Barracuda (1978)

[Flack]

1975's Jaws was so scary people it kept people out of the ocean, but films like Orca (1977), Tentacles (1977), Piranha (1978), Alligator (1980), Great White (1981), and Blood Beach (1981) were so bad they kept people away from theaters. Another film that capitalized on the popularity of Jaws but failed to deliver in almost every way was the 1978 knock-off, Barracuda.

The movie poster for Barracuda prominently displays a woman in a red bikini being circled by a gigantic barracuda. There is in fact a barracuda in the film, but it's not particularly giant (it's hard to tell with all the jumpy footage) and it never attacks a girl in a bikini. All told, less than five minutes of the film take place in the water, and the barracuda shots are split between what appear to be a barracuda in a tank and closeups of a fish's head in a market (with red gels over the lens).

The film's plot (what there is of it) revolves around a team of researchers investigating a plant disposing of chemical waste into the ocean. The chemicals are making both the local fish and the townsfolk aggressive, but we don't learn that until 75 minutes into this 100 minute flick. Frankly, more people get shot than attacked by the barracuda. Calling this movie Barracuda would be like renaming Star Wars "Jawas." If you cut all the barracuda attack scenes out of this movie it wouldn't change the film's plot at all, and it wouldn't surprise me if the barracuda angle was added to a preexisting script.

For those hoping for a sequel, every good guy and girl in the film is shot and killed in the last five minutes. Happy ending!

[AArdvark]

I went to IMDB and found a half dozen movies with that name. Who would have thought a fish like that could spawn so many movies

THE
REALLY BAD PUN
AARDVARK

[Flack]

Here you go.



This is one case where I'll say watching it without sound might not make a difference.