Review of Orca (1977) by Alex R — 13 Apr 2013

After the release of Jaws, many studios tried to cash in on the success of the film, thus a new genre was born, the nature gone wild genre. Orca is yet another one of these Jaws Rip-offs, instead it has a killer whale instead of a great white shark, and it's a killer whale that terrorizes.

What separates the film from Jaws is that the whale has a motive and only seeks revenge on one person instead of creating all out carnage and terror like the shark from Spielberg's classic. This is a fairly underrated film that I quite enjoyed, and though it is nothing original, there is plenty to enjoy with this film.

Orca is fairly underrated and it is a far better film than what you would normally think. I thought that the cast was quite good and Richard Harris did a great job in his role. The weak aspects of the film are that it looks dated and it could have been improved upon.

Some parts just didn't seem to work and there could have been a bit of improvement as well. However this is a fun creature feature that is sure to delight fans of the nature gone wild genre and for a Jaws clone, it works due to the fact that the filmmakers were able to create something different with the all too familiar material.

If you love this genre of horror, you should give this underrated gem a shot, with a good cast and interesting story, Orca is a film that is a worthy addition to the genre even if it's going for the Jaws angle.

Orca has its fair share of imperfection, but is far from being an awful horror film. Give the film a shot if you love creature feature and be prepared for some mindless entertainment value that is effective constructed to induce fear in the viewer.