The three stars out of ten is because of the fun I had laughing at this god-awful movie. Absolutely hysterical. Ridiculous monster, a totally unbelievable Kerwin Matthews, and Pier Angeli, who died shortly after this film was completed. I watched the entire movie fascinated by two things, the horrible monster costume, and Pier Angeli, who was once a very promising young actress back in the 1950's. She still looked good, but what a waste for her to act in something like this. Even more sad is that this apparently was her final acting job. Very sad. It is hard to believe that this was the only role that she would be hired for. I had read that she had hoped to act in The Godfather, and also that she had overdosed before finding out that she had been hired for a role on Bonanza. Does anyone know if she accidentally overdosed, or did she commit suicide?
37 Reviews
Don't expect too much and you might just have some fun.
poolandrews3 November 2004
Warning: Spoilers
The film opens with stock footage and a monologue. The narrator informs us of a scientist (Kerwin Mathews) who is aware that man is rapidly destroying himself and all our natural resources through the advent of underwater nuclear testing and pollution, and is involved in a series of experiments in rural areas of Latin America. The narrator then goes on to tell us about Octaman, he describes him as "the hideous fruit of atomic radiation, in the form of a bizarre legend wrapped in terror and written in blood!". While conducting experiments at a lake Mathews and an assistant capture a strange looking octopus. Something about it's eyes. Anyway, Mathews takes it to a nearby University to try and convince his boss to give them more funds. His boss isn't impressed and in fact denies any more funding for the project. Back at the camp Mathews assistant has found another mutant octopus and decides to preform a dissection. Bad move, within seconds Octaman has burst into his tent and slapped him to death with his arms, OK I'll be generous and call them tentacles. Octaman then picks his octopus buddy up and retreats back to the lake. Unable to get funding to continue his experiments Mathews asks a wealthy ranch owner to finance his activities, sensing an attraction for his circus he agrees. The group of scientists and ranch owners friends and a local guy who claims to know where Octaman lives then set out to capture the half man, half octopus mutation! However Octaman doesn't like people messing around with him and his mutant octopus friends and starts to attack them, killing them one by one. Directed by Harry Essex I sort of liked this film. I think it has a goofy silly charm about it. I felt a bit sorry for Octaman at the end, he has a lot more personality than any of the human cast. Octaman himself, created by Rick Baker, looks kind of stupid for the most part. His face is totally motionless throughout the film, his eyes move though, a bit. His tentacles don't have much movement to them either, the lower two being connected to the upper two which have the actors arms in them, they simply do exactly the same as the upper ones. There's a touch of blood here and there when Octaman kills someone, but nothing to worry about. Poorly made, with not much continuity, sometimes it cuts between night and day during the same scene. The script really tries to push the ecology theme, with little success. For all it's faults I sort of liked it, a lot like a 50's monster movie. Fun if your in the right mood and can find a copy, which probably isn't easy.
Rubber suit fun
BandSAboutMovies31 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This movie holds the distinction of being some of Rick Baker's first work. Made in Mexico, it was directed by Harry Essex, who wrote It Came from Space and Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Dr. Rick Torres (Kerwin Mathews, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) and Susan Lowry (Pier Angeli in her final film, as she died during production of the film) has found not just too much radiation in the waters of a small Mexican town, but also a mutant octopus that can crawl on land.
The mainstream science community scoffs at this notion, so Torres must work with circus owner Johnny Caurso (Jerome Guardino, who in addition to acting, as also the second-unit director from Grave of the Vampire and Dream No Evil), who wants to take the octopus on the road.
There's some ridiculousness here with David Essex (The Cremators) as Davido, a Mexican Indian who shares the legend of the half-serpent, half-man that lives in these waters. He's able to escape just about any predicament due to his magical native powers.
The man in the Octaman suit was Read Morgan, who was The Car, Blood Beach, Dudes, Hollywood Hot Tubs and more. The suit was so fragile and the vision so limited, that led to the shambling, near drunken way that the creature moves.
Even if you haven't seen this movie, you've seen it. In Fright Night, Peter Vincent shows the final scenes - where beauty does indeed kill the beast - as being from a movie called Mars Needs Flesh.
Dr. Rick Torres (Kerwin Mathews, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) and Susan Lowry (Pier Angeli in her final film, as she died during production of the film) has found not just too much radiation in the waters of a small Mexican town, but also a mutant octopus that can crawl on land.
The mainstream science community scoffs at this notion, so Torres must work with circus owner Johnny Caurso (Jerome Guardino, who in addition to acting, as also the second-unit director from Grave of the Vampire and Dream No Evil), who wants to take the octopus on the road.
There's some ridiculousness here with David Essex (The Cremators) as Davido, a Mexican Indian who shares the legend of the half-serpent, half-man that lives in these waters. He's able to escape just about any predicament due to his magical native powers.
The man in the Octaman suit was Read Morgan, who was The Car, Blood Beach, Dudes, Hollywood Hot Tubs and more. The suit was so fragile and the vision so limited, that led to the shambling, near drunken way that the creature moves.
Even if you haven't seen this movie, you've seen it. In Fright Night, Peter Vincent shows the final scenes - where beauty does indeed kill the beast - as being from a movie called Mars Needs Flesh.
"It will squeeze you dead and suck you dry!"
S<()>F28 January 2000
In reality, It will bore you to death and make you cry!!! A pathetic 50's style rubber monster that appears as if he will fall over at any moment. The acting is bad, the effects are bad (Poor Rick Baker), the photography is terrible (It appears as though some scenes were filmed with the lens cap on!!!) and Harry Essex has got to be the most incompetent director ever!!!!
I loved every minute of it!
I loved every minute of it!
Monster Costume Attack
tommyknobnocker16 October 2010
Warning: Spoilers
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.
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.
A hall of infamy clunker.
Hey_Sweden4 November 2012
Screenwriter Harry Essex, who'd worked on such classics as "It Came from Outer Space" and "The Creature from the Black Lagoon", does his first genre feature as a director in this 1971 schlock favourite that could just as easily have been made in the 1950s. It has that sort of feel to it, and one can believe that this script of his may have been in existence since that decade.
It's silly fun with an ecological function as scientists working in an unidentified Latin American country seek to prove the effects of radiation on the animal kingdom. As one can clearly see, Essex still had CftBL very much on his brain with the way this ultimately turns into a beauty and the beast tale.
Well meaning Dr. Rick Torres (fantasy star Kerwin Mathews, looking incredibly serious) and his crew soon run into the almighty Octaman, a humanoid octopus thing shambling along in the way that only men in rubber costumes can do.
Character actor Read Morgan is the man in the suit, and does what he has to do quite adequately. Co-starring are lovely Pier Angeli (who died during production) as a typical damsel in distress, whose function is to basically scream at the monster and be carried off on more than one occasion, and Jeff Morrow ("This Island Earth", "The Giant Claw") who actually has only one scene as Ricks' associate Dr. John Willard. The supporting cast is mostly made up of unknowns, although Buck Kartalian, as the ill-fated Raul, had a long career in film, doing everything from "Planet of the Apes" to "Please Don't Eat My Mother".
Octaman himself, limply flopping tentacles and all, is endearing all the way, and represents an early effort for Rick Baker, who designed the costume with Doug Beswick. Essex makes no attempt to reveal the monster a bit at a time, preferring to showcase it every chance he gets. His movie isn't totally without atmosphere and suspense, but it goes on too long and gets too talky. It tends to get boring whenever the monster isn't doing his thing.
However, it has undeniable bad movie charm that makes it impossible to truly dislike. And in the tradition of "Bride of the Monster", it's a hoot to see the victims of Octaman have to basically kill themselves while fumbling with the fake arms. A little bit o' gore here and there is an asset, while in one scene one of the most obvious and unconvincing dummies of all time gets tossed off a cliff. This isn't as much fun as one could want, but lovers of so-bad-it's-good cinema should be moderately entertained.
Five out of 10.
It's silly fun with an ecological function as scientists working in an unidentified Latin American country seek to prove the effects of radiation on the animal kingdom. As one can clearly see, Essex still had CftBL very much on his brain with the way this ultimately turns into a beauty and the beast tale.
Well meaning Dr. Rick Torres (fantasy star Kerwin Mathews, looking incredibly serious) and his crew soon run into the almighty Octaman, a humanoid octopus thing shambling along in the way that only men in rubber costumes can do.
Character actor Read Morgan is the man in the suit, and does what he has to do quite adequately. Co-starring are lovely Pier Angeli (who died during production) as a typical damsel in distress, whose function is to basically scream at the monster and be carried off on more than one occasion, and Jeff Morrow ("This Island Earth", "The Giant Claw") who actually has only one scene as Ricks' associate Dr. John Willard. The supporting cast is mostly made up of unknowns, although Buck Kartalian, as the ill-fated Raul, had a long career in film, doing everything from "Planet of the Apes" to "Please Don't Eat My Mother".
Octaman himself, limply flopping tentacles and all, is endearing all the way, and represents an early effort for Rick Baker, who designed the costume with Doug Beswick. Essex makes no attempt to reveal the monster a bit at a time, preferring to showcase it every chance he gets. His movie isn't totally without atmosphere and suspense, but it goes on too long and gets too talky. It tends to get boring whenever the monster isn't doing his thing.
However, it has undeniable bad movie charm that makes it impossible to truly dislike. And in the tradition of "Bride of the Monster", it's a hoot to see the victims of Octaman have to basically kill themselves while fumbling with the fake arms. A little bit o' gore here and there is an asset, while in one scene one of the most obvious and unconvincing dummies of all time gets tossed off a cliff. This isn't as much fun as one could want, but lovers of so-bad-it's-good cinema should be moderately entertained.
Five out of 10.
Need a Real Turkey for Thanksgiving?? :=8P
MooCowMo22 November 1999
Then look no further than "Octaman", a hideously poor eco-gobbler with eight, count 'em, eight legs....er, arms...er tentacles. Whatever. "Octaman" is a laughably stupid film about a group of idiot scientists and greedy cowboys who search a "primitive hispanic community" for a legendary monster, "1/2 man, 1/2 fish". Of course, octopusses are not fish, but that doesn't seem to matter much to the makers of this film, because they also don't shamble about on land in a rubber suit with wires and zipper plainly in view. Turns out that ol' Octo is a mootant, created by pollution, or radiation, or some such thing - somecow or another we're to blame, yet again. Big Octo doesn't like the way that the dopey scientists are carving up his fake, rubber, whining little octo-friends, so he shambles about like the grimacing Tabonga in "From Hell It Came", slapping people with his rubbery arms whenever possible. As if that weren't enough, Octo then developes an odd sexual fixation on Pier Angeli ("Viva America!"), grabs her, and then ambles about with her in his many arms(Pier died during the filming of this moovie, possibly of acute embarrassment). The scientists try to capture Octo to put him on display by surrounding him in a ring of fire, thereby "eating up all the oxygen around him". Very clever...but, Octo breaks free, gets back into the water, and is able to wave his rubbery arms menacingly yet again. Rick Baker may win 1,000s of Academy Awards from now 'til Doomsday for his make-up special effects, but he will NEVER live down this shaggy skeleton in his fx closet. Poor Octo is one of the moost uncowvincing monsters in film history; his pathetic shamblings evoke moore sighs than actual laughs because Director Harry Essex really thought the sight of a guy in a rubber octopus suit walking about on land would be scary. Ahh, to be that naive again... The MooCow's favorite scene is when Octo surprises the scientists by leaping out of their RV, where he was presumably hiding his zipper and wired arms. Poor direction, uncowvincing acting, and muddled, murky cinematography all help to chop this calamari caper into sushi. The MooCow says rent this for "Shambling Rubber Suited Monster Night", but be prepared for a real stinker. :=8P
A fine, sludgy bit of trash near the bottom on the barrel
irvingc7 November 2003
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.
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.
Almost a little too perfect as a "so bad it's good" movie.
bpayadd14 January 2020
The thing about Octaman is that, as a film, it doesn't do anything right. The acting is horrible, the plot is moronic, the special effects are...rudimentary. The monster is gloriously ridiculous. Yeah, we've all seen movies like this before. But Octaman ticks every single box on the "entertainingly horrible" checklist, and does so with such thoroughness that I had a few seconds of thinking it had to be a parody. Looking it up here...nope. 1971. Holy crap.
Not only is it gloriously terrible, it actually blazes new trails in failure. The movie is set in Mexico, and is listed here as a Mexican co-production with the US. But the "Mexican" accents of the locals are just as cringingly terrible as everything else. How do you make a movie in Mexico, with a presumably Mexican crew, yet somehow manage to hire actors who look the part, but can't fake the accent? That there's an accomplishment, I don't care what anybody says.
Rubber suit monsters are almost invariably ridiculous looking (I think we all know the exception that proves this rule.) Even the most inept director has to realize that the best strategy is to keep the monster in shadow, or at least mysteriously lurking somewhere just offscreen. Nope, not here. Octaman is plainly visible, frequently in broad daylight. There's even a scene where they light a ring of fire around him, for added visibility (speaking of new levels of dumb, the fire "burns up the oxygen" around it, which makes it pass out. I am thankful to this movie for teaching me that suffocation is one of the dangers of lighting a fire in an open field.)
That's not a spoiler, by the way. It's just one of the assorted ways they try and fail to control the monster.
I admit that I'm still not 100% convinced this isn't, on some level, a parody.
I will be watching Octaman again soon.
Not only is it gloriously terrible, it actually blazes new trails in failure. The movie is set in Mexico, and is listed here as a Mexican co-production with the US. But the "Mexican" accents of the locals are just as cringingly terrible as everything else. How do you make a movie in Mexico, with a presumably Mexican crew, yet somehow manage to hire actors who look the part, but can't fake the accent? That there's an accomplishment, I don't care what anybody says.
Rubber suit monsters are almost invariably ridiculous looking (I think we all know the exception that proves this rule.) Even the most inept director has to realize that the best strategy is to keep the monster in shadow, or at least mysteriously lurking somewhere just offscreen. Nope, not here. Octaman is plainly visible, frequently in broad daylight. There's even a scene where they light a ring of fire around him, for added visibility (speaking of new levels of dumb, the fire "burns up the oxygen" around it, which makes it pass out. I am thankful to this movie for teaching me that suffocation is one of the dangers of lighting a fire in an open field.)
That's not a spoiler, by the way. It's just one of the assorted ways they try and fail to control the monster.
I admit that I'm still not 100% convinced this isn't, on some level, a parody.
I will be watching Octaman again soon.
Beware the beast whose mouth does not move!
Aaron137521 January 2020
I was not expecting much when I watched this film via Amazon Prime and it managed to still be worse than my expectations. Perhaps I thought it would be better due to Rick Baker being part of the team behind this and I know it knows how to do great make up and such, but this one featured a monster that could not open or close its mouth, blink and it only minimally moved its eyes. There are a couple of good kills where I believe Baker had to have a hand in, but otherwise this film is a bit slow. I mean, I watched Slugs the other night and the slugs were faster killers than Octaman!
The story has scientist testing water in a Latin American country and they discover a small octopus with strange eyes and rubber texture. Okay, they didn't mention its rubbery look, I did, as it looks like a toy I once had as a young child. Well they get some guy to back their expedition and they travel on a magical RV where if you look out the window you can see Africa! Seriously, at one point the woman looks out the window and sees a Cheetah. Well, when they arrive they find the person they left behind dead and they begin to search for the large creature and one of them keeps getting hit in the face by it, they capture it and manage to lose it within seconds and they get trapped in a cave that seemed like its only purpose in the movie was to pad out the film!
So we have bad looking monster, a very unlikable cast and very little in the way of gore and no nudity. Sure this film is nice to make fun of, but as they are in that cave you want to yell at the television for that one guy just to call to the others to come on instead of crawling back through the cave to get them. So if I am rooting for someone in this flick it is the monster who keeps blowing its opportunities to kill everyone cause he wants the woman...I don't know why as he has no genitals to speak of.
So, if you want to watch this, be prepared to make a joke or two. I am surprised it was never featured on MST3K back in the day. The monster looks like he was built to battle Godzilla, but Godzilla said he would not work with such a trashy looking opponent so it got regulated to one of those Ultraman ripoff shows instead. Even the creatures in Green Slime looked a hundred times better, as you can literally see the boots on the tentacles it is walking on!
The story has scientist testing water in a Latin American country and they discover a small octopus with strange eyes and rubber texture. Okay, they didn't mention its rubbery look, I did, as it looks like a toy I once had as a young child. Well they get some guy to back their expedition and they travel on a magical RV where if you look out the window you can see Africa! Seriously, at one point the woman looks out the window and sees a Cheetah. Well, when they arrive they find the person they left behind dead and they begin to search for the large creature and one of them keeps getting hit in the face by it, they capture it and manage to lose it within seconds and they get trapped in a cave that seemed like its only purpose in the movie was to pad out the film!
So we have bad looking monster, a very unlikable cast and very little in the way of gore and no nudity. Sure this film is nice to make fun of, but as they are in that cave you want to yell at the television for that one guy just to call to the others to come on instead of crawling back through the cave to get them. So if I am rooting for someone in this flick it is the monster who keeps blowing its opportunities to kill everyone cause he wants the woman...I don't know why as he has no genitals to speak of.
So, if you want to watch this, be prepared to make a joke or two. I am surprised it was never featured on MST3K back in the day. The monster looks like he was built to battle Godzilla, but Godzilla said he would not work with such a trashy looking opponent so it got regulated to one of those Ultraman ripoff shows instead. Even the creatures in Green Slime looked a hundred times better, as you can literally see the boots on the tentacles it is walking on!
Octamanky.
BA_Harrison25 April 2020
Directed by Harry Essex, co-scriptwriter of '50s Universal classic Creature From The Black Lagoon, '70s drive-in eco-horror Octaman is a lesson in how not to make a monster movie. Within seconds, Essex has revealed his tentacled titular creature in all of its rubbery glory -- a laughable man-in-a-suit creation that walks stiffly whilst flailing its flaccid limbs, it's completely immobile face in a constant look of surprise, as though it's just sat on a cactus (it does live in Mexico, after all!).
Having provided viewers with a good laugh at the expense of its monster, Octaman has little else to give, the remainder of the film consisting of countless encounters between a plucky band of marine biologists and the manky mollusc man, none of which are all that thrilling. In true movie monster fashion, the creature attacks the men, but carries off the film's only female (Pier Angeli), not once but twice, making it a lot like the Creature From the Black Lagoon - in spirit, at least.
With repetitive, dreadfully dull action, terrible performances, and a truly pathetic monster, Octaman is totally inept in almost every way imaginable, BUT it's still essential viewing for avid fans of practical special effects, the film being the first paid gig for future seven-time Oscar winner, make-up legend Rick Baker. Hard to believe that in the short space of one decade he went from A Mutant Octopus in Latin America to An American Werewolf in London.
2/10. Amazingly, this is not Harry Essex's worst film: his next movie, The Cremators, is a steaming 1/10 pile of garbage.
Having provided viewers with a good laugh at the expense of its monster, Octaman has little else to give, the remainder of the film consisting of countless encounters between a plucky band of marine biologists and the manky mollusc man, none of which are all that thrilling. In true movie monster fashion, the creature attacks the men, but carries off the film's only female (Pier Angeli), not once but twice, making it a lot like the Creature From the Black Lagoon - in spirit, at least.
With repetitive, dreadfully dull action, terrible performances, and a truly pathetic monster, Octaman is totally inept in almost every way imaginable, BUT it's still essential viewing for avid fans of practical special effects, the film being the first paid gig for future seven-time Oscar winner, make-up legend Rick Baker. Hard to believe that in the short space of one decade he went from A Mutant Octopus in Latin America to An American Werewolf in London.
2/10. Amazingly, this is not Harry Essex's worst film: his next movie, The Cremators, is a steaming 1/10 pile of garbage.
I really enjoyed "Octaman"
kurt782528 April 2021
Zoinks!
GroovyDoom26 June 2004
Far-out retread into "Creature from the Black Lagoon" territory, this time with a giant rubber octopus-man emerging from a river to terrorize a hapless film crew--err, scientific expedition. It's no coincidence that the screenplay was done by the same guy who wrote the original "...Black Lagoon", the whole movie is a throwback to 50s sci-fi, when radiation had the strange ability to instantly send ordinary creatures through mutations that would normally take about seventeen generations to accomplish.
"Octaman" is in that same shameless spirit, this time molding the aesthetic into a distinctly 70s-era production. The results are fairly laughable, although that may have been what the filmmakers were intending all along. The "octaman" (and his ordinary-sized cohorts) simply must be seen to be (dis)believed. Of course nobody thought this movie was going to be brilliant when it was made, it was produced in an era when cheapie horror films were readily produced as part of the drive-in/grindhouse circuit. "Octaman" fits that bill quite nicely, and only bogs down in the talky sections of the film. As long as the rubber arms are a-wavin', it's a real hoot.
"Octaman" is in that same shameless spirit, this time molding the aesthetic into a distinctly 70s-era production. The results are fairly laughable, although that may have been what the filmmakers were intending all along. The "octaman" (and his ordinary-sized cohorts) simply must be seen to be (dis)believed. Of course nobody thought this movie was going to be brilliant when it was made, it was produced in an era when cheapie horror films were readily produced as part of the drive-in/grindhouse circuit. "Octaman" fits that bill quite nicely, and only bogs down in the talky sections of the film. As long as the rubber arms are a-wavin', it's a real hoot.
Tentacled Latin freak show
Chase_Witherspoon9 June 2015
Stars ex-swashbuckler Mathews and Mediterranean movie-starlet Angeli as the principals of an scientific 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 as a learned biologist, before the film rapidly unravels into farce with the absurd octopus-man (something akin to the Creature from the Black Lagoon whose POV we get to enjoy in true Octa-vision style) preying on members of the expedition seemingly at-will. Predictably, tensions between the personalities fray with the typical moral dilemma of 'preserve versus destroy' causing conflict. Pay close attention and you'll spot beefy Buck Kartalian in a brief role early in the picture, whilst veteran Read Morgan is naturally unrecognisable in the rubbery monster suit.
Micro-budget sci-fi has the gills of a 50's monster mash and consequently looks about ten years older than it is (1971), spouting truly inane dialogue and offers little to recommend except some unintentional laughs as Octaman basically goes berserk on the inept science crew. If you're a fan of the 50's style monster movie you might appreciate the effort, sadly though, it's also memorable as Pier Angeli's disappointing film epitaph and so along with the rest of the cast, might only be appealing to mainstream as nostalgia.
Jeff Morrow has a small supporting role as a learned biologist, before the film rapidly unravels into farce with the absurd octopus-man (something akin to the Creature from the Black Lagoon whose POV we get to enjoy in true Octa-vision style) preying on members of the expedition seemingly at-will. Predictably, tensions between the personalities fray with the typical moral dilemma of 'preserve versus destroy' causing conflict. Pay close attention and you'll spot beefy Buck Kartalian in a brief role early in the picture, whilst veteran Read Morgan is naturally unrecognisable in the rubbery monster suit.
Micro-budget sci-fi has the gills of a 50's monster mash and consequently looks about ten years older than it is (1971), spouting truly inane dialogue and offers little to recommend except some unintentional laughs as Octaman basically goes berserk on the inept science crew. If you're a fan of the 50's style monster movie you might appreciate the effort, sadly though, it's also memorable as Pier Angeli's disappointing film epitaph and so along with the rest of the cast, might only be appealing to mainstream as nostalgia.
Octafun!!!
Deliberate_Stranger12 August 2008
'Octaman' is a pretty nice monster movie from early 70's and includes one of the sweetest rubber costumes in the whole movie history. Created by Sixth time Oscar award winner special effects guru Rick Baker ('Gorillas in the Mist)creature is a half man half octopus mutant, who terrorizes people in a small Mexican village. A group of scientists tries to catch the creature but Octaman seems to be much smarter than he looks. Some people will die and some will survive to stand up in the final battle against the powerful freak of nature. To be honest with you - this movie isn't good. Actually it's hilariously bad, laughable flick with bad acting and totally lack of gore. The music is boring as hell and cinematography for sure isn't the first rate,but in overall 'Octaman' is a cult classic of bad movies and as I said it has one of the greatest costumes in movie history to date. Strong tentacles and scary red eyes -that's the Octaman device. Absolutely must see for monster movies fans! It definitively needs a proper DVD release in a good quality and with some extras. 6 out 10 for this cult trash.
OK - the only question for fans of the genre should be ...
gsh99922 January 2007
"is this just bad or actually so bad it is funny and/or good (SBIIFOG)?" Hardcore schlock horror fans will watch it no matter what, so my comments are directed to those fence-sitters who are making the decision whether or not to spend the next 2 hours or so watching OCTAMAN. I'm sure there are a lot of you out there. 3:05 pm: I am sitting down now to watch an encore presentation of OCTAMAN. Back later with my opinions. 3:10pm: OK, still early, but I can say the special effects so far are about as bad as I've ever seen. SBIIFOG potential high. 3:15 pm: This is something like "The Thing With Two Heads" without the great acting. Back to the show. 3:18 WTF?? WTF is this?? I can tell you right now this one is worth watching for the humor value.
Hope it helps.
On edit: I watching another encore presentation of OCTAMAN on MonstersHD. I do the tough job so you don't have to. All I can say is this movie just lowers the bar for no-budget horror flicks about ten feet. This movie is a complete insult to any kind of film making. Now others will churn out more drek and say "but it's not as bad as Octaman!"
Hope it helps.
On edit: I watching another encore presentation of OCTAMAN on MonstersHD. I do the tough job so you don't have to. All I can say is this movie just lowers the bar for no-budget horror flicks about ten feet. This movie is a complete insult to any kind of film making. Now others will churn out more drek and say "but it's not as bad as Octaman!"
Inverted 10...
poe42618 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Watching OCTAMAN, a thought occurred to me (which was clearly something that didn't happen to the folks who made this one): on a scale of one to ten, with ten being excellent, OCTAMAN would barely qualify as a one (awful)- BUT... If one were to INVERT the one to ten scale, so that a one was Number One, or the very HEIGHT of its type (in this case, BAD, as in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE bad), then OCTAMAN would be NUMBER ONE!!! It all makes sense, now... They weren't trying to make a BAD movie, they were shooting for Number One- which, if we use the Inverted Scale, OCTAMAN actually IS!!! So, to sum up: OCTAMAN isn't a "one," it's Number One. Got it? Good. Don't say I ain't never done nothing' for ya.
The Cheesy Tentacles of Death
Coventry7 February 2010
With "Octaman", my buddy and I were pretty much convinced to have stumbled upon the ultimate bad movie! This initially looked like brilliantly bad entertainment with a horrendously inefficient environmental message and some of the most pitiable and cheesy costumes we would ever have seen. Well, it's bad all right
but not necessarily in the entertaining way that we were anticipating. "Octaman" is a long lost relative of the wonderful Creature of the Black Lagoon"; a half man and half sea serpent monster with a ludicrous head and six tentacles. There isn't much of a plot to describe, but writer/director Harry Essex (co-writer of the original aforementioned classic – believe it or not) does his very best to show off with the rubber suit as much as possible. Octaman is literally always luring from behind a bush or with the top of his dumb head sneakily emerging from the water. The continuity in this film is far lost, the characters (supposedly another scientific expedition) are lame wooden stereotypes and the screenplay takes itself way too seriously. There isn't any attempt to insert any humor, unless you think it's hilarious that the Octaman is credited as "himself". When the monster kidnaps the girl and flees towards the water whilst holding her, the image suspiciously looks a lot like that legendary poster of "This Island Earth", with Faith Domergue in the arms of big-headed alien. This proves all the more that "Octaman" got made and released approximately fifteen years overdue. At heart, this is a genuine 50's movie, but in the 70's it doesn't even qualify as a half-decent homage and ends up being a wacky and boring film.
Saw it on the big screen just last night! Awful!
Idiot-Deluxe19 April 2019
It's like this, if the monster were simply amazing and the action scenes were like-wise, this could have been an enthralling movie. But as it stands "Octaman" is essentially an hour and a half of nothing. Incidental humor is the movies only merit and it is without doubt one of the lamest monster movies of all time. Though even more horrifying yet, is the fact that there are at least three other monster flicks that are even lamer (Curse of Bigfoot, The Creeping Terror and Night Fright - not to be confused with Fright Night, which isn't bad).
So what's so bad about Octaman, well in short, everything.
Much of it's story-line is clearly lifted from the 1954 Universal classic "Creature from the Black Lagoon", so you have a good idea of what it's plot is about; and as it turns out one of the writers of Creature from the Black Lagoon also directed Octaman, but obviously without the same level of skill or success. Now to the heart of the film, the monster itself; or more accurately the suit that makes the monster. It's looks terrible. But sadly I've seen even worse. If the monster were spectacular looking much of the movies short-comings could be overlooked, but with the Octaman costume... well that's not even close to happening. Going by the title one would expect eight arms and for them all to be functional, however only two are, the other two simply hang limp, do nothing and wish they weren't in the movie. Granted many shots of the monsters head and face are amusing, but again that's only because the latex suit is so poorly designed and stupid looking. Which is another comparison one could make with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, it's monster-costume-design is amazing looking and a truly iconic creation, yet with Octaman...well it simply sucks and is UN-iconic, to say the least. Another thing to mention >>that's impossible to miss<< is how lacking in energy the monster is. Is someone's grandpa in that suit!?
As you'll see Octaman frequently bores you with several tedious go-nowhere scenes, such as the 5 minute-long night time boat scene or the lengthy tunnel crawling sequence, twice with that one. It's strange (and a break from the formula) at how few of the characters are killed by the monster, which was certainly a bad idea. Because as you know with these movies that's what's supposed to happen, the Monster kills several people and then at the end - several people kill it. That's how the formula goes, but not with Octaman. There's simply not enough mayhem to make for an exciting and entertaining monster romp; which happens to feature a monster that's so slow and so lame anyone could out-pace it, simply by walking away at a casual rate. Simply put the monster has no menace, and since the monster IS the movie, Octaman as a whole packs no menace what so ever and as a result is a profoundly boring movie. To put it another way, Octaman is to the world of cinema, that cold oatmeal is to the world of fine dining. It's no wonder that this pathetic movie was recently selected for satire by the guys from Rifftrax and to be honest that due to how dull this movie is, even they, in certain scenes, had a hard time injecting it with any sort energy or momentum. One reviewer claims that 90% of the film is "grinding tedium" and he is correct.
One other observation I could mention is: Whenever a movie dedicates that much screen-time to something as utterly mundane as a motor-home, well...you should not expect much from that movie. There must be half a dozen shots of the gangs RV doing nothing more than lazily traversing long stretches of unremarkable back roads; or even more riveting yet it can be seen lighting up the screen in several scenes with the cast gathered around it, doing such exciting things such as talking and drinking coffee or sitting in lawn-chairs while eating sandwiches.....and drinking coffee. Yep, that's the level of film-making where talking about here, sounds riveting, right? And after awhile this RV of their's seems to somehow, someway, become a member of the cast. It's their mobile home base, without it they're powerless. And I must say that the vehicles speed is perfectly representative of the movies pace, that is very s-l-o-w.
So in closing Octaman is: Terribly lame. Terribly boring. And well frankly, terribly terrible.
So what's so bad about Octaman, well in short, everything.
Much of it's story-line is clearly lifted from the 1954 Universal classic "Creature from the Black Lagoon", so you have a good idea of what it's plot is about; and as it turns out one of the writers of Creature from the Black Lagoon also directed Octaman, but obviously without the same level of skill or success. Now to the heart of the film, the monster itself; or more accurately the suit that makes the monster. It's looks terrible. But sadly I've seen even worse. If the monster were spectacular looking much of the movies short-comings could be overlooked, but with the Octaman costume... well that's not even close to happening. Going by the title one would expect eight arms and for them all to be functional, however only two are, the other two simply hang limp, do nothing and wish they weren't in the movie. Granted many shots of the monsters head and face are amusing, but again that's only because the latex suit is so poorly designed and stupid looking. Which is another comparison one could make with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, it's monster-costume-design is amazing looking and a truly iconic creation, yet with Octaman...well it simply sucks and is UN-iconic, to say the least. Another thing to mention >>that's impossible to miss<< is how lacking in energy the monster is. Is someone's grandpa in that suit!?
As you'll see Octaman frequently bores you with several tedious go-nowhere scenes, such as the 5 minute-long night time boat scene or the lengthy tunnel crawling sequence, twice with that one. It's strange (and a break from the formula) at how few of the characters are killed by the monster, which was certainly a bad idea. Because as you know with these movies that's what's supposed to happen, the Monster kills several people and then at the end - several people kill it. That's how the formula goes, but not with Octaman. There's simply not enough mayhem to make for an exciting and entertaining monster romp; which happens to feature a monster that's so slow and so lame anyone could out-pace it, simply by walking away at a casual rate. Simply put the monster has no menace, and since the monster IS the movie, Octaman as a whole packs no menace what so ever and as a result is a profoundly boring movie. To put it another way, Octaman is to the world of cinema, that cold oatmeal is to the world of fine dining. It's no wonder that this pathetic movie was recently selected for satire by the guys from Rifftrax and to be honest that due to how dull this movie is, even they, in certain scenes, had a hard time injecting it with any sort energy or momentum. One reviewer claims that 90% of the film is "grinding tedium" and he is correct.
One other observation I could mention is: Whenever a movie dedicates that much screen-time to something as utterly mundane as a motor-home, well...you should not expect much from that movie. There must be half a dozen shots of the gangs RV doing nothing more than lazily traversing long stretches of unremarkable back roads; or even more riveting yet it can be seen lighting up the screen in several scenes with the cast gathered around it, doing such exciting things such as talking and drinking coffee or sitting in lawn-chairs while eating sandwiches.....and drinking coffee. Yep, that's the level of film-making where talking about here, sounds riveting, right? And after awhile this RV of their's seems to somehow, someway, become a member of the cast. It's their mobile home base, without it they're powerless. And I must say that the vehicles speed is perfectly representative of the movies pace, that is very s-l-o-w.
So in closing Octaman is: Terribly lame. Terribly boring. And well frankly, terribly terrible.
Breaking all the rules...
JoeB13121 April 2012
Warning: Spoilers
This movie was a throwback to the old 1950's rubber suit monster films, but it doesn't really work here.
The monster, per se, is shown in full in the first five minutes of the film, and rule one of monster movies is you don't reveal your monster until the climax.
So the presence of radiation creates an Octoman- Half Man, Half Octopus, leaving you to your imagination of how that act of conception happened. Except maybe it wasn't, since they implied the creature has been terrorizing the bad racist stereotypes who live in this village for decades. Oh, well, whatever.
There's some over the top 1970's vintage gore and some terrible acting with dubbed dialog, and the monster is quite comical to look at. It doesn't really rise to "So bad it's good" status, though. So I'll give it a one.
The monster, per se, is shown in full in the first five minutes of the film, and rule one of monster movies is you don't reveal your monster until the climax.
So the presence of radiation creates an Octoman- Half Man, Half Octopus, leaving you to your imagination of how that act of conception happened. Except maybe it wasn't, since they implied the creature has been terrorizing the bad racist stereotypes who live in this village for decades. Oh, well, whatever.
There's some over the top 1970's vintage gore and some terrible acting with dubbed dialog, and the monster is quite comical to look at. It doesn't really rise to "So bad it's good" status, though. So I'll give it a one.
What the...
adriangr7 September 2009
A very low budget and barmy monster flick from the 1970's in which a mutant octopus-man terrorizes about 6 people on a jungle expedition. Not widely known or seen, Octaman doesn't really do much with it's central idea, but then again what really is the scope for a film where the threat is one single man in an octopus suit? The story is slim: a wildlife expedition finds a little octopus with big starey eyes on a riverbank and take it back to their tent for study. Later that night a big daddy Octaman with even bigger starey eyes come to reclaim his little-un! Things go on like this for a while, with lots of nighttime scenes showing the rubbery menace stomping around the compound looking for trouble and whacking people to death with his tentacles. Unfortunately it's very easy to see right from the start that Octaman is a guy in a rubber suit with an extra fake tentacle on each arm and an extra fake tentacle on each leg...these don't move much and the effect is sadly mostly unconvincing. The old motto that "less is more" could have worked well here: if the monsters ugly face and flailing limbs were seen a bit less clearly, the audience might find things a bit more intriguing, but after the first 30 minutes, the Octaman has been seen very clearly from every angle multiple times, and I was getting bored of him! Especially as the majority film never leaves the same wretched riverbank for almost an hour, and just shows Octaman coming out of the water to camp, attacking people and then going back in again.
Acting is so-so, but acceptable, from the limited cast of 6, and at least the monster is fun to watch. Although I did find two things a bit silly – the POV "Octa-vision" shots show his vision to be faceted into hexagons like a fly-eye view might be, even though he has big round single lens eyes. And his permanently wide open mouth has plenty of angry looking sharp teeth but no throat opening at all – it just looks like a teeth-fringed green saucer! For these reasons and the very underwhelming climax, I can understand why "Octaman" has not become a cult hit..shame really, but it's just not very exciting.
Acting is so-so, but acceptable, from the limited cast of 6, and at least the monster is fun to watch. Although I did find two things a bit silly – the POV "Octa-vision" shots show his vision to be faceted into hexagons like a fly-eye view might be, even though he has big round single lens eyes. And his permanently wide open mouth has plenty of angry looking sharp teeth but no throat opening at all – it just looks like a teeth-fringed green saucer! For these reasons and the very underwhelming climax, I can understand why "Octaman" has not become a cult hit..shame really, but it's just not very exciting.
For its ecological-based idea
minos_66426 October 2005
The ecologic idea of this film is even interesting. There's no big difference between "Octaman" and the conception of "Godzilla", which in the 70's was also incredibly laughable. The big failure was how poor it was made. And this was a very, very cheap film. The courageous actors couldn't do a miracle, but they had all the dignity of doing what they needed to do. A difference rises, if they are watched apart of the surreal monster character.
After watching "Octaman" we understand why the special effects in Sci-Fi films must be a step above of their era. Fortunately, the first Star Wars film (in which Mr. Baker- co-author of the "Octaman" monster and after academy-awarded winner- seems to have learned a lot) came in rescue few years after "Octaman" to change the poor panorama of Sci-Fi films until the 70's.
Anyway, this film attracts so much attention, despite of the main monster character has been so bad constructed, has been so badly filmed and edited, having so deep weakness in the script, that it deserves a new version, exactly what was made with Godzilla. As a child I was scared with this film, at least with its first half, and as adolescent, sincerely entertained. It's understandable that there is a list where "trash" cinema fans put "Octaman" as one of their 50 favourite films. It's so so strange that it becomes good.
Finally, a time ago some Maritime Ecology site made sympathetic comments about the idea of "Octaman", relating the increasing number of giant octopus found dead in the world coast. It seems to be an important theme nowadays, upon which a well written and done film could be based on, in a new version for "Octaman".
Note: 8
After watching "Octaman" we understand why the special effects in Sci-Fi films must be a step above of their era. Fortunately, the first Star Wars film (in which Mr. Baker- co-author of the "Octaman" monster and after academy-awarded winner- seems to have learned a lot) came in rescue few years after "Octaman" to change the poor panorama of Sci-Fi films until the 70's.
Anyway, this film attracts so much attention, despite of the main monster character has been so bad constructed, has been so badly filmed and edited, having so deep weakness in the script, that it deserves a new version, exactly what was made with Godzilla. As a child I was scared with this film, at least with its first half, and as adolescent, sincerely entertained. It's understandable that there is a list where "trash" cinema fans put "Octaman" as one of their 50 favourite films. It's so so strange that it becomes good.
Finally, a time ago some Maritime Ecology site made sympathetic comments about the idea of "Octaman", relating the increasing number of giant octopus found dead in the world coast. It seems to be an important theme nowadays, upon which a well written and done film could be based on, in a new version for "Octaman".
Note: 8
Shouldn't It Be Spelled "Octoman"?
CMRKeyboadist6 February 2007
Just got done watching Octaman and I must say this movie is hilarious. Nothing better then seeing a guy dressed in a plastic octopus suit running around killing people. This movie is truly one of those lost gems that fans of horror should see at one point or another.
The storyline is about as obvious as they get. What happens when an octopus is exposed to radiation? Well, we get a half man, half octopus. Put them together and we get all terror! Octaman is running around the Mexican country side killing random people. A group of scientific researchers get involved to try and capture the beast.
Wow this film was great! I was laughing through most of it. I was worried about watching it because I thought it was going to be one of those movies that is filled with nothing but ridiculous dialog but I was proved wrong as Octaman is basically the star of the movie. Most of the time we see him killing people in a most humorous way.
I had a lot of fun with this movie and it held my interest until the end. If you are a fan of modern day horror you probably won't like this, but if you are a fan of grindhouse horror, this is definitely a fun movie. 6/10
The storyline is about as obvious as they get. What happens when an octopus is exposed to radiation? Well, we get a half man, half octopus. Put them together and we get all terror! Octaman is running around the Mexican country side killing random people. A group of scientific researchers get involved to try and capture the beast.
Wow this film was great! I was laughing through most of it. I was worried about watching it because I thought it was going to be one of those movies that is filled with nothing but ridiculous dialog but I was proved wrong as Octaman is basically the star of the movie. Most of the time we see him killing people in a most humorous way.
I had a lot of fun with this movie and it held my interest until the end. If you are a fan of modern day horror you probably won't like this, but if you are a fan of grindhouse horror, this is definitely a fun movie. 6/10
'50s throwback
Leofwine_draca29 November 2019
Warning: Spoilers
OCTAMAN is an extraordinarily low budget creature feature of 1971, which looks and feels like a B-movie from the 1950s - except cheaper and not as good. A group of explorers encounter a local creature in a watering hole in Mexico and soon find themselves menaced by the rubber-suited titular creature. The only really notable part of this is that the creature was created by none other than Rick Baker, the SFX genius whose work highlighted dozens of classics in the 1980s, and I did enjoy the retro look and feel of this aquatic beastie; a shame the rest of the production doesn't match.
One of the most boring movies I've ever seen.
Paul T. Monster4 November 1999
Yawn! There's almost nothing to say about his film except that it's really bad. Imagine if the makers of "Manos" The Hands of Fate remade Creature of the Black Lagoon and you have this movie in a nutshell, only this movie might be even more boring.
Most of the time they film this thing through a filter during the day for night scenes....resulting in many scenes where you can't tell what's going on, and couldn't care less. The monster, Octaman, is very stupid looking, and you can see the strings on his tentacles. There are also lots of scenes of people sitting around...and walking...and driving...and absolutely nothing happening except moments of your life that you can never get back ticking away.
Most of the time they film this thing through a filter during the day for night scenes....resulting in many scenes where you can't tell what's going on, and couldn't care less. The monster, Octaman, is very stupid looking, and you can see the strings on his tentacles. There are also lots of scenes of people sitting around...and walking...and driving...and absolutely nothing happening except moments of your life that you can never get back ticking away.
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