Barracuda (1978)

Plot Outline: In a top secret government experiment, the drinking water of a whole city is mixed with a chemical which makes people aggressive by depriving them of blood sugar. But the dodgy chemical plant doesn't think straight so pumps the waste out to sea. Naturally there are still chemicals in the water and a school of barracudas are turned into man-eating killers.

The Review: You'd be forgiven for thinking that this was just another of those mainly crap Jaws rip-offs released in that far superior film's wake, right? Wrong! This one starts off like that as the barracuda swiftly take apart a few random divers and swimmers without any real purpose and significance. But after a few attacks, the film switches to The X-Files mode as it turns into a government conspiracy and cover-up mystery film. Once this is given priority, the barracuda are hardly mentioned for the remainder of the film. It looks like they were just a cheap plot to attract "monster on the loose" fans such as myself. The barracuda themselves look ok but the attacks aren't done very well and we only get to see some bloody water instead of the barracudas actually chomping their way through their victims. There is one hilarious scene where a woman throwing a stick to her dog on the beach comes across the head of a diver. But apart from that, there is nothing of interest here. The conspiracy plot is a complete waste and you just know which townspeople are in on the cover-up from the way their characters have been portrayed throughout the rest of the film. The film also ends with a real twist which came as a bit of a shock to me but looking back I should have seen it coming.

Final Verdict: If Barracuda had focused on the title fish much like Piranha did, then this would have been slightly better. Hell I was actually waiting for there to be some form of "local festival taking place in which the local mayor wanted to keep the beaches open despite danger" plot. But that was just a cheap ploy and the barracuda are only secondary to the real film.

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