Leofwine_draca Packed with more murky underwater photography than you would find in your average nature documentary, BARRACUDA is in all respects a cheaply-made film. Starting off like some derivative JAWS rip-off, we witness lots of scenes of divers and swimmers getting attacked by "something" under the water. Cue lots of limb thrashing, extreme close-ups, blood bubbling to the surface and even a cheap severed hand. The slow police department (seemingly made up of the Sheriff and his slow-witted deputy) haven't got a clue. So it's up to our hero, a marine biologist student complete with a '70s bushy hairdo and a fine line in horrible shirts, to discover the truth.Well, in most respects this is a pretty awful film. There's hardly any action in it and the gore is kept to a minimum - just the aforementioned underwater death scenes. When characters get shot, they just fall and die with no visible wounds. The music is derivative and the acting is amateurish at best. There are a minimum of locations (a police station, a doctor's lab, the beach) and a lack of narrative which sucks the excitement from the film, turning it for the most part into a dull, boring effort packed with stiff cardboard people. Even a romantic subplot is contrived and lame. The sound and picture quality are poor too, but then I did pick this up for 50p at a car boot sale.But...about two-thirds of the way through, the film changes direction and becomes interesting. A government conspiracy angle is introduced as it becomes apparent that a local cooperation is dumping chemicals into the ocean which are turning the barracuda deadly. Not only that, but the town's water supply is also infected with the same chemicals and making people depressed, stressed out and violent. And on top of all this, a squad of shady government agents, who resemble "men in black", are executing anybody who knows anything about the situation - be it nosy reporters, police, our hero. Thus, the film just about gets by on the strength of the story alone, and deserves kudos for not just being another underwater menace rip-off. The bleak ending is also very effective, and shocking, and totally unexpected. Let's just say that it's extremely downbeat and a risk that paid off for the makers of this no-budget thriller.

dustyp-1 As a fan of B-movies and creature features, I can say with much confidence that there is nothing here that makes this movie worth watching. Another reviewer claims that it "pays off in the end", and I am here to tell you that there is no pay off. Orca (1977) has a decent payoff mid way that makes it worth watching for pure "wtf" factor, this movie does not. The actors deliver their lines like they are on quaaludes and the music is so plodding and droney that it almost puts you to sleep.Also, the movie is only BARELY about killer barracuda. It has another agenda and the killer fish are only seen a couple of times. It is obvious to me that the movie was designed to be a different type of movie, but with the popularity of Jaws and Piranha, they shifted it's marketing.This movie was 90 minutes or so and it felt like 4 hours. Do not waste your time. You've been warned!

Coventry The main reason why I often enjoy imitations and cheap rip-offs more than the original they're inspired by is because the people behind it are so much more shameless and extravagant with their ideas. Spielberg's landmark classic "Jaws" spawned a copious number of imitations and suddenly nearly every type of sea animal – whether genetically altered or not – at one point during the seventies got depicted as an unstoppable killing machine. Not just every possible species of sharks, but also piranhas, octopuses, whales and even barracudas. This one, however, isn't exactly the "Jaws" rip-off you'd suspect it to be. If anything, it's actually more of a "Piranha" copy and not nearly as trashy and/or mindlessly entertaining as I hoped. The script tries to be a little too clever, creative and mysterious even though the outcome of the story is pretty obvious right from the beginning. I, for one, think the writers/directors duo Harry Kerwin and Wayne Crawford perhaps should have opted for a cheesy good old-fashioned creature feature rather than a pseudo-intellectual piece of eco-horror. "Barracuda" nevertheless opens promisingly with moody underwater images guided by creepy musical tunes, immediately followed by a scene of two divers getting virulently attacked by the titular creatures. There's something fishy – pun intended – going on in a little coastal town. Simultaneously with a couple of bizarre and unsolved diving accidents, a marine biologist discovers dangerous chemicals in the water, probably coming from Poppa Jack's plant nearby. Likely, the chemicals turn the barracudas into ravenous killers and even appear to negatively affect the townspeople that consume locally caught fish. The middle-section is intolerably boring, mainly because you're completely unprepared for the switch towards a slow and talkative film, and "Barracuda" eventually ends as a full-blooded political conspiracy thriller. The killer barracudas don't even get mentioned or shown anymore. This is a textbook case of misleading – or even downright false – advertisement, really. The alternate title for this film is "The Lucifer Project" and at least that one immediately gives a far more accurate small description of what to expect. Of course, the title "Barracuda" accompanied by a bloody drawing of a sharp-teethed fish devouring a human head attracts a lot more horror fans. Shame.

BA_Harrison After clocking Barracuda's suitably trashy Jaws-style poster art, I took the bait and settled down for what I hoped would be an entertaining exercise in B-movie schlock horror. Unfortunately, rather than the cheesy monster-fish movie that had been promised by the publicity material, the film turned out to be an incredibly dull conspiracy thriller in which 90% of the action seemed to take place on dry land.Set in the sleepy coastal town of Palm Cove, this dreary yawn-fest stars Wayne Crawford as Mike Canfield, a marine biologist who helps the local police in their investigations after a series of vicious barracuda attacks on local swimmers results in body parts washing up on the shore. Mike traces the problem back to the local chemical plant, whose waste products are polluting the ocean and affecting the sea-life, but certain unsavoury types are out to hide the truth—at any cost!Poorly directed, totally devoid of suspense or terror, and relatively gore free, this film will definitely disappoint those looking for a cheerfully cheap Jaws knock-off. The shoddy direction, endless scenes of chit-chat, and particularly cruddy fish attacks will leave you wondering why anyone would have parted with good money to make this film, or to watch it.The only positive thing that I can say about Barracuda is that it does end on a surprisingly downbeat note with the death of its two 'good guys'—a small touch of originality in the closing moments.