Attack of the Octopus People (2011)
** (out of 4)
16-year-old Joshua Kennedy wrote, directed, produced, edited and plays the lead role in this homage to those 50's drive-in movies. In the film, Kennedy plays Daniel Davis, a man returning home from the war and accepting a job at a local plant but it turns out that something fishy is going on here and it seems like some octopus people have plans on taking over the world. ATTACK OF THE OCTOPUS PEOPLE isn't meant to be viewed the same way one would look at CITIZEN KANE. This is obviously an ultra low-budget movie with a group of friends getting together to have some fun. Some of the acting is bad. At times some of the audio is hard to hear. There are certainly flaws running throughout this picture but what were you doing when you were 16-years-old? For the most part I thought the film was a fine homage to movies like ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES and I think a strong argument could be made that there's more loving care in this film than many of those it's paying homage to. There are some funny moments for horror buffs including a brief clip of NIGHT TIDE, the Dennis Hopper-mermaid film as well as a brief cameo from Peter Cushing. The costumes for the octopus people are certainly silly but they have their own charm. At just 47-minutes the film does start to feel long at times but there's still no question that its heart is in the right place. This movie wasn't meant to be taken too serious and I think fans of those old movies should be able to get a few kicks out of this and especially for the PSYCHO homage.
** (out of 4)
16-year-old Joshua Kennedy wrote, directed, produced, edited and plays the lead role in this homage to those 50's drive-in movies. In the film, Kennedy plays Daniel Davis, a man returning home from the war and accepting a job at a local plant but it turns out that something fishy is going on here and it seems like some octopus people have plans on taking over the world. ATTACK OF THE OCTOPUS PEOPLE isn't meant to be viewed the same way one would look at CITIZEN KANE. This is obviously an ultra low-budget movie with a group of friends getting together to have some fun. Some of the acting is bad. At times some of the audio is hard to hear. There are certainly flaws running throughout this picture but what were you doing when you were 16-years-old? For the most part I thought the film was a fine homage to movies like ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES and I think a strong argument could be made that there's more loving care in this film than many of those it's paying homage to. There are some funny moments for horror buffs including a brief clip of NIGHT TIDE, the Dennis Hopper-mermaid film as well as a brief cameo from Peter Cushing. The costumes for the octopus people are certainly silly but they have their own charm. At just 47-minutes the film does start to feel long at times but there's still no question that its heart is in the right place. This movie wasn't meant to be taken too serious and I think fans of those old movies should be able to get a few kicks out of this and especially for the PSYCHO homage.
