Octaman (1971)
A better than average rubber monster movie that considering it's back ground should be a lot more well known than it actually is.
Director Harry Essex was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter throughout his career most famous for
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), an excellent vehicle for John Wayne, and a film you should all be familiar with - 1954's classic Universal monster movie
The Creature From the Black Lagoon - the film Octaman most resembles.
It's not just the writing and directing either. The Octaman creature was created by special effects genius Rick Baker, in fact the film was his first and a mere two years later he would be working on
The Exorcist. The film stars Kerwin Mathews, best known for playing the titular heroes in
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958),
The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960) and
Jack the Giant Killer (1962).
The film itself is quite basic as the Octaman creature hunts down an expedition in a remote Mexican basin. As mentioned it most resembles Creature From the Black Lagoon as the monster attacks boats and base camps murdering or capturing anyone in it's path and taking them to it's watery lair.
The creature design is nicely effective, looking like a cross between a
Doctor Who monster that never was, the Black Lagoon's creature and the alien from
This Island Earth (1955). Even though one or two of it's tentacles are clearly just stuck onto the rubber suit it all works rather well and Baker adds some gore during the often savage creature attacks.
The Retromedia 40th Anniversary Edition of the film looks terrific with a spotless, crystal clear image and vibrant colours. Unfortunately this version is now sadly deleted and goes for mind blowing amounts on Amazon's marketplace.