Director: Harry Kerwyn
Year: 1978
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Looking into a small area of water, a biology student and his team begin taking samples from a body of water near a chemical plant on the ocean, which begins to draw more suspicion when a series of accidents in the area are traced to barracuda attacking swimmers in the water, and they must try to stop the fish.
Review:
This was a rather enjoyable and engaging effort. What really holds this one up is the rather brutal and far more graphic than expected creature attacks, which manage to come off frequently enough to have a lot to like. The opening dismemberment of the divers starts this off on a fine note, while the later attack on the diver looking for the pollution samples gets a fantastic ambush where he gets torn to pieces in great fashion. That there’s a fine build-up here regarding those accidents and a series of other incidents around the power plant and its output generates a fine build-up that gives this a lot to like getting going.
The other really good aspect of this one is the fine build-up featuring the slow-burn work on the citizens of town. The opening shot of the two bickering folks on the street corner when the businessman drives up is innocuous enough, but the fact that there continues to be testiness among the citizens who snap at others, which is written off as being due to outside sources, keeps this one going along nicely. It’s a rather nice subtle aspect that isn’t expected in this kind of effort yet helps to further the storyline involving the chemical plant’s output. With some great effects work on the practical fish, these are the film’s biggest factors.
There are a few areas that don’t work here. Among the biggest drawbacks is the wholly unnecessary comedy relief from the plant owner’s son and the deputy, who both play their roles in the same manner. They’re both portrayed as incompetent, but for different sides of the spectrum in that the son is more eager to impress with everything he does and the deputy is simply lazy. Neither is funny in the slightest despite every appearance to the contrary and don’t really serve this one much purpose overall.
That leads into the film’s greatest weakness, where it features the big storylines coming together yet not having a great sense of action-packed spectacle to end this on a nice note. The espionage angle involving the true nature of the plant and its cover-up conspirators is introduced at the wrong moment, where it grinds the film to a sluggish, maddening crawl away from the killer fish with mere minutes left to spare in the film, making them seem like background characters in their own film for this confusing storyline. It’s mostly notable in the finale, where they’re not involved at all in the last thirty minutes, marking this one’s weak points.
Overview: **.5/5
As an enjoyable espionage movie involving killer fish providing the foil for the storyline, this one isn’t too bad, but the film will undoubtedly be a turn-off for hardcore animal-on-the-loose fans with its lack of focus here. Those who are still willing to go along with the film or appreciate 70s-era creature features like this might enjoy this one, while those looking for a straightforward creature feature instead of a cover-up plan should heed caution with this one.
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