Up from the Depths

When it comes to sharksploitation films there are only a handful of good or entertaining movies "Up From The Depths" its probably among the worst sharksploitation films to come out in the 70's, its really cheesy and cheap. This film its produced by Roger Corman, and directed by Charles B. Griffith, who wrote movies for Corman including "Little Shop Of Horrors", but this is probably his worst film, well, the audio was lost so the actors had to dub the movie, the dubbing makes the movie even worse, its a really goofy film, its quite fun if you like B-movies. The poster its a hundred times better than the movie, the shark monster that you see in the poster is nowhere in the film, there is nothing that even resembles it, the monster in the film its quite schlocky and cheap, the movie has really awful special effects and a lame ending. I wouldn't recommend this film, there is nothing redeemable in it, its just pure crapiness an laziness, maybe if you like cheesy movies, but what I would really recommend is to look at the poster instead.

After a strange series of incidents, the owner of a Hawaiian tourist resort tries to downplay the incidents especially when he finds a local swindler trying to stop the resorts' activities, but as the attacks by a released shark get more destructive he's forced to rely on his help to stop the deadly creature. On the whole, this one was a highly disappointing effort. Among the better features here is that there's a somewhat enjoyable set up here to get the shark released on the community. The opening footage of the unwater earthquake and the resulting off-screen attack with the blood-cloud floating to the surface is a fine start to things, while the resorts' imminent missing person's investigation alongside the various sea creatures coming ashore and wrecking the guests' time. As well, the sneak-shots of the fins swimming through the ocean or flash attacks happening to the staff at the resort do a decent job at building up a potential threat in the waters. As well, when the shark-creature appears this one gets rather enjoyable. The first attack on the pearl smugglers has some decent underwater stalking scenes before the expected blood-cloud emerges, while the centerpiece scenes of the shark attacking the resort are a lot of fun. Smashing the transport boat to snap up the persons' onboard is a fine way to go into the creatures' attack on the guests on the beach in full view of everyone causing massive panic to erupt in the race to get to shore, giving this one some solid action. Some of the attacks to catch the shark by having the locals go out after it only to hilariously fail provides some laughs, and with these taking place with a real shark, prop give this some positives. There are a few problems here. The main problem is the film's utter boredom for the majority of the first half as it tends to focus on extremely uninteresting storylines that do nothing for the film. Focusing on the relationship of the three main characters involved around the resort, from the owner to his assistant who's romantically involved with the swindler trying to peddle the sight-seeing tours around the hotel property for a vast majority of the first half is just boring to get through. That carries over into the different sketches shown of the various guests going around trying to enjoy life around the resort which isn't any better, leaving this one incredibly bland and dull to get going. The other issue here is the completely unnecessary setup of the useless cliches present here. The most obvious one here is the lame reasoning to keep the resort open as the manager continually keeps it going merely for monetary gain despite ample evidence something is going on with the missing staff and guests. Even after realizing the creatures' out there with his presence during an attack, the decision to keep the resort open and offer up a reward for it tends to sit uneasily here in being a realistic scenario. The last complaint is a wholly rushed and underwhelming ending, where the build-up to this great fight with the creature is over quickly and suddenly, taking the sting out of it somewhat and being the film's main flaws. Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Nudity.

Something has been released from the nether regions of the ocean, just off the shores of the Hawaiian islands. Something that's turning tourists into human chum! Frantic, beach-side hotel owner, Mr. Forbes (Kedric Wolfe) is afraid this might impact his business in a negative way. Local treasure hunter, Greg Oliver (Sam Bottoms) has his own encounter with the cantankerous creature. UP FROM THE DEPTHS is a sluggish, near-dead "horror" movie. It appears that someone said, "Hey! Let's make a JAWS clone!", but had no idea what to do after that. As for the "monster" of the film, it's shown very little, which is a blessing for all concerned. The only question for a movie like this is, "Is there nudity?". Yes, there is. There are also hula dancers in danger. FUN FACT: When hula dancers sense danger, they run every which way! Insufferably dull and mindless, not even the explosive "human bait" finale can make this enjoyable. P. S.- Watch for R. Lee Ermey in a small, early role. Thankfully, his career survived this ultra-dud...

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source: Up from the Depths

Brought to you by the "father of redneck cinema," Charles B. Griffith, this movie is more Jaws than Creature from the Black Lagoon. Griffith was told to make an action movie, but he got a depressing looking creature and decided to make a comedy. By the time he flew back home, producer Roger Corman had already recut it in into a horror movie. Welcome to Maui, where the staff, tourists and locals are starting to disappear. Turns out that an underwater earthquake has released some very hungry prehistoric fish (I caught a bowfin once as a kid and it's a trout with teeth, a horrifying beast that hasn't changed much from its prehistoric version). Local fishermen all team up to hunt and kill the beast, just like Jaws, except everyone has guns. Sam Bottoms, brother of Timothy, plays Greg Oliver, one of the locals. And so is R. Lee Emery, in an early role. Neither of them are the tourist who yells, "Oh my God, it's a monster fish!" a line that made me so happy I nearly passed out. Believe it or not, Corman's New World Pictures double-billed this feature with Cronenberg's The Brood, a fact that makes me happy if the audience was rewarded with The Brood first. If not, I'm not certain how many folks would still be in the theater. Griffith called this film a "terrible experience." He should have had to watch this piece of crap!

This is a nearly completely redone version of Jaws, of course. The monster gets a 1, pretty lame big rubber fish. The script a 2, too much really bad humor that's tried to be passed off as wit. The supporting cast a 3, some are okay some are not, and the boy and girl leads get a 4, they really are not bad and handled their parts in such a grade C film with respect. The nice scenery of a remote Hawaiian island gets a 5 and the all around neat 1970s mishmash decor gets a 7, and not higher because it wasn't planned but was just there to be used. I mean just look at that hotel, with a 1960s angular pointy diner roof and greco-roman columns holding it up!

Every movie has its moments . . . this one had a boat tipping over and a stagy shot of the monster in good detail. I can hardly remember this movie but giant fish movies terrify me a great deal . . . something i fear about there being something huge and horrible under the surface of a placid and beautiful surface . . . scary fish movies and zombie movies. I think if this one comes out on DVD anytime soon, buy it for 5.00 but no more . . . its not as good as L'Utimo Squalo, not as bad as Tintorea but about as good as Crocodile . . . not nearly as good as Alligator .. . see Alligator and this as a double-feature and your night won't totally be wasted . . . great a couple of pizzas too. thanks. its a 10 because of that shot of the fish . . .it makes the whole film, really . . .but don't make this one you single night's viewing.

A seaside community is besieged by a giant shark like creature that threatens the local serenity. Greedy resort proprietor (Wolfe) sees a marketing opportunity and invites all and sundry to hunt down the perpetrator for a booty in cash and hotel discounts. Sounds reasonable. When you see the concoction, you'll understand why that shouldn't be too much of a problem. But then, there are as yet undiscovered marine life living in deep sea trenches that could conceivably resemble the giant, dual-dorsal finned groper with dentures. Kudos to director Griffith for envisaging such a beast so we can marvel at nature's oddities. "Up From the Depths" is a fast paced, amusing experiment which has attracted minor cult status for its sheer absurdity. The acting, in particular, is atrocious and not all of it is ham flavoured, so there's some excruciating performances to endure. Director Griffith, who hails from the Roger Corman inspired school of movie making seems to have attempted a cheerful homage to those early, inexpensive AIP monster movies, and there's certainly a camp quality to the dialogue and acting (the scene in which the samurai tries to alight from the beach in his canoe is hilarious in context). Dubious voice-over looping is badly out of sync with the actors' speech, while the shark is one of the more intrepid creations of a sea monster, but still has enough mobility (combined with the right camera angles and additional footage) to give the attack scenes some plausibility, if only for a moment. An occasional severed head falling to the sea floor post attack tells us that at least some of the meagre budget was dedicated to make-up effects, perhaps so much that the makers couldn't blow up the shark itself – its fate is implied with a loud explosion, although there's no visible evidence (save for everyone waving their arms in jubilation). Despite a reasonable cast (Bottoms, Frye, Howerton & Metcalfe), a zany soundtrack and comfortable plot, the budget doesn't go far enough and it's likely destined for lifelong obscurity. Too bad if you're mainstream, just wish they'd release on DVD for the rest of us.

The price we paid for the success of "Jaws" was a heavy one, with so many other aquatic killer animal features released in the subsequent years. The "Jaws" spoof "Piranha" is one of the better ones, by far. This is one of the lesser ones. It's a crude, ineffective, even boring "thriller" about a prehistoric monster fish released from imprisonment in the sea after an underwater earthquake. It proceeds to feast upon locals and visitors in the area, including patrons of a resort. Ultimately, many expeditions are launched to find and destroy the fishy menace. It's hard to care much about this trite story, especially when the presentation, and characters, are so lacking in interesting features. Granted, it does get a shade more amusing once the frequency of fish attacks increases. Special effects are as crude as you could imagine - the more you see of the predator, the more unconvincing and laughable it looks. Attack scenes feature a lot of fake blood in the water, and splashing, but choppy editing where you really don't see very much. Voyeurs will appreciate the amount of female flesh displayed. Fortunately, the atmosphere and flavor of the location (although set in Hawaii, it was shot in the Philippines) help to make it tolerable. Unfortunately, a lot of the acting is incredibly amateurish. Susanne Reed ('Code R') is a gorgeous, sexy leading lady, but the less said about her performance, the better. However, she's not the worst offender. That dishonor belongs to Kedric Wolfe ("Forbidden Zone"), who's utterly annoying as the high strung resort manager. Familiar faces Sam Bottoms ("Apocalypse Now"), as the young hero, and Virgil Frye ("Revenge of the Ninja"), as his scruffy, surly uncle, do what they can; Frye tends to steal the show. Only recommended to people who just CAN'T get enough of this genre. Four out of 10.