SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Phil Hubbs So when this movie starts we get the standard introduction for a watery monster flick, a live action shot of the ocean rolling and crashing against the rocks. Over said standard introduction we of course get the opening credits which lists our main players. The interesting thing was, once the credits had finished we get some narration. This narration informs us of where and how this movie was shot. I've never come across that before, it was odd to say the least, kinda took you out of the movie...for a moment.The plot to this deep sea tale is a very basic affair, let me explain in the simplest of terms. Julie, a beautiful young woman (Anne Kimbell) goes on vacation in Mexico. Whilst there she meets young handsome marine biologist Dr. Baldwin (Dick Pinner) and they slowly fall in love. The end...nah only joking.After Julie hears a mysterious story about the death of a diver she becomes curious and decides to do some digging. Naturally Dr. Baldwin is skeptical but because he loves her so much he goes along with the investigation. After much deliberating, various tests and chats with the locals, the duo eventually discover that there is indeed a large monster on the rampage in this sleepy Mexican coastal region.So what is the monster you ask? Well its obviously not gonna be a shark, crab or giant eel or whatever because that's too boring. At first I thought it might be a giant octopus, which we are presented with at one point. Luckily its not that either. During the brave duos investigation they actually discover (by accident) a strange piece of gloop. Now because Dr. Baldwin is of course a scientist he knows exactly what to do, stick it under his trusty microscope. After much important scientific type spiel which I'm sure nobody would really listen too intently, they come to the conclusion its a piece of mutated amoeba. Its right at that moment that you the viewer realises that the large roaming monster is in fact a large mutated amoeba. A result of atomic testing? Actually this time I don't think so.Yes the big beastie is actually a large, umm...octopus looking amoeba with one huge comical eye that glows. It looks more like a space alien really. The creature in question looks to be a puppet on strings against an underwater set of varying quality. The creatures large glowing eye is actually pretty cool I thought, definitely brought it to life and gave it some character. Alas it also made it look like a Scooby-Doo monster from the cartoons.Next to that you of course have a lot of stock footage of various sea creatures and a reasonable amount of underwater sequences shot with real divers. There does in fact appear to be a real sequence where a diver fights off a real shark with a knife, and the production does seem to have and utilise a real minisub. Its also worthy to note that this movie does appear to have a score that closely resembles a certain Steven Spielberg movie. Believe it or not but that famous/infamous musical tune does actually appear in this movie. Not the exact same score of course but its damn close. Hmmm I wonder Mr. Spielberg.Other than that its all business as usual really. The Mexican locals are all your bog standard, obligatory stereotypes. Horrendous accents, the men have huge moustaches and the women are all old and covered in veils (although the director, Wyott Ordung, is actually the main stereotypical Mexican local). Dr. Baldwin and all the other scientist blokes generally act like male chauvinists, patronising Julie all the time. Julie often speaks sense, is hard working and is willing to go the extra mile to get to the bottom of the mystery. On the other hand Dr. Baldwin merely thinks this is adorable and treats her like a puppy. Heck there's even a sequence where Dr. Baldwin serenades Julie on the rocks by the ocean in a highly cringeworthy scene that feels somewhat out of place. Not that it matters because the movie was lost way before this. The reason being its just too boring, nothing really happens...like ever! We only see some monster action right at the very end and even then its woefully brisk. We don't see any other creatures or people getting eaten, no carcasses, no tension, no thrills, just lots of talk, some romance and underwater jiggery- pokery. Yeah the giant amoeba is kinda fun to look at but there needed to be way way more of it.3/10

O2D Roger Corman is the most consistent person on Earth.He has consistently churned out garbage for over half a century and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. With only 1 hour to work with,Corman still manages to kill half the time with lots of nothing.I guess that's his trademark.His use of the two person tight shot makes having a budget completely unnecessary.Why have a story or set when you can just have tight shots of nothing? So the "story" is about a woman who goes on vacation to Mexico,alone.She quickly befriends a fatherless child(not weird at all) and then meets a guy with a submarine.The submarine is human powered,very slow,can not move in a straight line and is not air tight(you need scuba gear to ride in this thing).The entire concept of the thing makes no sense yet we are treated to 15 minutes of it traveling underwater. All the Mexicans have eastern European accents while still managing to throw in 1 Spanish word per sentence.Did I mention the woman faints every 5 minutes? She's obsessed with finding this mysterious monster yet every time she goes looking she gets terrified and runs,when she doesn't faint. One time she sees an octopus and says she thought it was the monster.When we finally see the monster,IT LOOKS LIKE AN OCTOPUS! Then the Corman genius kicks in and we only see the monster out of focus while the woman moves in fast motion. Never watch this or any other Roger Corman movie.

moycon I was lucky enough to find this movie years ago pre-viewed at a Blockbusters and immediately loved it. As soon as I found out it had been released on DVD, I bought it outright. Why? It's just an all around great movie. No it doesn't have the best production values, No the acting will not win any awards EVER! But what the flick does have is soul. It straight forward, to the point. A monster is terrorizing a village. A woman visiting the area wants to help out. She tracks down the monster and...... Well I wont give away the ending. The film is short and sweet, just over an hour its running time is just perfect. The monster in my opinion is very well done. Sure you may laugh now...But I can imagine back when I was a wee lad the sight of that horrible thing rising out of the bubbling oceans probably would have sent me to bed shivering and begging for the light to be left on. I think this is the perfect movie to introduce the younger generation (6-9 year old) to the genre. If you haven't yet, watch this at least once. You may wind up like me, addicted to the Monster From The Ocean Floor!

teuthis On the surface, this film appears to be just another entry into the 50's cinema monster mill. But when we dive deeper we find some subtle and entertaining differences. The heroine is remarkably modern. She is brave, independent, determined, and completely oblivious to what the rather effete male characters think of her. The film is actually developed around her persona, and her dogged determination to seek the monster lurking below. The underwater scenes are beautiful examples of early open water cinematography in the lush, cool Pacific Ocean. The submarine is great. I really wanted one when I was a kid and first saw this film. The spunky actress seems to have done her own diving too. The scene in which she tries to fend off the shark is exciting. If you forget the rather weakly done monster, its minimal time on screen, and instead, focus on the enchanting heroine and her quest, this is not a bad film at all. I certainly find it entertaining. I have it on DVD and watch if often.