Review of Octopus 2: River of Fear (2001) by Private U — 25 Mar 2007

Picture the scene New York at night, a drunken couple wander down to the pier to go out on a boat, when suddenly a couple of large rubber tentacles start flailing about near them. Thankfully our actors have the presence of mind to grab the tentacles and wrap them about themselves to ensure the film opens with some action.

Don't worry the special effects do improve as the film goes, although in places this is due to some special effects and shots from the first film being not so cunningly placed in the film. Unfortunately overall the special effects are not as good in this sequel which is a shame really as the story does improve on the first film as we do have more octopus action, with the creature being much more central to the story and this time it's killing New Yorkers. In the first film the octopus attacked a sub, a cruise liner and a helicopter, but in this one the octopus we get to the see the octopus attack the Statue of Liberty. The story does borrow from the Jaws films with the police officer trying to convince the mayor that there is a killer shark I mean octopus on the rampage.