Barracuda (1979)

So much average

Better Late Then Never

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Barracuda: The Lucifer Project is a movie with a social message that has its potentials but fails to realize them due to its pedestrian acting and mediocre directing. The plot is similar to that of Piranha but the suspense is barely existent, not to mention the lame special effects created for the barracuda attacks. Another thing that may make viewers dislike the movie is its downbeat ending, which I personally do not mind. Despite all that, the forbidding music helps to elevate the occasional suspense.The plot tells about mutant barracudas violently attacking swimmers and divers in the seas near the shores of a US coastal town. A young marine biologist and a local town sheriff try to uncover the mystery that involves shady medical experiments related to government projects.Viewers expecting to find another Jaws-like excitement will be sorely disappointed. The second half of the film diverts its plot from the barracuda attacks to unraveling the mystery of the attacks. From that point till the end of the film the narrative takes a different route to deliver the "excitement" through lots of dialogues and very little action to the point of leaving the main conflicts in the story unresolved! With the rather unsuitable title, it was obvious that the film-makers wanted to cash in on the success of Jaws. Who would have wanted to watch this had it been called "The Lucifer Project"? Anyways, the film went into obscurity.Barracuda belongs to the B-movie category and is watchable enough for those who are into low budget nature-gone-wild flicks. Because of its loose ending, it should have been made into a sequel.

Given the premise (a small coastal community beset by ferocious flesh-eating barracuda in the ocean), one would easily assume that this is yet another run-of-the-mill opportunistic "Jaws" cash-in. However, the scenes with the titular fish attacking people are surprisingly few and far in between, with a greater emphasis instead on a conspiracy thriller plot that takes on truly unsettling monolithic proportions as the narrative unfolds towards a genuinely startling surprise bummer ending. Alas, the sluggish pacing, perfunctory direction, and an overly talky script all unfortunately prevent said conspiracy angle from acquiring the necessary tension and momentum it really needs to seriously cook the way that it ought to. On the plus side, Wayne Crawford as a crusading biologist and Harry Kerwin as the folksy sheriff make for personable heroes, the underwater photography is sharp and impressive, the overall brooding tone astutely captures a distinctly 70's post-Watergate sense of vehemently anti-government distrust and cynicism, and Klaus Schulze's moody'n'energetic score hits the quivery ooga-booga spot something sweet. Moreover, there are solid supporting contributions from Roberta Leighton as the perky Liza Williams, Cliff Emmich as bumbling overweight deputy Lester, Jason Evers as the nefarious Dr. Elliott Snow, and Bert Freed as crusty CEO Papa Jack. It's just a shame that this movie never quite obtains the essential punch that in turn would give it a more substantial impact. As it is, this flick ain't half bad, but it could (and should) have been ever better.

Underwhelming thriller is really not what the viewer thinks it's going to be. They'll think this is another of the various knock-offs that proliferated after "Jaws" became a sensation. Well, the title fish really don't have much to do in this ecologically conscious tale. Sure, they kill a FEW people, but never become that much of an issue. Instead, what this film does is get bogged down in a landlocked conspiracy plot. This plot involves a chemical company dumping its waste into the ocean, affecting the marine life, but there's more going on than that. It turns out, the PEOPLE are getting affected too. Young marine biologist Mike Canfield (Wayne Crawford, who also co-wrote the story and screenplay, co-produced, and supervised the underwater photography) teams up with local sheriff Ben Williams (William Kerwin, familiar to any fan of the Herschell Gordon Lewis classics "Blood Feast" and "Two Thousand Maniacs!") to probe the mystery, while nothing terribly interesting ever happens. Not even the barracuda attacks are that thrilling. For a B movie there's a better than average supporting cast, including Jason Evers ("The Brain That Wouldn't Die"), Cliff Emmich ("Payday"), Roberta Leighton ("Stripes"), and Bert Freed ("Paths of Glory"). The luscious Leighton is easy to watch, but what's going to stupefy the audience is seeing her throw herself at the not particularly attractive Crawford and seeing him show little interest! Evers is mostly okay - he is a veteran, after all - but when it comes time for him to emote, he can't pull it off. Director / co-writer / co-producer Harry Kerwin just can't seem to build up any real dramatic tension, despite the efforts of composer Klaus Schulze, who gives this thing a better music score than it deserves. Viewers may still be able to appreciate the last second twist ending, which concludes the story on a very downbeat note. Too bad the balance of the movie isn't that effective. Five out of 10.

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.