William Samuel Based on the title, you're probably guessing that this is some low-budget shark attack movie filmed in Malibu by the Sci-Fi channel. But no! It's actually a low-budget prehistoric sea monster movie shot in Italy by people pretending to be from Florida. As you might expect, it's pretty lousy, with cheesy acting, bad dialogue, and very low production values.The plot, such as it is, follows a group of marine biologists, their rivals from the better funded research lab across town, the surprisingly buff electrical engineer who builds their equipment, plus some other people who are only here to get eaten. The first shot involves a stereotypical middle-aged American couple who are eaten, along with their boat, by a creature that we see very little of. This will set a pattern for later scenes. There are more monster attacks, attempts by the scientists to track the creature, scenes where scientists sit around trading theories about the creature, and attacks by unnamed thugs whose motives aren't entirely clear. And for good measure there's semi-obligatory music video involving two of the researchers.Unsurprisingly, there is a mad scientist involved, but it's not who you think, or for the reasons you would expect. The monster itself is some sort of prehistoric shark with multi-colored scales and tentacles. Not that you ever see the entire monster, except in one distant, incredibly murky shot. Mostly you just get quick glimpses of part of the monster, so you have to piece together its appearance from multiple sightings.It also turns out that the monster can re-grow from parts of itself, so after the coast guard has taken the effort to place explosive buoys, they have to go back and shoot the buoys before the shark-thing swims into them. Rarely has there been a less exciting use for pyrotechnics. Eventually after much bumbling and quite a few scenes that aren't entirely necessary, the monster is destroyed using a method that I'm quite certain has never been used before or since to dispatch a sea monster.Anyway the actors aren't very good and can't hide their Italian accents; the soundtrack consists mainly of generic, rather sedate new wave tunes, and there are many long periods without much happening. The photography isn't very good by eighties standards, but at least the beaches are pretty. The dialogue is worth special notice for its sheer awfulness, much of which may be a result of its translation from the Italian. Just how bad is it? Let me give you some examples."What they don't understand is that at WOI we deal in genetics, not fish." "How would you know, you electrician?" "I'll decide it was a murder." "You're too old for science." "He would sit on his mother's head if he thought it would gain him an advantage." And my personal favorite, "From a woman with the sensitivity of a slut I will not accept lessons."I sincerely hope that the writers of this flop did not moonlight as English teachers. I also hope you will see the MST3K based on this film, but avoid the original like a rotten fish.

Eric Smith Annoyingly dreadful horror film and another relentless "Jaws" rip-off that is arguably the worst one yet. In fact, they seem to borrow characterizations off each "Jaws" film made at that point! Set in Miami, a marine biologist, a dolphin trainer, a research scientist and a local sheriff who attempt to hunt down a giant sea monster that is described as a hybrid of a shark and octopus, which makes me wonder if "Sharktapous" is a remake of this turd. We never actually see the giant fish, just a lot of awful close-ups of an open mouth that growls a lot. The cast is largely made up of Italians and Latin Americans so watching them attempt to play Floridians is equal parts hilarious and excruciating. The dialogue is groan inducing and the direction and cinematography is done as though no one knew what they were doing. This isn't even so bad it's worth watching. It's just plain awful.

HumanoidOfFlesh In Lamberto Bava's "Monster Shark" there is a killer shark with tentacles.The beast is terrorizing the waters off the Southern Florida coast and devouring alive some stupid people.It's up to Michael Sopkiw to stop the predator..."Devilfish" aka "Monster Shark" is an incredibly moronic monster flick co-scripted by Luigi Cozzi and Sergio Martino.There is a bit of gore and nudity,but overall the film is pretty tame.The story is hackneyed,the subplots are dumb and the acting is mediocre.The monster is a a genetically-created hybrid of an octopus and a prehistoric proto-shark.There is a bit of misogynistic violence for exploitation fans-the women are beaten whilst being semi-naked.If you are into cheesy Italian trash "Monster Shark" will leave you stunned.6 sharks out of 10.

Michael_Elliott Devil Fish (1984) 1/2 (out of 4) A group of people with varying occupations try to destroy a half-shark, half-octopus in this incredibly awful Italian rip-off of JAWS.DEVIL FISH is also known under the title MONSTER SHARK but no matter what you call it you need to know it's one of the worst films the sub-genre ever delivered. What's most shocking about this awful movie is how many familiar names in Italian cinema are connected to it. You've got Lamberto Bava directing. You've got Luigi Cozzi and Sergio Martino doing the story. Then you've got Bruno Mattei doing some second unit stuff. It really does feel like these many folks were involved because there's so much stuff crammed into this 97 minute movie that it rarely makes any sense.The biggest problem with the movie is how poorly made it is. I mean, with so much talent you'd think that they could have at least delivered a so-bad-it's-good type of film. The monster shark is kept hidden until the final moments, which is too bad since it's got a campy 1950s drive-in feel to it. The performances are all rather bad and that includes William Berger in his role. The editing is beyond horrible. The cinematography looks like a couple kids running with a camera. The music score is annoying. The death scenes are all rather weak. Worst of all is the fact that there are so many subplots going on that it seems like the editor accidentally put scenes in from other movies!