Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009) (V)

Director:

Jack Perez

Writer:

Jack Perez (screenplay)

Release Date:

26 May 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror

Plot:

The California coast is terrorized by two enormous prehistoric sea creatures as they battle each other for supremacy of the sea. |

Plot Keywords:

Shark | Animal In Title | Fish In Title | 3D | Oil Platform

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Nov. 28

5:00 PM

SYFY

Cast

Deborah Gibson	...	Emma
Lorenzo Lamas	...	Allan
Vic Chao	...	Seiji Shimada
Jonathan Nation	...	Vince
Mark Hengst	...	Dick Ritchie
Michael Teh	...	Takeo (as Michael The)
Chris Haley	...	Kenji
Sean Lawlor	...	Lamar
Dustin Harnish	...	Helmsman
Dean Kreyling	...	U.S. Sub Captain
Stephen Blackehart	...	U.S. Sub Sonar Chief
Dana DiMatteo	...	Marine Biologist (as Dana Dimatteo)
Dana Healey	...	Naval Officer
John Bolen	...	Weapons Officer
Larry Wang Parrish	...	Japanese Typhoon Captain (as Larry Parrish)

Also Known As:

Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (USA) (closing credits title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some language. (special edition)

Runtime:

85 min | USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | USA:R (certificate #45362) (special edition) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Arleta, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Asylum, The

Trivia:

In the scene where Emma, Seiji and Lamar are interrogated, Baxter (Lorenzo Lamas) describes Emma as "a woman whose career is all washed-up." This is a pun on Deborah Gibson's music career, which reached its peak with the album Electric Youth in 1989, but floundered through the 1990s.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When tracking the shark, they say that the SR-71's weren't picking up any traces of it, but the SR-71 was decommissioned in 1998.

Quotes:

Dick Ritchie: [to Emma] Don't love the ocean too much, it doesn't love you back.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

Be Still

Plan 9 of Today

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009)

1/2 (out of 4)

In the good tradition of the grindhouse era, if you make a great title people are going to pay to see it. That's pretty much what happened with this horrid film, which became a cult item even before it was released due to the trailer being posted on YouTube and quickly becoming a hit. Once again I was suckered into a rental but hopefully others will stay away. The movie has a prehistoric shark and octopus breaking free, causing destruction and in the end fighting to the death. Oh yeah, Lorenzo Lamas and Debbie Gibson (yes, that one) star. Asylum, the group behind this movie, are experts at ripping off other movies with titles such as THE TERMINATORS, THE DAY THE EARTH STOPPED and STREET RACER. This here must have been their shot at doing something "original" but no matter what they were trying to do the end result is a complete mess of a movie, which features horrible acting and some of the worst CGI effects I've ever seen. This is the type of "B" movie that should make you laugh and at least deliver a good time but instead I walked away from this thing highly mad. Why? Because the thing is so cheap that they don't even include full attacks. We will see the shark jumping out of the water and attacking a plane yet we don't see the aftermath. The octopus attacks a large station yet we don't see what happens. The shark goes after a Navy ship, we see one bite but nothing else. There's a scene where the Golden Gate Bridge is attacked but we don't see it. Even the fight between the two monsters is extremely poorly done and that includes reusing the same footage over and over! The only reason this film avoids a BOMB rating is because of the scene where the shark jumps out of the water and attacks the plane. The sight of this is so incredibly bad that I couldn't help but start laughing. The performances are all really bad and that includes Gibson who seems to be confused by what she's doing. There are plenty of good "when nature attack" movies out there and there are many good "direct to DVD" titles out there but this sucker fails on both levels. This is a complete waste of time but at least the producers were smart enough to come up with a great title to get people like me to lay down their cash.