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Monster from the Ocean Floor More at IMDbPro »

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14 reviews in total

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7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
A tinpot classic with charm and presence, 30 November 2005

Author: fertilecelluloid from Mountains of Madness

A low key monster movie from producer Roger Corman (his first) and director Wyott Ordung. What struck me as creepy were the rules the monster played by -- werewolf rules. He only came out at night and he only came into his own when the moon was full. He didn't rush about like one of those "humanoids from the deep" (another Corman production) and he didn't eat flesh (cow excepted). He simply menaced and eliminated his enemies off-screen. I liked that. I could handle that.

I was always very impressed by the pedal-powered submarine. It was like something the Professor from "Gilligan's Island" might have pieced together. I wanted one of those. It reeked of adventure. I was also impressed by the film's title, an evocative title if ever there was one. I loved the title "Monster From The Surf", too, but after suffering through that one, I was happy to stick to the ocean floor.

The score, as mentioned by another reviewer, really is effective and plain eerie, and the film's cinematography never betrays its poverty row budget.

Corman knew, from the beginning, that good characters are the foundation of any good movie, whatever its genre, and this, his first, is a tinpot classic with charm and presence.

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10 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
A great monster flick, 5 August 2004

Author: moycon from Atlanta

I was lucky enough to find this movie years ago pre-viewed at a Blockbusters and immediately loved it. As soon as I found out it had been released on DVD, I bought it outright. Why? It's just an all around great movie. No it doesn't have the best production values, No the acting will not win any awards EVER! But what the flick does have is soul. It straight forward, to the point. A monster is terrorizing a village. A woman visiting the area wants to help out. She tracks down the monster and...... Well I wont give away the ending.

The film is short and sweet, just over an hour its running time is just perfect. The monster in my opinion is very well done. Sure you may laugh now...But I can imagine back when I was a wee lad the sight of that horrible thing rising out of the bubbling oceans probably would have sent me to bed shivering and begging for the light to be left on. I think this is the perfect movie to introduce the younger generation (6-9 year old) to the genre. If you haven't yet, watch this at least once. You may wind up like me, addicted to the Monster From The Ocean Floor!

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Danger at the cove, 18 August 2005

Author: Chris Gaskin from Derby, England

Monster From the Ocean Floor was the first monster movie from Roger Corman and I quite enjoyed watching this, despite reading some bad reviews.

A series of deaths and disappearances turn out to be the responsibility of a one-eyed octopus which only comes ashore on nights when the moon is out full. It also kills a cow. A woman and marine biologist team up and destroy it and also fall in love.

This movie also includes an unusual pedal powered submarine, sharks, the marine biologist singing and a mad local native who wants the woman dead so the creature won't appear again (according to local legend). There is also some nice scenery and a good music score.

The cast includes Stuart Wade (Teenage Monster), Anne Kimbell and Corman regular Johnathan Haze (Little Shop Of Horrors).

Monster From the Ocean Floor is a good way to spend just over an hour one afternoon or evening.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

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6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
More Than Meets The Eye!, 29 June 2002
Author: teuthis (Teuthis@knology.net) from Columbus, Georgia

On the surface, this film appears to be just another entry into the 50's cinema monster mill. But when we dive deeper we find some subtle and entertaining differences. The heroine is remarkably modern. She is brave, independent, determined, and completely oblivious to what the rather effete male characters think of her. The film is actually developed around her persona, and her dogged determination to seek the monster lurking below. The underwater scenes are beautiful examples of early open water cinematography in the lush, cool Pacific Ocean. The submarine is great. I really wanted one when I was a kid and first saw this film. The spunky actress seems to have done her own diving too. The scene in which she tries to fend off the shark is exciting. If you forget the rather weakly done monster, its minimal time on screen, and instead, focus on the enchanting heroine and her quest, this is not a bad film at all. I certainly find it entertaining. I have it on DVD and watch if often.

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6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
I enjoyed this one..., 11 February 2002

Author: Jim C. from The Bumble's Cave

I know many people judge a movie solely on its of special effects. This one doesn't have a lot of eye-candy, even considering the time it came from. But the story and the acting are above par for movies of this type and when all was said and done, I enjoyed myself watching this movie.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Fun Adventure Tale, 24 September 2002

Author: Space_Mafune from Newfoundland, Canada

Sure this movie is cheaply done and features very few special effects but nonetheless there's a surprising amount of high adventure in this tale. Even better and more unique for the period--our hero is actually an heroine! The music(apparently done by Andre Brummel)is actually extremely well-done and adds considerably to building up the tension. Overall it's as I said above--it's a fun adventure story and one which wisely doesn't go on for too long.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
B movie feast with personality, 17 March 2006

Author: r-c-s from Italy

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

this is undoubtedly a B movie. 1954 was its year ( the same year as the first Godzilla ), so we should adjust our expectations accordingly. All in all, this movie is more closely related to 1930's movies than 1950's. Stories about some "sea devil" killing people fascinate an American woman vacationing in Mexico. She's beyond the typical female specimen of the 1950's, and she takes matters into her own hands, trying to locate this "monster", supposedly behind a few mysterious deaths. She joins forces with 2 marine biologists, one of whom (her supposed beau, but that gets nearly no screen time ) rides a man powered submarine i clearly remember i saw in print in some old Disney comics: same layout, same purpose. There is (Corman style) a subplot involving 2 villagers, one subduing the other into killing the young lady in an attempt to appease pre-colombian deities or whatever. Producer Corman perhaps (mask of red death) establishes a parallel between the unknown as source of evil and human distress and phobias.

Again there is some nice submarine footage documentary style.

Overall a nice movie visibly plagued by low budget. It still retains some personality (EG it still ranks higher and succeeds better than say "the mysterians"). Acting isn't much of anything, and actors have more "bit parts" or "uncredited" roles in their career than else. SFX are negligible, if any.

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3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
a real fright among the false, 30 December 2005

Author: Lee De Cola from Reston VA

I rented this film because the composer was a good friend of my musician father Felix De Cola (who may have played the piano on the score!). It's a silly movie with an absurd monster, but there's a scene around minute 40 where the heroine encounters a shark that had me quite startled. The fish appears to be 2 meters long and its open mouth comes at the camera and then at the girl in several shots. Even if she was an experienced diver, this must have been an unsettling experience. And no, it's almost certainly not an animatronic.

This was a time when the psychotechnology of horror films was developing at its fastest, so you can see how the director (clumsily) tries to manipulate our fears. Crude films often teach us more than well-made ones.

As for the music, there's a distant similarity between Brummer's music and John Williams' Jaws theme, but I doubt the link is real.

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Some entertainment value, 13 May 2009

Author: TheFiendsThatPlagueThee from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A vacationing American and a marine biologist attempt to track and stop a sea monster which has been terrorizing a Mexican village, despite a lack of belief from the authorities and superstitious beliefs of the villagers.

Monster from the Ocean Floor is an entertaining monster movie that would be worth watching for those who like this genre. It has fairly low production values and neither the acting nor the direction are terribly inspired, but it has a short enough running time that it doesn't get dull.

The first part shows an idyllic vacation with sunsets and serenades, which helps build towards the menace below the sea, and the ending is fitting, if a bit trite.

Not a great movie, but good enough for a quick light watch.

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Has a lot of problems, but not without merit. Not much merit, but some., 11 May 2009

Author: lemon_magic from Wavy Wheat, Nebraska

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Corman produced this one (instead of directing it), but his stamp is all over this minor, dull effort. I would be willing to bet that the actual director (Ordung) had maybe $20 grand and a couple of weeks to make this little lump of a film, and the results show in almost every aspect of it - from the special effect of the monster itself to the way the hero disposes of it.

(Seriously, if YOU were a giant octopus with one giant eye, don't you think that Nature would have let you learn to, I don't know...BLINK?!?!)

As always with Corman derived films, there is just enough interest and quality to it to keep you from setting your TV on fire - dull and talky though the movie is, it's still way, way better than celluloid disasters like "Mesa Of Lost Women". In this case, the film has an assertive and (mostly) dynamic heroine who persists in her altruistic attempts to aid a remote village when no one else believes there is a real problem. And she does fight off a shark with a knife at one point (even if the scene itself is badly staged and executed, it's impressive when you think about it). The movie actually builds up to the first appearance of the monster with some patience and instills a nice sense of menace and remoteness to the sea side village where the action takes place. Also, some nice underwater photography and some decent Debussy inspired piano music on the soundtrack add a bit of enjoyment to some of the ocean scenes.

On the other hand, the actress herself comes off as brittle and grumpy, there is no chemistry between her and the leading man, and some of the lines of dialog would make Uta Hagen herself despair. And the whole thing is so dark and the voices mixed so low into the soundtrack (although this might be a function of the print I saw) that it's hard to maintain even the slightest interest in the proceedings.

For what it's worth, you could kill 80 minutes watching this and not want to kill yourself when it was over. That's about the best recommendation I ever give a Corman production.

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