Barracuda (1978) Republic Pictures/Horror-Thriller RT: 98 minutes Rated PG (violence and language) Director: Harry Kerwin Screenplay: Wayne Crawford and Harry Kerwin Music: Klaus Schulze Cinematography: H. Edmund Gibson Release date: January 1979 (US) Cast: Wayne Crawford, Jason Evers, Roberta Leighton, Cliff Emmich, William Kerwin, Bert Freed, Bob J. Shields, Scott Avery, Barbara Keegan (as “Bobbie Ellyne Kosstrin”), Jerry Rhodes. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
I’ll bet you think Barracuda is just another Jaws knock-off, don’t you? I can certainly understand why you would. That’s what the poster implies. It shows a bikini-clad girl being menaced by a teeth-baring barracuda. The tagline reads, “You Can Almost Hear the Screams! As the water below becomes a churning deathbed of flashing tearing teeth!” It even carries a warning similar to Jaws: “Due to the shockingly realistic nature of the barracuda attack scenes, parental discretion is advised.” It has all the earmarks of a blatant Jaws rip-off. Boy, are you in for a shock!
A better tagline for Barracuda would be “GOTCHA!” It does have killer barracuda in it, but they’re just a small piece of a bigger picture. There’s more going on here than swimmers being attacked and town officials worrying about the summer tourist trade. Killer aquatic creatures weren’t the only big thing in the 70s. How about a little government malfeasance to go with the chomp-chomp? Yep, there’s conspiracy afoot and there are those who would rather it didn’t get out. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.
Barracuda [aka The Lucifer Project] starts off like a Jaws rip-off with two scuba divers being mutilated by barracuda. They’re just down there taking in the beauty of the underwater world when the vicious fishies attack. The real story begins above the surface in Palm Cove, a small coastal town renowned for its lobster. Marine biologist Mike Canfield (Crawford, Jake Speed) shows up with a group of college students to take water samples. It seems that a chemical plant is polluting the ocean. Papa John (Freed, Hang ‘Em High) sends his goons to chase the trespassers away. He also has Mike detained by the local law for slugging one of them.
Fortunately for Mike, the sheriff Ben Williams (William Kerwin, Blood Feast) is a nice guy. He’s not one of those corrupt pot-bellied meanies that are typically in charge of law and order in small towns. He not only has his attractive daughter Liza (Leighton, Stripes) bring his prisoner breakfast, he allows him to go to see the town doctor Elliot Snow (Evers, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die) about a gash on his leg.
Mike manages to sneak a few water samples out of Palm Cove. He discovers traces of chemicals he can’t identify. He returns to town to aid Williams in figuring out what’s going on in this once peaceful town. Another diver has a run-in with the barracuda. A bunch of half-eaten fish washes up on the shore. Some of the townspeople start behaving aggressively. Obviously, there’s something in the water, but what?
I’m going to go ahead and answer that last question. This is where the government comes into it. It turns out Dr. Snow is conducting top secret experiments (i.e. The Lucifer Project) involving hypoglycemia, a condition that causes hostile or aggressive behavior. Papa John’s plant is producing the chemicals that have tainted the town’s water supply and poisoned all those who drink it. It’s affecting the fish as well, especially the [pause for dramatic effect] barracuda. So what’s the reason for such experiments? In case of another war, the government doesn’t want protestors or a peace movement. They want the public to welcome a war. Now you know. Scary…. I mean, silly, isn’t it?
Naturally, there’s a tenacious local reporter (Shields, Thunder County) nosing around threatening to blow the lid off the whole situation. While the good guys try to find a way to shut down the experiments, the bad guys try to shut down the heroes. Yeah, I forgot to mention. There’s a bunch of menacing men in suits (possibly brought in from Santa Mira, CA) sneaking around town keeping an eye on things. They claim to be developers, but we know that’s total BS. We know what a government spook looks like.
I honest wasn’t surprised to learn Dr. Snow was a mad scientist in the guise of a kindly small town doctor. Jason Evers played a similar role in the classic 1962 turkey The Brain That Wouldn’t Die. In it, his character keeps his dead fiancee’s head alive in a laboratory while searching for the right body for a transplant. That’s another goofy one that I intend to review at some point. I knew the minute I saw Evers in Barracuda that his character was up to no good. The actor doesn’t disappoint with his performance either. He plays unbalanced quite convincingly. In the context of B-movies, he’s Olivier.
Directed by Harry Kerwin (God’s Bloody Acre), Barracuda is hilariously bad. It’s American made yet has the feel of an Italian-made rip-off with its electronic, faux-Tangerine Dream score by Klaus Schulze, bizarre plot and loopy acting styles. It also comes with dopey dialogue and out-of-place characters like Papa John’s dimwitted son Bubba (Rhodes, Whiskey Mountain), quite possibly cloned from Buford T. Justice’s son Junior in the Smokey and the Bandit movies. We also get a fat, lazy deputy (Emmich, Halloween II) whose specialty is sleeping on the job.
Crawford was a busy boy on Barracuda. He not only stars, he also co-wrote the script with H. Kerwin and directed the underwater sequences. He’s not much of an actor. He definitely doesn’t give off a hero vibe. His character is this likable, wimpy sort who looks like he’s losing his grip the deeper he delves into the situation. Playboy model Leighton deserves credit for attempting a performance. It’s a weak attempt, but still. On the upside, she’s hot. W. Kerwin, the director’s brother, is okay as the lawman who only wants to do right by his town. Freed is criminally underused as the greedy plant owner.
The special effects are cheap, cheap, CHEAP! The barracuda attacks are truly a wonder. They’re nice and bloody, but you can’t help but notice the blood is the same color as Hawaiian Punch. As for the creatures, you call tell they’re fake. It’s obviously a crew member moving a hand puppet of a barracuda head in and out of the shot. However, there is a cool scene where a dog playing fetch with its owner brings back a human head that washes up on the beach. BTW, nothing happens to the pooch.
Barracuda is completely, utterly nonsensical. I love how H. Kerwin tries to do it differently than the typical Jaws knock-off although to be fair, it’s really more of a knock off of Piranha (the best of the knock-offs) with its ecological slant. Still, it’s in good company with the likes of Orca (a Dino D production!), Tentacles (made in Italy), Killer Fish (a crime caper in disguise), Alligator (Henry Silva POWER!) and Claws (killer grizzly bear). The fact that it’s not a major studio production works in its favor. H’ Kerwin and Crawford had free reign to do whatever they wanted and what they did is totally and completely bonkers. The marriage of killer fish horror and conspiracy thriller is a marriage made in some alternate version of heaven. It’s badness of the highest order.
