Kraken - Tentacles of the Deep (2006)

Thirty years ago, Ray Reiter (Charlie O'Connell, TV's Sliders) witnessed the brutal death of his parents at sea by a strange, octopus-like creature. Now determined to exact revenge, he joins archeologist Nicole (Victoria Pratt, TV's Day Break) on a perilous high-seas expedition to find a legendary Greek Opal--said to be guarded by the very beast that murdered his family. As they come face to face with the killer Kraken, they must also battle a ruthless crime lord (Jack Scalia, Red Eye), who will stop at nothing to seize the coveted treasure for himself. Co-starring Christa Campbell (The Wicker Man).
Special Feature(s) include: "Secrets of the Deep" Featurette; 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound; DTS; Widescreen Product Description

To many Times

This Story has been done Way To many Times. The Beast, Creature, Octopuss and countless others have the same theme. Group goes searching for Evidence of giant squad or To Kill it and they get stuck at sea and must fend of the onslaught of tenticals. I have seen it all before. June 2, 2008

Charlie O'Connell has to be the worst actor ever

i love crappy b-movies about giant creatures living in the water but this movie was pretty bad and not for the terrible plot or CGI but it was because of Charlie O'Connell. he makes this 87 min movie feelthat i am watching all of the Lord of the Rings Extended editions on a loop. at least there is women in bikinis in some parts so it was not a complete waste of time. January 2, 2008

Geez...

I wish there was less than one star to give --- I watched this movie for about 20 minutes before shutting it off and adding it to my pile of "christmas gifts" --- September 13, 2007

AKA Deadly Waters

An underwater photographer and an archeologist combine forces in this one. The photographer has spent most of his life trying to find out about a sea creature that killed his parents when he was a boy. The archeologist is looking for some ancient treasure that sank after being traded on the black market. To make things interesting a cutthroat businessman is trying to find the treasure as his family owned it at one time. An incident with the archeologist gets the attention of the photographer and he manages to get himself included on future dives. Of the three parties he is the only one who has any real idea of what might be lurking under the surface.'

If the treasure is found, it could validate a theory that a certain myth has a basis in fact. But if the photographer is right then there is a very large giant squid in the area and it is willing to go on the attack. Now we have four forces, two good (photographer and archeologist) and two bad (criminal and squid) and a treasure in the middle. How it all works out is up to the viewer to discover.

This movie was in production right when the first live giant squid was caught. The first picture of a live one actually supports the predatory behavior of this one. There are a lot of small references to Jaws and some other fun moments. The special effects were well coordinated and batter than in many movies. The extras were interesting although it was funny to hear them using a different film title. All in all a pretty good little film and a very good sea monster story. Check it out. June 19, 2007

Calamari's Revenge

I'll give this movie a couple of kudos for some really nice shooting locations off the B.C. coast (great scenery) and for some good, atmospheric cinematography. Beyond that, its just escapist prattle to watch while you eat hot wings and drink beer. What it mostly is, is a synthesizing of two old Peter Benchley properties from the 1970s : "The Deep" and "Beast". After author Benchley hit it big with "Jaws" as both a bestselling novel and a blockbuster Steven Spielberg movie, he then knocked on "The Deep" and scored again in both venues. The movie was an exciting, colorful adventure set in Bermuda and involved wreck diving,a secret cache of ultra-valuable illegal drugs, lost Spanish artifacts, and the violent intrusion of "insistent" criminals into the proceedings. Also a very jumbo-sized moray eel that acted as "Guardian" of the wreck (a freighter called the "Goliath"). "The Deep" starred high powered actors; Robert Shaw, Nick Nolte, Jacqueline Bisset (her bra-less ten minute opening dive sequence in a constantly wet t-shirt is legendary), and Louis Gossett, Jr., fresh off his Sgt. Foley oscar performance in "An Officer And A Gentleman". Big hit. Fine movie (later ripped-off and "recycled" into a much weaker effort....with MUCH weaker "starpower"...as "Into the Blue").
In both instances the stories involved criminals "muscling in" on the efforts of the good guys. Precisely what Jack Scalia ("Maxwell") and his gang are trying to do in "Kraken".
In interviews with the cast on the DVD, our Mr. O'Connell reflects that he doesn't recall there ever being a giant squid attack movie before this.
There have been octopus attack films ("It Came From Beneath the Sea" and "Tentacles"), but no big squid outings...he THINKS (we aren't including "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" here, as the squid only makes a "cameo" there).
He thinks wrong, actually.
Peter Benchley followed up "Jaws" and "The Deep" with "Beast"...a novel and then a t.v. mini-series (Timothy Bottoms?) about a small coastal town (like the one in "Kraken") menaced by, you guessed it, a giant squid!
You take "The Deep" and "Beast" and mix them together and you basically have "Kraken" (interestingly subtitled "Tentacles of THE DEEP").
Victoria Pratt is a marine archaeologist hunting a huge lost opal with a legend attached to it...a jewel supposedly guarded by Scylla , a Greek sea
nymph turned into a monster. Where the concept of the Kraken (of Norse repute) comes from here is totally off the wall. Seems to be a "hook-up" attempt with the Jack Sparrow/POTC creature by the Sci-Fi Channel programmers (the film being originally titled "Dark Waters").
The buff hottie Pratt character ("Underwater" Jones, she should be called?)finds the lost treasure and Jack Scalia (taking over from Lou Gossett..and...later...Josh Brolin, in "Into the Blue") and his creepazoid crew then come hard-charging in to steal the goodies. Of course they DON'T, because...well....YOU know.

The story line of this thing is a bit much, the lines given Scalia to deliver are pretty lame,there are plot holes galore, and the FX are inconsistant
(sometimes they're fairly good and sometimes they suck), but, if you are into cheesy "booger" movies, this is a fun enough way to waste some spare time. April 20, 2007

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