Tentacoli (1977)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

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:

Factual errors: Although the title of the film is "Tentacoli" ("Tentacles"), and it is about a murderous giant octopus, octopuses do not have tentacles, they have arms. Scientifically, the definition of "tentacle" is commonly accepted as an elongated structure with suckers at the very tip. A squid normally has two tentacles, along with many arms, but octopuses do not have tentacles.

Quotes:

Ned Turner: Will, I've herad the suckers on a tentacles are like the claws on a tiger.
Will Gleason: Compared to suckers on a tentacle, claws are nothing Mr. Turner.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Aquanoids (2003)

Soundtrack:

The Octopus First Victim

Hysterical-

Well, hysterically bad! Everyone else's comments already hit the nail on the head, so I don't know what is making me laugh harder- this movie or the comments!

I hope everyone involved in making the movie at least had a good time in Italy and Southern California. Hopefully they were laughing, too. Huston was way too much of a genius not to have seen this as what it is- dreadful. Perhaps he thought it was a farce of some kind? I would love to have been a fly on the wall during the after filming drinks Huston, Winters, and Fonda must have shared.

The effects are bad, the dubbing atrocious, I couldn't tell if the weird sounds were music or sound effects, some scenes were lifted almost exactly from Jaws...

I could go on, but I think you've got the idea. If it is rainy outside, and you're bored and ready for a laugh, go ahead and watch.

But don't say you haven't been warned.