cinema history class: killer fish

 Session: Aquatic Horrors, Week 1

Movie: Killer Fish (1979)
Directed by Antonio Margheriti

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
In Brazil, a team of jewel thieves just have to wait out the heat. But they can't trust each other -- or the lake where they've hidden their stash. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:

It felt odd to see Lee Majors in this; he was fresh off of The Six Million Dollar Man, and (I assume) at the height of his star power. So it's kind of hard to understand why he chose to do an Italian-produced low budget horror film. Maybe he wanted a paid vacation in Brazil? No matter. One effect of this was that, every time he crouched or looked intently at something, I expected to hear that distinctive sound effect indicating that he was using his bionic powers.

Truth be told, though, he wasn't the only "name" in this film -- though he was the biggest*. There was also Karen Black, James Franciscus and Margaux Hemingway. And, for comedic effect, there was Roy Brocksmith. And, more truth be told, my dismissive description of the film (see prior paragraph) doesn't really do it justice. Yeah -- I've seen a few reviews, and people like to talk crap about this film, but it's actually pretty entertaining.

Billed (and marketed) as a horror movie, it actually starts out as a caper film. The horror element doesn't really enter picture until pretty late going. And even once it does, it's handled in a subtle-enough way (at first) to keep some suspense going. Until things go completely shitfucked near the end, anyway. And all that is done well, except for that weird animated tornado. What was up with that?

There aren't really any "good guys" in the movie, and it's fun to watch an onscreen demonstration of the adage that there's "no honor among thieves." Or is there? I'll leave that to other viewers to decide. The fact is, I like it when the protagonists are a bit morally dubious, and that's what we have here. Perhaps that's the influence of the Italian movie industry behind it -- spaghetti westerns appeal to me for the same reason.

There are reasons to criticize this movie, but it's still a fun watch.

Ratings:

Me: 8

Christina: 8

Ethan: 8

Sean: 3 out of 4

*I think so, anyway. Am I wrong?