Director: Lamberto Bava (as John Old Jr.)
Year: 1984
Country: Italy/France
Alternate Titles: Shark: Rosso nell'oceano; Shark: Red on the Ocean; Devouring Waves; Red Ocean; Monster Shark
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
While training local dolphins, a marine biologist becomes involved in a series of strange incidents in the ocean that are believed to be a ravenous sea creature brought to life by a corrupt experimental group, and must band together with several other local authorities to stop it.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable if somewhat flawed genre effort. Most of the positives on display focus on the build-up to the creatures’ discovery, as there’s a lot of fun to be had with the way this treats its revelation. The initial startup with the creature leaving behind a series of mangled and deformed bodies that hint at something large and unnatural in the water, which starts getting the attention of the different authorities studying nearby as they race to uncover what’s causing the devastation. The subsequent series of investigations out on the water, trying to find the culprit with some expensive equipment that goes alongside the different encounters with the different figures out there, looking into the same creature. This all helps to make the creature’s eventual appearance feel all the more impactful due to the way it’s hidden until the final reveal, which starts a wild series of action later on with the creature rampaging through the water, attacking boats, or taking out the Coast Guard troops attacking it with flame throwers. Giving this some cheesy kills and a gloriously goofy practical creature, there’s a lot to like here.
There are some drawbacks to be had here that bring the film down. Among the biggest detriments found here is the outright puzzling and rather unnecessary corporate espionage angle that goes on in the first half, which doesn't have much of any interest going on. The secretive nature of the whole affair comes across rather weakly at generating interest, with the whole thing developing into a random series of bizarre encounters featuring nameless thugs targeting the people around the institute working on a strange transmitter-like device being developed. There's barely anything about it that's important enough to disrupt the other storyline about the search for the monstrous shark other than to simply ape one of the biggest genre films out there which also utilized a similar setup, and for it to disappear for as long as it does in the running time to the point of forgetting about it is testament to how little it matters.
Another factor that holds this down is the seemingly bizarre series of scientific falsehoods stated here to try to explain the creatures' origins. The scene starts off on the wrong foot by incorrectly stating the evolution point of toothed fish, which wouldn't be such a big deal by itself, only to then get the decade wrong on top of that, so everything immediately becomes hard to swallow. From there, wrongly name-checking actual species of living sharks to pass them off as the ancestral species rather than the descendants makes for a really difficult time making the whole thing plausible, and to then invent a fictitious sea creature while a genuine prehistoric creature is used to preset that stage is just the final nail here to present this as a credible source to trust about the creature. That this is mostly undone by a later reveal about the true nature of the creature that’s far removed from this anyway, so the whole thing is generally pointless and frustrating, being what holds this down.
Overview: ***.5/5
A cheesy if somewhat problematic Italian creature feature, there are some likable factors here that do get wiped out somewhat by the series of negatives that are on display, which lowers it overall. Those with an appreciation for this kind of genre fare or who are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
This review is part of our ongoing series of reviews for Italian Horror Month, every November on the site:
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