"As bodies begin to turn up in the waters around Manhattan,
one determined New Yorker deduces that the culprit is a giant killer octopus that has taken up residence. Will he be able to convince the authorities before New York Harbor fills to capacity for the impending Independence Day celebration? Michael Reilly Burke, who played the title role in 2002's acclaimed feature film "Ted Bundy," stars in this film" as a scuba-diving NYPD cop hunting the cephalopod (SciFi Channel description, I don't know how to pronounce it either). Also stars Meredith Morton, Frederic Lehne.
Aired on the SYFY Channel after Blood Surf (it's a croc, the mutant kind)
Octopus (2000)
Government agents vs. a mutant radioactive octopus. Need we say more? Stars Jay Harrington, David Beecroft. No relation to the movie "Octopussy" (1983), listed on the James Bond 007 page (that's the name of Maud Adam's pet octopus in the movie)
Tentacles
(1977)
Two years after Jaws the Italian film industry gave birth to this one, about a giant octopus. Michael Medved says of it, “The spaghetti-squid invades a seaside community right before the annual regatta. Shelley Winters provides unintentional comic relief as mother of one of the young sailors involved.”
Rounding out the U.S. cast is John Huston, Henry Fonda (father of Barbarella), and Bo Hopkins. The day is saved (yes there is a happy ending) by killer whales who show up looking for giant seafood.
More recent movie reviews are on his website: MichaelMedved.com
"Tentacles" availability on video and on DVD from Amazon.com
It Came From Beneath The Sea (1954)
Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen unleashes a giant radioactive octopus that attacks San Francisco - scientists and a nuclear sub captain try to stop it before it tears down the Golden Gate Bridge! MonsterVision's Joe Bob Briggs says someone once asked Harryhausen why the octopus only has 6 tentacles, and he said they didn't have the budget to animate all 8. (or maybe it was a mutation from the radioactivity). First Harryhausen film teamed with Charles H. Schneer
Dark Waters (2003)
After an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is infiltrated by bloodthirsty, bio-engineered sharks, a team of underwater specialists is called into action to investigate the situation and destroy the beasts. This biting thriller stars Lorenzo Lamas (TV's Renegade) and beautiful Simmone Jade MacKinnon (of the SCI FI Pictures originals "Deep Shock" and "Pythons 2"). Aired recently on the SciFi Channel
Shark Attack 2 (2000)
Experts go after giant mutant sharks. Stars Nikita Ager, Thorston Kaye. Last seen on the SciFi Channel
Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (2003)
TV-movie: A prehistoric shark is prowling around the coastal resorts of Mexico
The Beast (1996)
Two giant squid up to 180 feet long terrorize an island in the Pacific Northwest. Based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name, no relation to "The Beast" (1988) about a lost Russian tank in Afghanistan being stalked by armed rebels, or the 1971 amateur film (later retitled Equinox) filmed over several years in the 1960s and finally edited together for drive-in release. Scheduled from time to time on the SciFi Channel & USA Network
The 1996 4-hour movie sometimes shows in two parts, same author wrote Jaws.
Sh! The Octopus (1937)
Daffy detectives fight off a giant octopus in a haunted lighthouse.
Stars Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, Marcia Ralston. Director: William McGann Far fetched? Well, a decade or two later, Ray Bradbury wrote a short-story in which a prehistoric monster is attracted to a lighthouse by the sound of its foghorn (it became the movie "Beast From 20,000 Fathoms")
