Review of Sharktopus (2010) by Adam F — 19 Mar 2013

Yes, "Sharktopus" is exactly what it wants to be, a dumb monster movie about a half shark, half octopus that goes around eating people but is that idea alone enough to make the movie worth watching? The plot for the film is razor-thin, with most of the scene being placed in the movie just so we can see the creature attack and eat people. At first it's fun to see tourists vacationing in Mexico, expecting to have a good time when they're suddenly attacked by the monster but when you realize that it's just the same scene over and over it gets repetitive and dull. You don't care about the people who are put in peril and the creature doesn't feel like it has a personality or anything so there really aren't any stakes. The special effects... well they look ok most of the time but it's really obvious that the Sharktopus was added in post-production and that the actors are dragging themselves across the beach pretending to be entangled in tentacles. You've seen way worse effects but it feels like the people working on this were a little over-confident in their abilities. The creature gets shot many, many times and it's either bullet-proof or they didn't bother to add the effects of it being hit and it makes it very obvious that they just had the actor shoot in a generic direction where they figured there would be enough room to add the Sharktopus later.

For indiscriminating horny teenagers there are plenty of sexy ladies in bikinis frolicking on the beach and more than a few people get devoured so if that's what you're looking for, sure it's somewhat entertaining. This movie isn't R-Rated however, so don't expect any nudity or cool gore. It's got some funny moments but the hollow plot makes the movie a chore to sit through. "Sharktopus" is not a good movie and it doesn't try to be either, but it just isn't that fun and if you want to see a "so bad it's good" creature feature, there are many out there that actually genuinely tried to be scary and failed that are much more entertaining to poke fun at. The only saving grace is the titular creature but if you sit around with your buddies and think of all the ways a shark with tentacles could eat humans, you just saved yourself an hour and 15 minutes. (Dvd, March 16, 2013).