Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Stars swashbuckler Mathews and Mediterranean movie-starlet Angeli as the principals of an expedition into Mexico whose radiation tests prelude the discovery of a mutated octopus-human creature who they've upset when they disturbed its young.Jeff Morrow has a small supporting role early in the picture, before the film rapidly unravels into farce with the absurd octopus-man (something akin to the Creature from the Black Lagoon) preying on members of the expedition seemingly at-will. Naturally, tensions between the personalities fray with the typical preserve versus destroy interests in conflict, which basically leads to more cannon fodder for the Octaman.Micro-budget sci-fi looks about ten years older than it is (1971), features truly inane dialogue and offers very little to recommend except some unintentional laughs. Sadly though, it's also memorable as Pier Angeli's disappointing film epitaph.

A team of researchers discovers a strange mutation or man and octopus who proceeds to terrorize them.Early on we learn that the "octopus is supposed to be the most intelligent species in the ocean". Does this tell us more about the octopus or the scientist? I am pretty sure the octopus is not particularly bright, and this statement completely ignores dolphins, manatees, porpoises, whales, and others.But what do you expect? They show the octopus suit during the opening credits and then show it repeatedly throughout the film. The creature is hardly believable, and it is more than obvious his lower arms raise up when his top arms do (via a string). Now, conventional wisdom tells us that if you have a cheesy monster, you keep him off the screen as much as possible. Instead, they flaunt him. Foolish or brilliant? This film is like the Amazon River of liquid cheese.If nothing else makes this film stand out, it should be said that legendary, Oscar-winning effects man Rick Baker made the Octaman costume.

Move over Mega-sharks and Octopussies, there's a new deep sea threat that will shame you all.The year was 1971 and future Oscar winning makeup man Rick Baker had apparently made his first costume. With the costume and $20 in the budget, he managed to fashion "Octaman." Somehow they managed to talk Kerwin Mathews into appearing in this golden turkey, surrounding him with one of the worst casts I've ever seen.Not that this movie is worthless. There were numerous times when I thought I detected a hint of humor, even though this might have been unintentional. It's still funny stuff.The story takes place in a jungle somewhere. Apparently, it's a jungle that is accessible by RV and spotted with pine trees. It's also a jungle with plenty of lakes.Because of atomic radiation, the water is full of little plastic octopuses that scream when you capture them. There's a big brother octopus too who likes to come to their rescue and smack scientists around with his two operational tentacles.Rick Baker's costume is the big draw but it's shown so often that it becomes a joke. We're often treated to seeing the "feet" of the creature, because it walks upright for some reason. The boots are obvious and you can see where the suckers were glued on the legs of the costume.All this adds to the film's crazy charm. If you like bad monster movies, then this will be one for you.

When I was seven or eight years old I dug an old VHS tape out of the back of my father's video collection. VHS was becoming mainstream back then and my father was a fanatic for building recording as much as he could. One tape in particular was labeled "Octaman Halloween movie," and I couldn't resist to pop it in the flip top VCR.I was little, and like all kids scared easily. This movie didn't scare me as much as it amused me. It must have been envisioned by a child, then written and produced by his second grade buddies. Nevertheless, I watched "Octaman" all the way through and still have the tape. The movie itself is ridiculous in plot, hopelessly acted and shoddily realized. Had Tod Browning or James Whale directed this mess I'd still be uncertain it could have been anything but what it is... the epitome of a B movie crap. But it's entertaining crap for the simplest reasons. We know that these characters: the goofy scientist, the heroic and handsome group leader, the gun toting marlboro man, and of course the obligatory "red crew member" guy will come face with this thing and probably, hopefully die.This is schlocky entertainment at its worst and seems to break just about every law of nature I've come to understand. Would atomic energy really make such a gross deformity of a single creature of a species that doesn't exist in the everglades, or southwest, or wherever they filmed this? If so, why does this thing walk on land? Why is it apparently carnivorous and so hostile? Is this some kind of genetic experiment gone wrong, a la Doctor Moreau? Movies like this never make any real attempt to answer these questions, and that's what earns them a B status.Still, I have a small nook of appreciation for "Octaman" as terrible as it is (and so terrible it's not even funny) because I found it amusing when I was just a little kid searching through my father's VHS collection wondering what makes a movie good, and what makes a movie bad. I found the latter, and have come to understand the difference.