Film Review: OCTOPUS (2000)

Straight to video horror doesn't get more entertaining than this sci-fi horror '" OCTOPUS (2000) which tries to be an entertaining and suspense action film that just so happens to have a giant mutated octopus thrown into the mix. When a terrorist Casper (played by the always enjoyable Ravil Isyanov) is captured by a "rookie" CIA agent Roy Turner (Jay Harrington), Turner gets more than he bargained for when his superiors force him to escort the terrorist back to U.S. territory via a submarine. The submarine is commanded by Captain Jack Shaw (David Beecroft), who is a disgraced captain after having grounded his previous sub. Also along for the ride is biologist Dr. Lisa Finch (Carolyn Lowery).

Everything goes to hell quick when the submarine ventures into the living room of a giant mutated octopus (and its ancestors) which has been attacking ships of all kinds for decades. To make matters worse Casper escapes custody and is now roaming through the sub killing off people left and right. Soon Turner not only finds himself trying to recapture one of the deadliest terrorist he's ever come across as well as a giant octopus which threatens to kill everyone on the sub.

For the most part the film actually is quite entertaining mainly because we only get a small glimpse of the giant octopus until the very end and most of the excitement comes from the cat 'n mouse chase between Turner and Casper. This is not to say that the film is a cinematic masterpiece (because it's far from that) but as a film about a giant mutated octopus it's quite entertaining and even has a few laughs so the film never has a dull moment.

Written by Michael D. Weiss (with story by Boaz Davidson) and directed by John Eyres the film knows exactly its audience and delivers everything that is expected of it which means that you won't be too disappointed. There are a few bad CGI moments towards the end when the film-makers decide to show the giant octopus a little too much but this is manageable (especially considering other bad giant octopus films '" and there are more than you might think).