Octopus 2: River of Fear (2001 Video) User Reviews

Not as bad - I've seen worse

[ebiros2 · 4/10 · 20 August 2011]

As far as B sci-fi are concerned, this is a solid middle of the road movie. I've watched other craps like the Carnosaur series, and the likes of the Dog Soldier where I have no idea why it gets a high score. Many of these so called sci-fi movies are rip offs in that they state certain monster will appear, but when you see it, the total appearance time of the monster is less than a minute or two, and other 90 minutes is a filler where soldiers or who ever is acting scared and shouting macho BS. Many of them happens in such a dark setting that you can hardly see any details like AVP 2.

Compared to these, Octopus 2 has solid performance both from the actors and the octopus. There's a story that's believable, and the actions are not bad either.

There are other bad movies out there that's lot worse, and after seeing sci-fi movies for years, this is a solid middle of the road piece.

Oh dear...

[sam_aj_01 · 4/10 · 19 October 2007]

When i saw the first octopus movie it was a laugh see the cheesy acting and appalling effects. This film seemed to make up for the acting, but not the special effects. After Jaws and Piranha, sure, why not make a film about a killer octopus? The octopus invades the New York waters, where 2 police investigators try stopping the rampaging beast before the 4th of July.

A pretty clean plot and descent happenings but the octopus was pretty much appalling, its nice to see they actually made it this time but it looked like a piece of plastic... Better on a big budget really, this film could have been a good watch. There's a continuous amount of errors where it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't research the way octopus live...

Watch this if you like cheap DVD sequels, otherwise your better watching Jaws.

Well done first half falls apart in the last act

[Wuchakk · 4/10 · 23 December 2011]

Released in the US in January, 2002, "Octopus 2: River of Fear" is a sequel in name only. Whereas the original "Octopus" (2000) had a highly creative storyline involving terrorists, a submarine, a cruise ship and a bizarro-James Bond, "Octopus 2" takes the tried-and-true "Jaws" route. The setting here is New York City. A giant octopus decides to make the East River his home and people inevitably start dying. Two harbor patrol officers discover the cause of the deaths, but are ignored and ridiculed. The city is preparing for its biggest Independence Day celebration ever and the mayor doesn't want the officers' preposterous monster 'story' getting out and causing a mass panic.

As you can see, the basic plot mimics "Jaws" to a 'T.' Regardless, I was pretty impressed with the first half. You could tell the filmmakers and cast really put some thought and effort into making a quality Grade B creature feature, reminiscent of "Kolchak - The Night Stalker." Where "Octopus 2" takes a wrong turn is the last act, which morphs into a disaster film involving a school bus of kids and other vehicles trapped in a river tunnel. Not that it was a bad idea, especially since it gives evidence that the creators wanted to deviate from the basic "Jaws" plot, which I respect, but they failed to execute it. The last act seems rushed and sloppy, like the filmmakers were just trying to get the film done and over with, with almost zero effectiveness. In other words, they started with good intentions and quality vigor, but somewhere along the line they lost their focus & enthusiasm and decided to just go through the motions and collect their paychecks. It's unfortunate because the first half is a solid creature-on-the-loose flick in the manner of "Kolchak."

For a good example of what I mean, check out the scene near the end where the monster -- thought to be dead -- rises up for another attack; this scene is so poorly presented it's hard to believe it was done by the same team that produced the first half.

BOTTOM LINE: The first half is a well-done nature-runs-amok flick featuring a quality cast, particularly the two officers who investigate the killings and the mayoral worker who befriends them, but when the film attempts to morph into a disaster flick it inexplicably falls apart. Yet it's still worthwhile if you like movies along the lines of "Kolchak."

The film runs 94 minutes.

GRADE: C

Giant Octopus meets NYPD Blue!

[giantdevilfish · 20 August 2002]

I liked this movie a lot better then part one until the ending. The acting while not great (remember this is a direct to video movie after all) is a hell of a lot better then the first flick. Furthermore the effects are much better. The Octopus is actually in this movie a lot as opposed to being a minor character in the first flick which dealt with a submarine crew escorting a terrorist back to the U.S.A. Plus the Octopus looks a lot better. While there is really bad CGI effects, most of the effects were utilized with a huge animatronic Octopus as well as various tentacle props giving the Octopus a more solid look rather then BAD painted effects from the first film. HOWEVER the massive Stock footage from part one kinda ruins it after a while, BUT the ending destroyed this movie entirely for me!! To massive amounts of footage of kids singing on a school bus, to a complete and shameless rip-off of the film DAYLIGHT to 15 minutes of kids being rescued from the bus, to a horrible actress pretending to be an old Jewish women to the Octopus getting completely blown to bits only to resurface completely unharmed moments later to 6 different stock footage shots of the Octopus finally blowing up at the end to me scratching my head in disbelief!!

The only thing your capable of killing is a few brain cells

[sol1218 · 5/10 · 15 December 2008]

(There are Spoilers) Ridicules but entertaining monster movie involving this now you see it now you don't giant octopus who's causing havoc in the East River. Almost all the action in the movie takes place not far from where the World Trade Center used to be in downtown Manhattan.

The killer octopus who was swept down to New York Bay, from its breeding grounds in Nova Scotia, by a major storm has found that New Yorkers are a lot more tasty then what it's been feeding on up north and decided to make New York its home away from home. New York City Harbor Patrol cops Nick Hatfield & Walter McNair,Michael Reily Burke & Fredric Lehne, get involved with the octopus almost by accident by arresting a top New York City Judge,Harry Anichkin, for trafficking in illegal drugs on his sailboat. Da Judge almost gets the two cops busted for false arrest but, being the drug peddler that he is, later in the film ends up being dragged down, with his stash of drugs, to the bottom of the East River by the shadowy octopus.

At first treated as nothing more then a practical joke the octopus makes himself known by eating a number of tourists and destroying a tug boat and it's entire crew in the East River. With the evidence mounting that there's a real danger looming over the city's millennium July 4th celebration the Mayor, Duncan Fraser, is determined to have it go on even if it means the possible deaths of hundreds of New Yorkers by attracting the killer octopus, uninvited of course, to it!

The inept special effects make the killer octopus about as scary as the rubber octopus used in the Ed Wood bad movie classic "Bride of the Monster". In fact the Ed Wood vision was a lot more funnier by having a 72 year old, who's recovering from heroin addiction, Bela Lugosi have it out with it with Bela doing the work of both the octopus, who's mechanical motor conked out during the filming, and himself.

The movie itself didn't end where the octopus was supposed to have its last stand in the waters of New York Harbor but of all place in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel that just happens to be water free! We were given this big build up about the octopus planning to crash the big July 4th celebration that's supposed to have some 20,000 boats of all sizes and shapes in New York Harbor! But about the only boats we saw celebrating, if you can call it that, was a few tug and NYPD harbor patrol boats with their crews totally oblivious of what was going on, the big July 4th celebration, all around them.

The movie seemed to get lost in its storyline when it started to forget that it was about a giant killer octopus not a sequel to the Sylvester Stallone auctioneer "Daylight". Nick who has his hands full saving a bus load of school children stuck in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel suddenly realizes, by probably being reminded off camera, that he's in the wrong movie and gets back to business by blasting the octopus, who seems to appeared out of nowhere, to pieces only after he already put it away, or seemed to have, some 15 minutes earlier!

One of the last movies to have in it on location shots of the now non-existent, due to the 9/11 attacks, World Trade Center which has more screen time then anyone, including the killer octopus, in the film. There's also the oddity of having the WTC moved around in the movie where we get to see it both south, where it actually was situated, and north, where it never was, of New York's City Hall!

Get rid of it!

[vlahov · 1/10 · 24 September 2005]

Since I am required to write minimum of 10 lines, and this garbage deserves not only a single one, I'll start with the following: 1. I voted AWFUL for this dreadful so called "movie".

2. Let me explain why these turkeys Mr. David Varod produces are shot mainly in my beautiful homeland, Bulgaria (just in BTW, for the illiterate people around - this country is IN EUROPE, based north to Greece and has absolutely nothing to do with Mexico and Uruguay) Some years ago, NU Image has invaded our country and started making crappy mostly direct-to-video releases. Why here? Because here they pay derisively low fees to the Bulgarian crew and to the Bulgarian actors (most of them distinguished ones) which are, in many ways, better than most of their American colleagues. Personally I am ashamed of that fact. The reason is, of course, the greediness of the Americans involved and their wish to get most, if not all of the profit. Actually it would't be so bad if only the production wasn't so filthy and pale. There hasn't been a good picture shot here for years. At present NU image is being sued here over the very questionably purchasing of our national cinema production centre called Boyana Films. No doubt about it there has been corruption, there has been deceit, there has been a lies in this recent purchase. The Bulgarian cinema is dead. Long live the Bulgarian cinema!

We go down to the river And into the river we DIE!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 25 July 2006]

"Octopus", released one year before, was a bad movie that wasted an hour and a half of my (not-so) precious life, so why the hell would I bother to see a sequel? Actually, I don't know why but I did bother. And I'm somewhat glad I did, because part two is definitely a slight improvement over the first! "Octopus" was a really boring underwater monster-movie and, in the end, a ridiculously over-sized sea creature ate an entire cruise ship! At least here the action is more spread, the pace is faster and the script is less ambitious. Part two is more like a silly & cheesy "Jaws"-rip off that can easily be enjoyed by horror fans as long as they switch off all brain functions. A couple of days prior to the big 4th of July celebration, there are an unusual amount of accidents happening in New York's East River. An over-enthusiast diver cop quickly suggests that a flesh-eating octopus made the river to his territory but, of course, no one in his force or at City Hall takes him serious. Apparently none of the characters ever watched any 70's creature features, as it takes several more casualties before the Captain acknowledges there really is an octopus swimming in his river. The phony sea-critter is pretty damn huge, yet the screenplay never attempts to give a reason for its enormous proportions. No water pollution theories, genetic mutations or leaking barrels of toxic waste here… Just a mean big squid sightseeing the Big Apple for no reason! Quite clever, actually! At least this way they're not making things any worse! The heroic scuba-cop and his fresh love interest eventually blow up the eight-armed monster (twice!!) just in time to enjoy the Independence Day fireworks. I love happy endings. The special effects are okay, I guess, considering it's a typical Nu-Image production. The acting performances are pretty weak and there should have been at least a bit of nudity. Near the end of the film, the story really exaggerates with the use of embarrassing clichés, though! An entire bus of foreign children trapped in an underwater tunnel? C'mon

So cheap they couldn't even afford any new CGI shots.

[[e-mail] · 1/10 · 9 February 2006]

Just finished watching this one after getting sick of getting ready for the Michigan Bar Exam. I wanted something that was mindless and that I could just sit back and say, "what the hell were they thinking?" I was not disappointed in this undertaking, but had I been watching this one in a serious mood, I would have been irate. The company that made this thing just spliced CGI footage from the first Octopus and added a little footage with a fake octopus that makes the one used in "Bride of the Monster" look like a masterpiece of special effect footage. Since when does an octopus have fangs? The plot is that an NYPD diver is investigating some murders/disappearances on the Hudson River shortly before the Fourth of July. He and his partner (who is soon to be transferred, or soon to be munched on by a fig bucking octopus) investigate in a rather inept manner (all the while believing that a huge octopus will kill people) and are occasionally accompanied by a female lackey from the Mayor's office. Of course on one believes that an octopus can get that big until the thing attacks the cop and the girl from the mayor's office. Surprisingly, all hell doesn't break loose and only a few cops and a few more civilians are killed.

Really lame. Don't bother with it.

HOW the F-UCK do you call THIS BUMBLEING BULL SH-T a MOVIE???!!

[gothicgoblin1334 · 1/10 · 1 June 2006]

Oh wow, the character shares my name first name! Nick! This movie as bad as the first one, if not worse. Well, at least there's an actual octopus in this movie. An actual octopus that makes a better appearance in this film. By better, I mean, "Longer" the acting is pretty dry and it's hard to sit through. Just to let you know, when this ninety minute film ends not only are you freed from your couch but you get your ability to breathe back. Not only that, but you realise how stupid you are and then commit suicide, realising how horrible life is after watching this film. Really, it shows how desperate horror movies are today, more crap like this is being realised and where the hell have the real masters of horror been lately? This film should have been the final straw, so we can bring back cinematic geniuses in horror cinema, that could make some actually GOOD modern horror films, this movie bites.

Well it's better than the first one and that's always something

[Red-Barracuda · 2/10 · 13 November 2011]

A giant octopus takes up home in the New York City East River. It immediately starts killing people. A Harbour Patrol cop then has serious trouble convincing his superiors that there is a giant killer mollusk living nearby.

The storyline for Octopus II is yet another that uses the clichéd Jaws (1975) template plot. Giant sea creature kills locals, a policeman knows it's out there but his superiors don't believe him, while politicians think it'll get in the way of their own plans. But let's not get carried away. This movie is seriously far removed from the quality of that Spielberg classic. However, what can be said in its favour is that it is at the very least better than the original film which focused on a boring action-thriller plot on a submarine. The octopus was hardly in it. This movie at least brings the creature more into proceedings – there's even some decent physical effects at times too – and the NYC harbour setting is much better too. There's no actual connection between the films beyond a giant octopus and this one doesn't even bother to come up with an excuse for the gigantic size of the title creature. Although, frankly, this hardly matters.

Unfortunately, it's still pretty far from a decent movie. It does begin reasonably well, including an agreeably nuts dream sequence with the monster climbing the statue of liberty. But sadly it can't maintain its relative promise – these types of films seldom do – and gets badly bogged down with a disaster movie final third where a bus of school kids get trapped in a underwater tunnel. It gets kinda boring to be honest, and these movies should really know better by now that the focus should really be on the monster. As far as acting, effects and originality are concerned, it's strictly as limited on all fronts as you would expect. So, all-in-all not good, but better than the original.

Much better then the first

[atinder · 4/10 · 15 January 2010]

I hated the first movie is really boring and we only get see the Octopus at the end.

The plot Dead bodies are being found in the New York harbor. The police have no clues nor suspects until Nick and his colleague realize the killer is a giant octopus. Everybody, especially the police captain, refuses to believe Nick's story, and soon the harbor will be filled with boats for the 4th of July celebrations...

In this movie we get to see more of the Giant Octopus and Special effects for this movie are really good for it's time.

The acting is this movie not bad but not great too but okay and watch able.

The are some really cheese scenes to movie but if can get past that, You should enjoy the rest of movie.

5/10

Deeply Moving and Extraordinary Horror Film

[jlthornb51 · 10/10 · 17 June 2015]

Talented director Yossi Wein gives this powerful second entry in the Octopus franchise verve and intelligence as he helms this production with imagination and vision. Octopus veteran Boaz Davidson contributed to the story of Octopus 2 and his trademark wit, sensitivity, and talent for penning powerful, deeply moving sequences is clearly seen in the remarkable results. A fine cast does some extraordinary work and there are some superb performances given by the stars. Michael Reilly Burke and Meredith Morton are particular standouts with Fredrick Lehne giving an absolutely inspired performance in the role of Walter. The atmosphere is appropriately dark and forbidding and the almost surrealistic environment almost unendurable. The suspense could be cut with a knife as this horrific creature stalks the population of New York and terrorizes the harbor. The closing sequences may be some of the most emotionally draining and deeply moving ever committed to celluloid. With tremendous thrills, deep emotions, and overwhelming power, there is no denying the haunting horror and heartfelt emotion that is Octopus 2: River of Fear.

Nice action but little else here

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 8 May 2015]

When a series of incidents strike New York harbor, a dive-team finds the problem to be caused by a massive octopus lost in the systems and tries to stop it before a city-wide celebration is threatened.

This was quite a decent creature feature that has a few things going for it. One of its good parts is the really impressive action scenes here which showcase the creature' rampage across the city which makes for quite an enjoyable time here that kicks off immediately in the opening attack on the tourists by the dock. There's also several other rather fun action scenes throughout here with a pretty exciting attack on a tugboat that features all sorts of frantic action as well as a rather exciting dream sequence that showcases the destruction of the Statue of Liberty and the rather chilling subway encounter that all come off nice off nicely. The centerpiece of it all is clearly the discovery dive of the creature which gets a lot of exciting features in, from the creepy antics of the underwater stalking and battling with the limbs just out of detection before switching over to the frantic attempts to try to stop it from getting away which is all kinds of fun that settles this one quite nicely. There's also quite a nice finale as well, which includes the underwater action as well as the subway antics with the stranded commuters and flooding water making for a fun way to end this with a touch of suspense in getting the kids to safety. The pace of these scenes that never makes this feel boring all makes this enough to hold off the flaws in this one. The biggest issue here is the fact that the creature looks pretty bad throughout here that never really gives it a realistic feel, as the methods do give themselves off rather easily. The flapping tentacles aren't so bad when they're in motion but look incredibly bad when done through CGI which is flat and lifeless, not including the stock-shots of the original that are distracting visually as well as content-wise for there's very little coherence from the stock-shot to the new footage. That's even before the use of the full- size puppet which looks completely ridiculous and is so completely obvious there's never any reason to believe it's a real being. Otherwise, the only other flaw here comes from the rather cliché series of plot-lines that run throughout here, from the doubting authorities and the about-to-retire officer being killed to the tepid romance from the two leads simple because they're around which is quite old and rather hard to get through seriously. These are what hold this one down.

Rated R: Violence, Adult Language, and scenes of children-in-jeopardy.

Even worse than the first!

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 29 October 2008]

As if the world hadn't already got enough cheap Jaws imitations, writer Boaz Davidson decided to make the sequel to his ropey-but-reasonably-enjoyable creature-feature Octopus a complete rip-off of Spielberg's classic, right down to having a concerned cop who no-one believes, and a mayor more worried about his 4th July celebrations than people's lives.

Even in the hands of an extremely skilled director, it is unlikely that this derivative rubbish could have been anything other than hokey B-movie garbage, but with Yossi Wein (yes THE Yossi Wein!) calling the shots behind the camera, a man with a fraction of Mr.Spielberg's talent (I estimate about 1/10000th), Octopus 2 is guaranteed to be every bit as bad as one might imagine!

The predictable and extremely clichéd plot isn't worth describing in much detail (substitute Jaws' Amity Island with New York, and Bruce the Shark with a giant rubber octopus and you'll get the gist), although several points about the film are definitely worth mentioning, simply because they are so funny: all of the octopus attacks involve the actors struggling to make incredibly fake-looking giant tentacles look real, which is hilarious to behold; Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, unconvincingly stands in for New York, and overuse of stock footage makes the illusion even less convincing; best of all, a silly dream sequence that sees the rubber octopus attacking our hero atop the Statue of Liberty, is not only gut-bustingly stupid but also features some truly dreadful special effects.

Davidson's script also doesn't know when to quit: there are several points in this film at which it could've (and probably should've) ended, but the action goes on and on, with the octopus surviving several explosions, and causing a tunnel to collapse (trapping the film's love interest and a bunch of kids), before finally being blown to smithereens by the hero.

Sometimes very silly, always awful technically, but never actually scary, this STV stinker may find fans amongst those who actively seek out cinematic trash. Most normal people, however, would be advised to steer well clear.

Let's make a giant squid movie in Bulgaria, but set it in New York!

[aloep · 14 November 2004]

*Mild Spoilers*

When it's a sequel to something that you've probably never heard of and something that was probably awful to begin with, you know you're in trouble. You know you're in even more trouble when it's directed by a certain Yossi Wein, the master of cheap and crappy Eastern European filmed action pictures like U.S Seals, Disaster and the likes. I have been actively seeking out his pictures which are often so bad they're funny.

The premise of a giant octopus terrorising New York Harbor isn't really something that can be easily accomplished in a direct to video movie as with the budgets Yossi Wein works with, he could never afford to shoot there let alone get a convincing giant octopus created, CGI or not. So, how exactly has Yossi managed to make a movie called "Octopus 2" set in New York involving a giant octopus?

Badly, is the first word that comes into mind and I wasn't expecting anything else from Yossi but if you've never seen a movie of his, the low quality will amaze you. Firstly, instead of actually filming it in New York, this movie was filmed in and around Sofia, Bulgaria. In an attempt to convince us that it's New York we're seeing, between almost every scene it cuts to stock footage of Manhattan, the New York centre and boats going through the river. A bunch of underwater stock footage and stock footage from "Daylight" starring Sylvester Stallone is also used and in the end, a good 30% of the movie must consist of stock footage mostly of New York and it isn't fooling anything, as all of this leads to a bunch of continuity errors. For example, it will show footage of a boat going through the river then cut to new footage of a completely different boat back in Bulgaria. Also there are big conflicts in scenery. The area in which Octopus 2 is filmed is obviously in a river or lake located outside of Sofia as we can see hills and woodland in the background, as opposed to the built up area of New York Harbor. But we'll be treated to another 20 seconds of stock New York footage after seeing this! More and more stuff keeps popping up, such as horribly out of sync voice dubbing of local Bulgarian "actors" being used as filler and the ever obvious European cars.

Now to the effects which are cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. You were probably wondering how they managed to fill in the giant octopus on a budget. Well, apparently not even filming it in Sofia, Bulgaria could spare them enough to create a convincing looking octopus as the giant squid in this is if anything, even worse than the mechanical shark in Jaws 4: The Revenge. It's a completely laughable rubber thing which we never see in full other than in some awful CGI and a small plastic model. The rubber object is quite obviously operated by hand off camera and gets wrapped around or hits it's victims from a bunch of different camera angles (obviously to hide the human operating it). It really is that bad. But it doesn't end there. Incredibly cheesy modelwork is used several times including a small model boat and an absolutely hilarious scene in which the lead has a nightmare about the "octopus" attacking a plastic toy of the statue of liberty while he is inside it. What this toy means to him, we will never know! When the octopus is broadcasted on the news, the news footage is absolutely laughable. We see a woman reporting it over a completely black background. Talk about cheap.

The characters are also ridiculously unimaginative and clichéd such as the long time detective who witnesses this giant octopus and everyone else basically telling him he's insane and that they want to get on with celebrating the 4th of July and the drunk witness named "Mad Dog". None of the characters are likable or convincing at all and you don't remotely care for them. The acting level is really embarrassing and is even harder to take seriously when you see them in action around stock footage and laughable effects.

With all the above taken in, this movie has no decent suspense, drama, thrills or action and like most Yossi Wein movies just comes across as a complete joke. Don't look at this expecting anything resembling a decent action/horror movie, this is a bad, bad movie but it's so bad and played so straight that it is unintentionally hilarious and is another Grade Z flick for those that enjoy awful cheese!

ed wood would be proud

[Anrite · 1/10 · 22 June 2010]

last week I saw Bride of the monster by Ed Wood. Now I just watched Octopus 2 and well, I have an impression, that they also had stolen that octopus during the night from some old storehouse and shoot 30 scenes at one day.

acting was bad, montage was bad, effects were bad, and whole film was boring. main characters were so typical it was painful. plot was so predictable that it wasn't even funny to guess what will happen in a moment. You don't have to be specialist in marine life, or diving, or police procedures to spot mistakes and errors - common sense is enough.

If you want to see it, sit down and wait till you won't want. otherwise You will waste 1,5 hour of your life.

Ugh

[yahislove · 2/10 · 8 September 2018]

Horrible movie avoid it if you can. Poor acting (mannequins could have done a better job). If you watched it in its entirety, you deserve a medal.

Below grade Z

[roystephen-81252 · 1/10 · 13 March 2016]

The same giant octopus that was partially destroyed in the first (laughably bad) instalment, returns. This time, New York Harbor is threatened by its tentacles, at least until they stick some dynamite into its mouth (again). Well, that proves to be a bad idea, because the explosion causes a tunnel to collapse and trap a group of children inside. The heroine (obviously not trained for emergency situations) does everything she can to ensure they stay and die there, but then the hero emerges from the air vent she had been staring at blankly for minutes, and evacuates the children.

As you could guess from the above summary, the filmmakers tried to spice up the paper thin plot (plodding forward without any ideas whatsoever) with disaster-movie clichés for the last ten minutes — to no avail. Of course, we watch a Z movie like this for the amusingly lame effects and to laugh wholeheartedly at some particularly ridiculous scenes. Unfortunately, Octopus 2 never really goes over the top, apart from a dream scene in which the octopus eats the Statue of Liberty, so we're simply left with a very bad movie. It's only the pathetic finale that somewhat makes up for the time wasted. The octopus that was previously blown to pieces returns again (you didn't expect that, did you?), so we finally get to see a whole string of dreadfully executed special effects.

The editor (who must have been working blindly like Woody Allen's character in Hollywood Ending), however, deserves an award. It must have been a gargantuan task to stitch the action scenes together so that there is absolutely no connection between the shots. And the effects team should get a bonus point, too, for successfully avoiding any integrity between the raw footage and the randomly placed effects.

Tolerable nonsense.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 12 June 2022]

An enormous, man-eating cephalopod stakes a claim in the Hudson River. So it's up to a can-do NYPD diver named Nick Hartfield (Michael Reilly Burke, "Ted Bundy") to save the day, with the assistance of a pretty employee (Meredith Morton, "According to Spencer") in the mayors' office.

For what it is, a direct-to-DVD genre sequel like "Octopus 2: River of Fear" yields adequate entertainment - provided the viewer isn't very demanding. Commendably, the people on screen take the material seriously, never ever winking at the camera. The script, by Michael D. Weiss, is awash in cliches (such as stubborn dummies in positions of authority), however, making this VERY routine overall. For what it's worth, not ALL of the dialogue was cringe-worthy.

The music, by Bill Wandel, is good, and the direction (by Yossi Wein) at least somewhat competent. The special effects are variable: sometimes the filmmakers do employ some actual practical FX, and sometimes they employ the expectedly cartoonish CGI. The octopus itself manages to come off as a reasonably menacing antagonist. Granted, Wein and company do fall back on archive footage a lot.

The climax (highly reminiscent of the 1996 Hollywood thriller "Daylight") is patently ridiculous, and comes complete with a cute little dog guaranteed to manipulate viewers such as yours truly. But it's reasonably exciting, just the same, albeit fairly protracted.

Most laughable of all is the "real" ending, which makes use of one of the most overused cliches in this sort of entertainment.

Partially filmed in Bulgaria!

Five out of 10.

A despicable insult to human intelligence!

[geraldleejones-20639 · 1/10 · 24 March 2024]

This "movie" is an insult to human intelligence on sooo many levels! The sheer stupidity of the plot and the scenes that involved any efforts on the part of every character, the horrible use of scene which correlate to no geographic locations in New York City, the use of stock footage which transforms into situations and vehicles of totally different types in close ups, the list of flaws is endless.

Being a New Yorker I was furious of the attempt to pass this off as being part of New York...industrial areas where there are none, forested hillsides above the harbor unit station where there are none, misdirection in the travel sequences of boats and the infamous school bus and its destination! ALL of this would be tolerable if it were part of a good, BUT it is NOT!

I could go on endlessly about stupidity like an octopus collapsing a steel and concrete reinforced tunnel, but I will cut to the criminal portrayal of a old New York Jewish lady acting like a nattering fool and portrayed by a young woman in a horrible wig and heavy bad make-up using a vile stereotypical Jewish whiney accent!

WHAT A DISASTER OF A FILM!!!!!

Giant Octopus views New York fireworks display

[MartianOctocretr5 · 3/10 · 27 July 2010]

At least you get to see the star monster a little more often in this sequel than the first time out. Still not enough creature screen time though. The film instead spends a lot of time with the "nobody believes the hero when he says there's a monster" bit.

A big city gets it again: the creature visits New York to watch the July 4 fireworks extravaganza. He takes up residence in the river, and occasionally attacks. Acting isn't really bad; for example, the children on the bus really do seem frightened. The leads make the most of the script they're given. Some of the attacks are played silly and with indifference; it's not clear if you're supposed to care about characters or not. The set-up for the final attack takes way too long (with some dumb stuff hammered in), and then you see more of a fireworks display rather than monster action.

Routine creature feature; good enough if you have nothing else to do.

Octopus 2...

[jackie_zee · 1/10 · 27 November 2011]

There are some films which are so bad that they are truly brilliant. Take for example Snakes (Python 2) or the fantastically ridiculous Sharktopus. This is not one of those films. From a production point of view my score is admittedly a little harsh. This film is by definition "adequate". The acting was for the most part fine, the special effects for a film of this calibre were also for the most part fine. This film just lacked something...oh yes...excitement. It was so dull. The characters didn't make you want them to survive and in all honesty when i wasn't wanting the film to end I was cheering on the Octopus. This film was like tentacles. It sucked.

The Inherent Lameness of the Octopus/Squid/Croc Horror Genre

[baulerx · 1/10 · 30 November 2008]

Greetings, Moviegoers! As I watch Octopus II, I contemplate the inherent lameness of the Octopus/Croc/Dino Horror Genre. Many moviegoers may blame the poor acting, nonsensical screenplay, or poorly constructed plot as the reasons that cause the OCD movie to flounder. These reasons may indeed be floundering factors, but it is the inherent difficulty of filming an OCD movie that is at the heart of the lameness.

You see, the technology does not yet exist to make a realistic, life-size OCD and the CGI technology currently used by studios lacks the ability to blend in smoothly with real world environments and characters. Even with clever cinematography, you can only film the semi-dark depths of the sea/semi-dark forest/semi-dark cave/semi-dark corridor so many times before the Sci-Fi aficionado becomes bored with the genre entirely (the OCD sub-genre, that is).

What can be done, you ask? I wouldn't suggest that the genre surrender to cheesiness, but another avenue needs to be explored. We can't really go back to the days of the "Fade-to-Black" cue that someone has been killed. Or can we? If we can't reach the goal of realism, we have to compensate in other ways, such as plot twists, innuendo, and photo-ingenuity.

It will be through ingenious and alternate methods that the disease of lameness, so common to the OCD sub-genre, will be cured.

Give me a good octopus movie any day!

[teuthis · 29 January 2003]

I love monster movies; especially things from the sea. It's too bad that the people who make them have so little imagination. This is another "formula" mess, with far too much time spent on non-octopus business. We do get some lurid scenes of the octopus munching people, tentacles flying about; and the ornery thing generally being a proper monster. But the biggest, and most accurate, science fiction element in the film is that any living thing would purposely take up residence in the East River of New York City. They actually tried to explain that!!!

I kind of liked "Octopus II". The heroine was really cute. Its just that the plot, the editing, and characters in this cephalopod outing are fatally muddled. They had to use that old standby, the shaky camera, to make us dizzy so we couldn't see through the minimal special effects. Still, I managed to sit through it; and get a few of those magic quivers that sea monster movies do to me. There's just something about seafood run amok!

A word to all producers of octopus films. Octopi do not growl. And forget the formula. We've seen far too many special events gone wrong because the mayor wouldn't listen to the hero. Make it fast and furious. A little sex is okay; but get rid of all those neurotic characters and sub-plots. Focus on the tentacles; and put it in the ocean where it just might make sense.

Distinctly unimpressive

[R-T-C · 2/10 · 30 October 2003]

I purchased this film on DVD for £4, but it was a waste, the film is very bad. The plot is your average monster film, where it kills a few people, the mayor/chief doesn't believe it, and they fight it at the end.

On the plus side, the film quality is very good, and the setting of New York is impressive for a budget film - as opposed to a small coastal town. The acting is reasonable too.

However, the special effects, mainstage in a monster film, are laughable and the addition of a random bus load of kids to the plot half way through just gets weird. The ending is just bad.

In summary, whenever you have a chance to see this, don't - there WILL be something better on.

R-T-C "True horror films don't have a PG rating"