Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda is a 2014 American creature horror film directed by Kevin O’Neill (Dinocroc; Dinoshark) from a screenplay by Matt Yamashita (Art School of Horrors). Produced by Julie and Roger Corman for their New Horizons Pictures.
The movie stars Robert Carradine (Humanoids from the Deep [1996]; The Tommyknockers; Slumber Party Slaughter), Katie Savoy, Rib Hillis (Piranhaconda; 616: Paranormal Incident; Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs), Tony Evangelista, Hector Then, Hensy Pichardo. Talk show host Conan O’Brien has a brief short cameo role.
The film is one of two sequels to the hit Sharktopus, the others being Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda and Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf. The film was screened by Syfy on August 2, 2014, as part of their ‘Sharknado’ festival to celebrate sharksploitation in general and the unleashing of Sharknado 2: The Second One in particular.
On 11 July 2016, High Fliers Films released the movie on DVD with the cover title Jurassic Wars: Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda.
Buy DVD: Amazon.co.uk
After Andy Flynn destroyed the original Sharktopus (a half-shark half-octopus creature), its various pieces floated back out into the ocean. However, among the scattered anatomy was an egg sack and marine biologist Lorena Christmas (Katie Savoy) finds herself the ward of the creature’s sole offspring which she begins raising at her greedy uncle’s aquarium to mixed success.
Meanwhile, Dr Rico Symes (Robert Carradine) is hard at work on his own biological weapon. After harvesting a pterodactyl’s DNA, he used the DNA from a barracuda to fill in the gaps, creating a monster that can terrorize land, sea, and air. Things are looking pretty good during the initial test flight until the creature is hijacked by a rogue engineer looking to sell it to the highest bidder.
After the rogue engineer accidentally spills his coffee all over his console, the Pteracuda is free to rampage the coast in search of food…
Reviews:
“Despite the poor writing, acting, special effects and overall premise, there is something undeniably entertaining and watchable about this ridiculously silly sci-fi flick. If you sit back and bask in the film’s high levels of self-awareness, cheap special effects and general refusal to be much more than a cheesy b-movie romp, then you may find yourself surprisingly satisfied with what this offers.” Scream magazine
“Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda does nothing to improve on the original film, even adding a second giant sea creature and throwing in a terrorist subplot can’t save this film from the most evil of movie follies – dullness! It doesn’t help that director Kevin O’Neill plays the entire film as seriously as possible – this is a goddamn monster movie with ridiculous CGI for heaven’s sake…” Nerdly
“Even for this type of TV movie fodder, the CGI ranges from bad to laughable. O’Neill’s directing is flat and uninspiring. Yamashita’s script is weak, filled with bad scenes and even worse dialogue – which is a shame as he had promise with his earlier work on the far superior film Virtually Heroes.” Starburst magazine
Trailer:
Cast and characters:
Robert Carradine … Dr Rico Symes
Rib Hillis … Hamilton “Hamm”
Katie Savoy … Lorena Christmas
Akari Endo … Veronica Vega
Hensy Pichardo … Lorena’s Uncle Munoz
Tony Evangelista … Rick Hoffman
Conan O’Brien … Himself
Hector Then … Harold “Harry” Smith
