365 Days. 365 Films.

If this is supposed to be a comedy, it’s amazing. Frighteningly, I don’t think it is. This film is about a half-shark, half-octopus genetic experiment gone wrong. The monster escapes it’s mechanical implant which allows it’s creators to control it and it starts to kill everyone it can get it’s tentacles on.

I realise that disbelief must be suspended when watching any film that involves a half-shark, half-octopus monster, and that it’s hardly a documentary, but there are certain things which should have been scripted/directed better (or at all). Firstly the monster doesn’t seem to have a motive for killing other than to carry the plot – it doesn’t kill for food or defence, it just likes to rip the heads off casual sunbathers minding their own business (which neither a shark, not an octopus would do). More importantly, no one seems that arsed about the mass killings, with the greatest exclamation of terror being a surprisingly nonchalant ”oh no!”. Furthermore, I recall a scene in which the monster is attacking someone in an open-air restaurant and the people sitting at the next table are so engrossed in their delicious meals that they don’t even notice the chaos before them. People seem to run towards the monster, no one can shoot straight at it despite the fact that it’s about as big as a cruise ship (and then smaller, and then bigger again) and the friends and family of those killed by it laugh it off and then continue with their business.

There is very little charicterisation in the film, partly because of terrible scripting and acting, and otherwise because of the amount of characters introduced. With no explanation randomers are introduced to the plot for no other reason than to be killed, one character who stands out is a girl in a bikini using a metal detector on a beach – a beach which should have been closed down due to the slight risk of death by Sharktopus, but never is for the entire film.

With the shaky cinematography this is less Cloverfield and more like the cameraman was drunk (which you probably would have to be to agree to do this film), and the only redeeming factor is that the film includes a Wilhelm Scream, displaying a certain level of self-humour. Another point I would like to make is about the CGI – just to remind all fimmakers, if you have a budget of zero (as I imagine this film had) don’t try to use GCI.

I would definitely recommend this film, purely because it’s so shit, it will make you laugh a hell of a lot and/or inspire a new level of appreciation for good films.