Tentacles (1978) When something turns into a big movie hit, like Jaws did, you used to be able to bank money that not too long after there would be a very similar movie released with a strong smell of garlic and fresh olive oil. Oh yeah, the first few names displayed in the credits might be American, but if you looked close the Italian names would start to creep in. And sure enough, here is Italy's big contribution to the "ocean critter makes local beach an all-you-can-eat buffet" flick so popular in the wake of Spielberg's little fish tale. Keeping this from seeming like a foreign film is a cast that includes John Huston (sometime actor and more often director--he directed The Maltese Falcon for pete's sake!), Shelley Winters (The Poseidon Adventure) , Bo Hopkins (Sweet 16), Claude Akins (Guns of the Magnificent Seven), and best of all, Henry Fonda (Meteor)! The story has something eating people right off the shore in a small California beachside community. Aging pesky reporter Huston digs right in, despite high pitched screechy warnings from his sister Winters who's busy trying to help her young son with his regatta race. Sheriff Akins calls in marine biologist Hopkins to help, and Hopkins is thrilled to pitch in because it means he won't have to play the sheriff role for once. Huston eventually discovers the eating machine is an octopus driven mad by high frequency sound waves used by Fonda's oil exploration company, but Fonda's not a bad guy, it was all the work of his assistant Cesare Danova (a fine Italian actor who was in enough American movies to almost qualify as part of the American cast.) Finally it comes down to Hopkins and his friendly trained killer whales (!) to save the day. Well, where to start breaking it down? I had vaguely dreaded this one, picturing it as an ultra gory exploitation movie (like a Lucio Fulci movie) with the American actors unable to hide their embarrassment at being seen in it. Actually, I enjoyed this rip-o--er, I mean...homage! It's PG rated, so there's some suspense and violence, but none of that zesty over-the-top Italian gore (you know, acid, maggots, extreme eyeball damage) and though none of the American actors are anywhere near the octopus scenes except for Hopkins, they give their roles enough care that their scenes are fun to watch instead of dragging the movie to a halt until the next octopus attack. Rumor has it Fonda only agreed to take the job if the movie crew would come and shoot in his backyard, and from his brief appearances on the phone or meeting with Huston or Danova around a swimming pool that are sprinkled throughout the movie, this may well be true, which is awesome! As for the title role, our eight legged star is represented by a real octopus, a big "mechanical" stand-in (towed behind a boat) during the regatta attack, and a couple of floppy rubber tentacles for the other attack scenes. To my trained eye the real fellow looks to be about the size of a cantaloupe but the effects guys use him pretty well. They misuse him pretty well too in the climactic attack as the killer whales (or their puppet doubles) make mincemeat of the obviously real octopus. Animal lovers might want to avoid the movie because of this, but I'd like to think the octopus agreed to the sacrifice for the sake of Italian rip-off movie lovers everywhere. If you're one of them, or a fan of American casts hired to lend a movie some American-icity, this one is not to be missed. If you've seen none of the myriad Jaws ripoffs from the 70's you also might want to take a look to see what you've missed all these years as this one is kind of decent. But then, I've seen Tintorera (1978) and Barracuda (1978), so I know how bad they got too. Ciao!

This review is more about Tentacles than Empire of the Ants. I watched Tentacles when it first aired on television back in the late 70s. It was nice seeing this movie again since it brought back some fond memories of my youth. It's been a long time and I'm happy I walked down memory lane for this one. It still hasn't lost any of its qualities as far as I'm concerned.

I had forgotten how brutal the octopus was. This creature killed indiscriminately so if you're a parent of an infant, maybe you had better reconsider watching this one.

I will say that the two marine biologists had a brutal yet elegant way of disposing of the monstrous octopus. It sort of reminded me of Boys from Brazil. That's all I'm going to say on that point.

Overall, it's a good movie to watch if you want a little horror without all the gore, which this flick has very little of, if any.

Empire of the Ants is another creature against man movie but with a novel twist that I won't give away. Joan Collins plays her role very well and the other actors do a good enough job. There wasn't a great deal of character development but it was enough to understand where the director was going with this flick. I liked Empire of the Ants because it reminded me of those 1950s movies where small insects get a dose of radiation and all hell breaks loose.

In the end, I say but this double feature instead of renting it. It's worth owning for your collection.

Let me break this to you as gently as I can.

Humans become ant-slaves by being forced to sniff the queen ant's farts.

When I remember how scared I was as a kid watching this at the drive-in in 1975, I cringe.

Don't know if the dvd works better as a "so-bad-its-good" flick, or a coffee coaster.

How is it that production companies get the funding to make trash like these two movies? Someone should come up with a way to recycle DVD's so this wouldn't be an embarrassment to "honest" trash in our landfills. The acting is horrible, the plots are predictable (unless you are 5 years old)and the effects are laughable. Save your dough on this one.

Great example of a 70's "thriller" movie. The giant fake ants are pretty good for the time it was made. It also has the obvious funny shots with real ants ( pre CGI ). It worth watching for the 1970's atmosphere....that is something they can't duplicate now days.