Up from the Depths (1979)

"Honesty in the face of this fish is no virtue." - Forbes

A killer shark terrorizes a beach community.
Starring: Sam Bottoms, Susanne Reed, Virgil Frye, Kedric Wolfe

Link to IMDB

Greg

The movie begins with an underwater earthquake opening a fissure in the sea bed, which disturbs a large shadowy fish that instantly attacks a nearby scuba diver. Is it a shark!? ...Yeah, it's probably a shark.

Mr. Forbes is an irritable businessman that runs a beach resort on a small Hawaiian island. When he's not eagerly taking care of his guests, he's busy worrying about two local fishermen, Greg and the salty old Uncle Earl.
Greg and Earl's favourite hobby is relieving the tourists of any excess money they might have, by fleecing them at the local market or taking them scuba diving for "lost treasure." They're not bad guys, they just see an opportunity to make some extra money from the fat cats. Mr. Forbe's assistant, Rachael, does her best to keep the heat off of Greg, but Forbes is convinced they're ruining his resort.
It's obvious that all these goofs are going to have to work together eventually, because there are bigger problems on the line...


The beginning takes awhile to get things established, but some suspense is created about a shark creeping around and it's never truly dull. There's also a tinge of humour here, and the script is loose enough to keep me guessing if this is on the verge of becoming a spoof.
Soon enough, the danger of a killer shark is fully realized as it gets closer to the resort. The coast guard won't arrive for two days, so with help from a marine biologist named Dr. Whiting, Greg and Rachael go hunting for the deadly fish.

Rachael

Mr. Forbes

About an hour in, the movie realizes the serious idea of a "killer shark movie" isn't working too well, so it just says "Fuck it." This is when it switches gears and embraces the comedic flavour that's been slowly seeping into the movie. Mr. Forbes opens a competition to kill the animal, and now every drunk tourist heads-out to chase the prize. It becomes complete chaos as all these minor characters seemingly improvise their ways through antics, leaving me with no clue about what I'm even laughing at.

Greg and the gang continue to hunt the shark as if a real movie was still being made, so now there's two plots competing alongside each other, and the movie thrashes between incoherent extremes of thriller and comedy. Like I said before, at least it never gets dull.
This is trashy sharksploitation of the best variety. There's just enough thrills to hook you in, and the off beat comedy will keep you laughing at the absurdity of everything else. It also has the most emotionally confused looking killer fish I've ever seen, so that's a bonus.


Be sure not to miss:
- Directed (but not written) by Charles B. Griffith. He and Roger Corman made some great grindhouse and dark comedy classics together.
- Did I mention the naked samurai in a canoe? Yeah, that happens too.

Internet review:
"It has a horrendous charm that keeps you watching." - Telltale

Should I watch it?
It was fun, but not essential viewing.

Where can I find it?
Here on YouTube.

Up from the Depths gets...