Watch Octopus 2: River of Fear For Free

Such a frustrating disappointment

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Released in the US in January, 2002, "Octopus 2: River of Fear" is a sequel in name only. Whereas the original "Octopus" (2000) had a highly creative storyline involving terrorists, a submarine, a cruise ship and a bizarro-James Bond, "Octopus 2" takes the tried-and-true "Jaws" route. The setting here is New York City. A giant octopus decides to make the East River his home and people inevitably start dying. Two harbor patrol officers discover the cause of the deaths, but are ignored and ridiculed. The city is preparing for its biggest Independence Day celebration ever and the mayor doesn't want the officers' preposterous monster 'story' getting out and causing a mass panic.As you can see, the basic plot mimics "Jaws" to a 'T.' Regardless, I was pretty impressed with the first half. You could tell the filmmakers and cast really put some thought and effort into making a quality Grade B creature feature, reminiscent of "Kolchak - The Night Stalker." Where "Octopus 2" takes a wrong turn is the last act, which morphs into a disaster film involving a school bus of kids and other vehicles trapped in a river tunnel. Not that it was a bad idea, especially since it gives evidence that the creators wanted to deviate from the basic "Jaws" plot, which I respect, but they failed to execute it. The last act seems rushed and sloppy, like the filmmakers were just trying to get the film done and over with, with almost zero effectiveness. In other words, they started with good intentions and quality vigor, but somewhere along the line they lost their focus & enthusiasm and decided to just go through the motions and collect their paychecks. It's unfortunate because the first half is a solid creature-on-the-loose flick in the manner of "Kolchak." For a good example of what I mean, check out the scene near the end where the monster -- thought to be dead -- rises up for another attack; this scene is so poorly presented it's hard to believe it was done by the same team that produced the first half.BOTTOM LINE: The first half is a well-done nature-runs-amok flick featuring a quality cast, particularly the two officers who investigate the killings and the mayoral worker who befriends them, but when the film attempts to morph into a disaster flick it inexplicably falls apart. Yet it's still worthwhile if you like movies along the lines of "Kolchak." The film runs 94 minutes.GRADE: C

There are some films which are so bad that they are truly brilliant. Take for example Snakes (Python 2) or the fantastically ridiculous Sharktopus. This is not one of those films. From a production point of view my score is admittedly a little harsh. This film is by definition "adequate". The acting was for the most part fine, the special effects for a film of this calibre were also for the most part fine. This film just lacked something...oh yes...excitement. It was so dull. The characters didn't make you want them to survive and in all honesty when i wasn't wanting the film to end I was cheering on the Octopus. This film was like tentacles. It sucked.

A giant octopus takes up home in the New York City East River. It immediately starts killing people. A Harbour Patrol cop then has serious trouble convincing his superiors that there is a giant killer mollusk living nearby.The storyline for Octopus II is yet another that uses the clichéd Jaws (1975) template plot. Giant sea creature kills locals, a policeman knows it's out there but his superiors don't believe him, while politicians think it'll get in the way of their own plans. But let's not get carried away. This movie is seriously far removed from the quality of that Spielberg classic. However, what can be said in its favour is that it is at the very least better than the original film which focused on a boring action-thriller plot on a submarine. The octopus was hardly in it. This movie at least brings the creature more into proceedings – there's even some decent physical effects at times too – and the NYC harbour setting is much better too. There's no actual connection between the films beyond a giant octopus and this one doesn't even bother to come up with an excuse for the gigantic size of the title creature. Although, frankly, this hardly matters.Unfortunately, it's still pretty far from a decent movie. It does begin reasonably well, including an agreeably nuts dream sequence with the monster climbing the statue of liberty. But sadly it can't maintain its relative promise – these types of films seldom do – and gets badly bogged down with a disaster movie final third where a bus of school kids get trapped in a underwater tunnel. It gets kinda boring to be honest, and these movies should really know better by now that the focus should really be on the monster. As far as acting, effects and originality are concerned, it's strictly as limited on all fronts as you would expect. So, all-in-all not good, but better than the original.

As if the world hadn't already got enough cheap Jaws imitations, writer Boaz Davidson decided to make the sequel to his ropey-but-reasonably-enjoyable creature-feature Octopus a complete rip-off of Spielberg's classic, right down to having a concerned cop who no-one believes, and a mayor more worried about his 4th July celebrations than people's lives.Even in the hands of an extremely skilled director, it is unlikely that this derivative rubbish could have been anything other than hokey B-movie garbage, but with Yossi Wein (yes THE Yossi Wein!) calling the shots behind the camera, a man with a fraction of Mr.Spielberg's talent (I estimate about 1/10000th), Octopus 2 is guaranteed to be every bit as bad as one might imagine!The predictable and extremely clichéd plot isn't worth describing in much detail (substitute Jaws' Amity Island with New York, and Bruce the Shark with a giant rubber octopus and you'll get the gist), although several points about the film are definitely worth mentioning, simply because they are so funny: all of the octopus attacks involve the actors struggling to make incredibly fake-looking giant tentacles look real, which is hilarious to behold; Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, unconvincingly stands in for New York, and overuse of stock footage makes the illusion even less convincing; best of all, a silly dream sequence that sees the rubber octopus attacking our hero atop the Statue of Liberty, is not only gut-bustingly stupid but also features some truly dreadful special effects.Davidson's script also doesn't know when to quit: there are several points in this film at which it could've (and probably should've) ended, but the action goes on and on, with the octopus surviving several explosions, and causing a tunnel to collapse (trapping the film's love interest and a bunch of kids), before finally being blown to smithereens by the hero.Sometimes very silly, always awful technically, but never actually scary, this STV stinker may find fans amongst those who actively seek out cinematic trash. Most normal people, however, would be advised to steer well clear.