ROGER CORMAN PRESENTS SHARKTOPUS, directed by DECLAN O'BRIEN (Anchor Bay DVD)

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ROGER CORMAN PRESENTS SHARKTOPUS, directed by DECLAN O'BRIEN (Anchor Bay DVD)

Some years ago in this interview the master of B-grade flicks Roger Corman admitted that these days he often just thought up the title and let other directors flesh out the actual film.

Hence Dinocroc.

And of course, Dinocroc 2.

Which also explains this amusingly low budget affair ("Half-shark. Half-octopus. All killer") in which our titular hybrid monster -- invented by the US military of course -- goes rogue (of course) from Santa Monica down to Mexico.

That's a lot of ocean but by coincidence every time the ambitious television reporter and her half-baked cameraman (with tatoos put on in felt tip pen) arrive somewhere so too does the sharktopus.

And fortunately when the jock/former scientist who was fired from the research team is called back in to hunt the creature, every time he goes near the water, who should be there but . . .

There are no spoiler alerts possible here because once you've seen the title and caught the first few minutes (stock footage from Santa Monica, the Jaws-like underwater sequence, standard characters) you are just in for the ride and the laughs.

There are no name players here  -- it is too much to refer to them as actors -- unless you count Eric Roberts as the inventor-gone-bad (who spends most of the film putting or taking off his sunglasses). Do we count Hector Jimenez from Nacho Libre as a name player?

And for a Corman-approved film there is a conspicuous lack of bare breasts. Taste slipping in? 

Among the best bits are a woman with a mouth full of teeth like a horse having hysterics (watch closely, she gets eaten within a minute or so) and of course that moment when you ask yourself, "Hey, if this thing is a shark and octopus how come it can live out of water for so long?"

But that's when you know you are taking things far too seriously.

Looks like it is set up for a sequel.

We could get in first: bring in a Bond-like character and we've got  . . . Sharktopussy.

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