Devil Fish (1984)
"Shark: Rosso nell'oceano" (original title)

A marine biologist, a dolphin trainer, a research scientist, and a local sheriff try to hunt down a large sea monster, a shark/octopus hybrid, that is devouring swimmers and fishermen off a south Florida coast.

Director:

Lamberto Bava

Writers:

Lamberto Bava (additional material), Gianfranco Clerici (screenplay),

Stars:

Michael Sopkiw, Valentine Monnier, Gianni Garko

Bottom 100 #53 | See the Bottom 100 movies as voted by our users.

Cast

Cast overview:
Michael Sopkiw	...	Peter
Valentine Monnier	...	Dr. Stella Dickens
Gianni Garko	...	Sheriff Gordon (as John Garko)
William Berger	...	Prof. Donald West
Iris Peynado	...	Sandra Hayes
Lawrence Morgant	...	Dr. Davis Barker
Cinzia de Ponti	...	Florinda (as Cinthia Stewart)
Paul Branco	...	Miller
Dagmar Lassander	...	Sonja West

Storyline

Several boats are torn apart, badly wrecked corpses are washed ashore... something horrible is out in the Caribbean sea. The teeth marks on the bodies don't lead to any known animal, so scientist Dr. Stella Dickens suspects it's a so far unknown life form and strives to catch it alive. She doesn't know yet that ruthless scientists have genetically created this creature as a bioweapon, or that it has been designed to reproduce by asexual means. And that the company she works for created the creature and will stop at nothing to keep their secret.

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Plot Keywords:

sea | dolphin | boat | monster | sea monster | 

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Taglines:

Undisturbed for a thousand years, the devil has now awoken.

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

14 November 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Devilfish

Filming Locations:

Big Cypress Swamp, Everglades National Park, Florida, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmes International, Les Films du Griffon, National Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 85 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's French title is "Apocalypse dans l'ocean rouge", meaning "Revelation in the Red Ocean."

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Goofs

An oil slick fire would do little damage to an underwater monster.

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Quotes

Sheriff Gordon: Bob's boat was attacked here, so I can infer that it just sits in that area.

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Crazy Credits

The "Devil Fish" version shows the title twice at the beginning; once just after the attack on the boat and once during the opening credits.

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Connections

References Jaws (1975)

User Reviews

Review for original U.S. version DEVIL FISH.

A "40 foot long" giant mutant squid with five tentacles, razor fangs and the ability to reproduce it's own cells terrorizes a small Florida town. Various marine biologists, doctors and cops plot to kill it. Meanwhile, a human monster named Miller offs people who discover the "Devilfish" is a manmade creation used for the greedy benefit of some evil doctors! Miller attacks a female researcher, strangles her, drowns her in the bathtub, tosses in a hairdryer, then rips the panties off her dead body!

Lots of false alarms are set when our heroes Peter, Stella, Janet and Bob set out on a high tech (high tech for 1984, anyway) "Seaquarium" boat to catch the creature, who is frequently seen in close up or hilariously obvious speeded-up film to seem more menacing. And only fire can destroy it, which leads to a flamethrower-armed posse vs. aquatic beast finale.

This JAWS cash-in is pretty tame (other than a legless corpse and a decapitation) but watchable and benefits from an excellent Antony Barrymore score and a decent (again, for 1984) monster design. Luigi Cozzi and Sergio Martino wrote the original story.

Score: 4 out of 10