adriangr A very low budget and barmy monster flick from the 1970's in which a mutant octopus-man terrorizes about 6 people on a jungle expedition. Not widely known or seen, Octaman doesn't really do much with it's central idea, but then again what really is the scope for a film where the threat is one single man in an octopus suit? The story is slim: a wildlife expedition finds a little octopus with big starey eyes on a riverbank and take it back to their tent for study. Later that night a big daddy Octaman with even bigger starey eyes come to reclaim his little-un! Things go on like this for a while, with lots of nighttime scenes showing the rubbery menace stomping around the compound looking for trouble and whacking people to death with his tentacles. Unfortunately it's very easy to see right from the start that Octaman is a guy in a rubber suit with an extra fake tentacle on each arm and an extra fake tentacle on each leg...these don't move much and the effect is sadly mostly unconvincing. The old motto that "less is more" could have worked well here: if the monsters ugly face and flailing limbs were seen a bit less clearly, the audience might find things a bit more intriguing, but after the first 30 minutes, the Octaman has been seen very clearly from every angle multiple times, and I was getting bored of him! Especially as the majority film never leaves the same wretched riverbank for almost an hour, and just shows Octaman coming out of the water to camp, attacking people and then going back in again.Acting is so-so, but acceptable, from the limited cast of 6, and at least the monster is fun to watch. Although I did find two things a bit silly – the POV "Octa-vision" shots show his vision to be faceted into hexagons like a fly-eye view might be, even though he has big round single lens eyes. And his permanently wide open mouth has plenty of angry looking sharp teeth but no throat opening at all – it just looks like a teeth-fringed green saucer! For these reasons and the very underwhelming climax, I can understand why "Octaman" has not become a cult hit..shame really, but it's just not very exciting.

Deliberate_Stranger 'Octaman' is a pretty nice monster movie from early 70's and includes one of the sweetest rubber costumes in the whole movie history. Created by Sixth time Oscar award winner special effects guru Rick Baker ('Gorillas in the Mist)creature is a half man half octopus mutant, who terrorizes people in a small Mexican village. A group of scientists tries to catch the creature but Octaman seems to be much smarter than he looks. Some people will die and some will survive to stand up in the final battle against the powerful freak of nature. To be honest with you - this movie isn't good. Actually it's hilariously bad, laughable flick with bad acting and totally lack of gore. The music is boring as hell and cinematography for sure isn't the first rate,but in overall 'Octaman' is a cult classic of bad movies and as I said it has one of the greatest costumes in movie history to date. Strong tentacles and scary red eyes -that's the Octaman device. Absolutely must see for monster movies fans! It definitively needs a proper DVD release in a good quality and with some extras. 6 out 10 for this cult trash.