SHARKTOPUS! And GIANT SQUID!, Yet More Terrors From The Deep

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Undead Backbrain / JoBlo / Avery Guerra

Memorial Day Weekend is upon us!

Looking forward to taking the little wife and kids out of town? Possibly to the beach? Let the little ones splash in the water while you and the misses soak up some sun and sand.

Maybe you should think twice?

There are some nasty.....okay, down right horrible things lurking out there in that water. Things not yet discovered by science.

Come on, there's thousands of miles of ocean out there. Most of it unexplored. It would stand to reason that if there are monsters on this globe, then, most likely, they would be out in the ocean right?

The same ocean that your kids are swimming in...........

Have I ruined your vacation yet?

"Honey, we're going camping!"

You know, there could be things like Bigfoot, or werewolves, out in the forest?

Anyway...I've gotten off track.

It looks like the monster movie biz has moved on from Bigfoot films to all of those potential horrors waiting out there in the vast oceans.

Earlier this year, legendary B-movie maker, Roger Corman, unleashed his "Dinoshark" on the viewers of the Sy Fy Channel and now he is ready to do it again.

This time around it will be, 'Sharktopus!', a half-shark half-octopus, thingy, that will undoubtedly snack on Eric Roberts and the rest of the film's cast.

Plot:

Sharktopus is about a research scientist (Roberts) and his talented daughter who develop a secret military weapon, a hybrid shark/octopus that can be controlled by electrical implants. But when the controls break down, the monster goes on a killing rampage at the resort beaches of Mexico.

The first official image from the film (above) has just been released. The image doesn't show the monster, well not enough of the monster to explain how Corman was able to blend a shark and an octopus together, just a tentacle rapped around a blood-soaked bikini girl.

It's the kind of stuff that we have seen an awful lot of lately.

Speaking of things with tentacles that are waiting just off shore to tear us limb from limb, animator, Maxwell Perry, is presently working on, "Giant Squid!", a feature that draws inspiration from "Moby Dick" and "Godzilla" movies.

Perry explained to Avery Guerra how it was natural for him to combine his passion for art with his passion for monsters:

“I’m an artist who has always loved monster movies and genre cinema,” Perry said. “Over the past several years, I found myself gradually moving past traditional drawing and painting towards using video and animation in my work. I realized that what I really liked was narrative storytelling and that unique combination of image and story that only comes with animation.”

"The plot centers around a teenage girl, Elise, whose boyfriend is abducted by a monster squid. Perry continued. "Elise then tracks the squid down with the help of a marine biologist and an Ahab-like squid poacher named Cappy. Mayhem ensues. "

"Conceptually, one of the underlying aims of my animations is to draw attention to the amount of creativity that goes into making a low- to no-budget independent work by creating them on a minuscule scale. I try to poke fun at and embrace common horror movie tropes simultaneously."

"Giant Squid is not meant for young kids, but my hope is that if you’re the type of person that enjoys a good laugh during an especially gory horror film, you’ll find the humor in my work."

Here are some storyboards and clips from "Giant Squid!":