A few years ago, there was a topic: How much do American audiences really love sharks?
There are almost as many Shark-themed American movies as you search for them.
Some of the titles are very strange, such as: the famous "Shark whirlwind" series.
The series is produced by The Asylum, a well-known American copycat film company, which is known for its abundant copycat bad films.
The "Shark whirlwind" series is the company's IP, and the plot setting is very magical-
A tornado crossed the border, causing the sharks in the sea to start flying in the sky downwind, wreaking havoc and hurting people everywhere!
The series not only has a thunderous plot, but also produces a variety of cheap, the actors' acting skills are exaggerated, and the whole film is less than 5 cents of special effects, but it is this "rotten to the extreme but self-contained" style that has actually gone out of the circle in Hollywood, and the series has also shot as many as 6 in one go, becoming a strange flower of the bad film industry.
Why are American audiences so obsessed with shark movies that they don't even let go of bad movies?
It all has to do with a classic movie from 46 years ago, Spielberg's film Jaws.
Filmed in 1975, the film grossed $470 million worldwide, making it the first film in film history to gross more than $100 million. This film gave North America the concept of a summer slot, and also made Spielberg gradually enter the film altar.
It has left a strong mark in the history of cinema, and it is the most successful and classic shark movie that deserves it.
At the time, the film shocked everyone with amazing special effects, including the great white shark that left an indelible impression, and even made many vacation beaches in the United States deserted for a while, after all, everyone was frightened by the shark in the movie.
Since Spielberg made "Jaws", the European and American film circles have gone crazy to make shark movies.
For slightly older domestic audiences, when it comes to such deep-sea monster movies, it is estimated that many people will think of a thriller film that has been introduced into China, "Red Sea Devil Shadow", which has become a childhood shadow in the memory of a generation of audiences.
In this issue of "Imported Films Forgotten by the Times", let's revisit this monster movie from 37 years ago!
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="35" > Shadow of the Red Sea</h1>
Shark: Red in the ocean
The film was filmed in 1984 and co-produced by Italy and France.
The film's director and screenwriter is the famous Italian cult film director Lampard Pava, who is famous for his ability to shoot various cult horror thrillers, most notably the "Massacre of Corpses" series in the 1980s.
It is worth mentioning that he is also an "old friend" of domestic audiences, in addition to this "Red Sea Devil Shadow" was introduced as a translation, his other fantasy film series "Golden Rose Cave" was once broadcast in the Zhengda Theater, and the flying princess, the handsome and infatuated king, and the heroic white knight became the era memory that the audience could not erase.
The Cave of the Golden Rose
However, compared to fantasy fairy tales like "Golden Rose Cave", "Red Sea Devil Shadow" is a B-grade monster film.
The film is a parody of "Jaws", which many viewers evaluate as:
The Italian version of Jaws.
The whole film was filmed in the United States, but at the same time, the screenwriter also exerted the spirit of take-it-all, and integrated the high-selling elements such as conspiracy vendetta, mutant life, and genetic experiments in the story, with the intention of breaking into the American market.
It is worth mentioning that this film was an out-and-out R-rated film at that time, and the plot scale was quite large, so the domestic broadcast was a deleted version, but even so, at that time, it was enough to become a childhood shadow for many viewers.
The story begins in a small town off the coast of Florida.
The local maritime rescue team found a yacht that had been attacked by unknown creatures, and by the time rescuers arrived, the hull had been reduced to pieces, killing one of the two tourists on board and the other dying and completely losing his legs.
What kind of monster could cause such a horrific event?
With this question, the plot of the movie officially unfolded.
There are two marine biologists in the local town, the first being Dr. Stella, who specializes in dolphins;
The other is Dr. Bob, who is currently sailing on a ship at sea.
His ship is equipped with underwater sonar to monitor the movements of marine life such as dolphins to collect research data.
On this day, Dr. Bob monitored an unknown sound signal that appeared to come from some kind of marine life that had never been seen before.
Just as he was curious, Dr. Bob suddenly saw from the radar that a huge creature had rushed toward his ship.
Dr. Bob's ship immediately shook violently, and it was clear that the monster was attacking the ship.
Meanwhile, in Dr. Stella's research center, dolphins began to look restless.
Fortunately, the monster soon disappeared without a trace, and everything returned to calm.
Back at the research center, Dr. Bob told Stella about what happened at sea, and Stella talked about the anomaly in the aquarium, which the two believed was most likely related to the mysterious creature underwater.
Dr. Bob tries to play the sonar record of the monster's cry, asking Stella to help identify what kind of creature the monster really is.
However, there was no sound in the recording device, and Stella thought that the monster's call frequency was so special that the ship's radio equipment could not record it.
To this end, Stella approached Pete, an expert in underwater detection equipment, and asked him to help make a better sonar device.
On the other hand, the police tested the wounds of the deceased found at sea, and the forensic doctor believed that the wounds were most likely caused by sharks, but they had never seen the tooth marks of this shark and needed to find marine biological experts to identify.
So they found Dr. Bob, who believed that the wounds on the deceased's body were not caused by sharks.
Because of the occurrence of the sea monster injury case, the police issued a notice to ask locals and tourists not to go to sea for the time being.
But there are still tourists who are not afraid of death.
Sure enough, the two dragons were attacked by sharks while diving into the sea.
In order to avoid the shark, the two quickly swam into the boat, but found that the shark actually swam away.
Just breathed a sigh of relief, who knew that monsters more terrifying than sharks had approached...
When the body was found, the forensic doctor examined the wound and deduced that the victim this time was the same as the wound in the previous monster attack, that is, it was most likely the same monster.
There are two sides to the conversation.
In the local city center, there is a biological research company called West Coast International Biological Company.
Sophia, the agency's female director, and Dr. Davis, a scientist who are conducting a secret genetic experiment, revealed from their conversations that the study appears to be related to previous monster injuries, and they fear they will be tracked down by the police.
Unexpectedly, the conversation between the two happened to be accidentally overheard by Florinda, a female researcher in the institution.
Florinda learns the truth and is determined to expose the matter, only to receive a threat from her boss, Dr. Davis.
That same night, a mysterious man, Miller, suddenly breaks into Florinda's home and threatens Florinda to shut up.
Florinda refused to compromise, and the man became angry, wrestled with Florinda, and knocked her unconscious.
After that, the man took off her clothes, put it in the bathtub, and opened the hair dryer and put it in the bathtub,
In this way, it is faked as the illusion that a woman accidentally electrocuted while soaking in the bath.
The police received a report that the police officer who handled the case intended to close the case with an accident, but Sheriff Gordon, who led the team, did not think so.
Sheriff Gordon arrives at the West Sea Company, where Florinda works, but eats the door behind closed doors and does not get any useful information.
Soon, Pete's sonar device was successfully researched.
Dr. Bob and Stella take Pete with them to the sea in search of the mysterious sea creature.
When they came to the vicinity of the accident area, with Pete's new equipment, they caught the monster's tracks.
However, the mysterious monster suddenly disappeared from the radar,
Fortunately, with Pete's device, he finally recorded the monster's cry.
While the protagonist group is investigating, the monster is still wreaking havoc at sea.
On this evening, a couple rented a boat and were celebrating a vacation at sea.
Suddenly, the ship shook violently, and a huge tentacle reached into the cabin and swept away her husband.
The woman screamed in fright, but the next second, the monster broke through the hull, and the woman died instantly.
On the side of the protagonist group, in order to analyze the monster's cry, Dr. Bob used his personal connections to find Dr. West, a biological research expert at the West Sea Company, with a tape.
The two were old friends, and Dr. Bob wanted to analyze the species of creature with the help of more advanced equipment and data from each other's labs.
Later, Dr. Bob brought in the paleontologist Dr. Bates.
After all, Dr. Bates is well-informed, and after her analysis, she believes:
This mysterious marine monster should probably be the ancestor of sharks, a special species that has existed since ancient times.
Fear of fish.
Is it a shark or a fish?
Things are getting more and more confusing.
The protagonist group had to take Dr. Bates with them and come to the sea again.
In view of the monster's ability to evade radar tracking, this time they decided to throw a batch of underwater monitors into the sea to convert the sound signals detected in the water into electrical signals, so that once the monsters approached, the computer would display the trajectory of the monsters.
After some arrangement, Dr. Bob began to monitor the ship, but found that the monster had already quietly come to them.
On the monitor, Dr. Bob saw a terrifying creature more than 20 meters long, with fangs on its head and an octopus-like tail.
Immediately after, a huge tentacle suddenly reached for the boat, Dr. Bob held a gun and wanted to shoot, but unexpectedly another tentacle was extended behind him to drag Bob into the water, Dr. Bates wanted to rescue but it was too late, so he had to take out his axe and desperately cut the monster's tentacles.
However, Dr. Bob was killed by the monster fish, leaving only a section of the severed monster tentacle on the ship.
Dr. Stella and Pete come to Dr. West's lab with the Monster Tentacles, and after Dr. West analyzes the monster's body tissue, he makes a surprising discovery.
The monster has a variety of biological genes in its body, and the monster is currently only eight months old and is still in its infancy.
Implicitly, if the monster matures, it is likely to cause a greater crisis.
When Sheriff Gordon learned of this, he decided to destroy the monster at all costs.
So he dispatched a large number of police forces and planted a large number of underwater bombs in the sea area of the incident, intending to kill the monster.
But at this time, Dr. West made a new discovery-
Monsters have a strong ability to reproduce cells, and can even divide and multiply on their own.
As a result, the police want to explode monsters not only do not work, but also have the potential to create more monsters.
On the other hand, after Dr. Bob's sacrifice, Pitt came up with a bolder plan —
Many creatures have the instinct to attract the same kind of people through the call, and dr. Bob has recorded some of the monster's calls before, and can use the recorded monster call to slightly modify it and then play it out, so that the monster mistakenly thinks that there is a similar summon, in order to lure the monster to the bait.
When all was said and done, Pete took the heroine Stella and Dr. Bates to go to sea again.
When it came to the monster-infested waters, Pete placed some loudspeakers underwater and repeatedly played the treated monster's cries.
Sure enough, they detected that the monster was beginning to approach.
Unexpectedly, however, Miller, the mysterious man who killed Florinda before, actually sneaked into the boat.
See the three men's plan succeed, and while Pete and Stella are in the water to put on the speakers, the man kills Dr. Bates.
Later, he tries to kill the heroine Stella, and the two fall into the sea during the fight.
It turns out that just in time for the monster to come nearby, the mysterious man eventually becomes the monster's dinner,
In a moment of crisis, Pete takes the aura of the protagonist and ventures to save Stella.
The terrified two look at bates' corpse on the ship and realize that there may be a bigger conspiracy behind the monster.
Because, someone didn't seem to want Stella and Pete to find the monster's trail.
In the laboratory, Dr. West deduced through the study of monster cells that the monster was likely to be a genetically modified mutant species, which reminded him of the murder of florinda, a female researcher previously investigated by the police, after all, the murdered Florinda belonged to the genetic engineering department.
Later, Dr. West discovers a file of the Ocean Killer Project in a computer database.
The project was classified as top secret and lasted for 8 months, only to be abruptly terminated just a month ago due to the accidental loss of subjects. Needless to say, this subject was the mutant monster fish that hurt people everywhere.
According to archival records, the initiator of this experiment is Dr. Davis, the head of the genome.
Dr. West was about to expose the matter, but Davis and the female supervisor Sophia took the lead and pointed a gun at Dr. West.
It turns out that Davis colluded with Sophia in a vain attempt to create a powerful sea monster to plunder the marine resources.
According to the experimental plan, they combined the genes of a variety of creatures to create a new species, this mutant creature with the intelligence of dolphins, the power of octopus, and the ferocity of primitive fish, can be said to be a perfect monster.
Unexpectedly, the experiment had an accident, the monster escaped out of control, and the secret of the experiment was known to the female researcher Florinda, in order to cover up the secret, Davis found the killer Miller to brutally kill Florinda.
However, Dr. Bob and the others have tracked down the monster, and Davis, fearing that the matter will be revealed, has to let the killer Miller out of the horse and kill Dr. Bates again, and now he plans to kill Dr. West to kill him.
However, Skynet was restored without leakage.
Sheriff Gordon visits the lab again for the monster thing, and just in time to see Davis preparing to shoot Dr. West, he immediately shoots davis and saves Dr. West.
When the truth came out, the crowd decided to join forces with the police to eliminate the mutant monster fish.
The crowd planned to divide the troops into two ways, first the police poured a large amount of gasoline into a shallow sea area and set up a net of heaven and earth;
Pete then sets up speakers in a small boat and lures the monster to a circle with oil drums;
After some arrangement, the monster was indeed hooked, and finally the police ignited the surface of the water with a flamethrower.
In the midst of the raging fire, this mutant monster fish was finally burned to ashes...
At the end of the story, the coast returns to tranquility, and the hero Pete and the heroine Dr. Stella also develop a crush on each other in this adventure.
The most tragic is the mutant monster fish, which was originally created by humans,
In the end, he lost his life at the hands of humans and was reduced to a "large seafood barbecue".
This "Red Sea Devil Shadow" did not respond well when it was released that year, and the score of the film on IMdb was only 2.7 points, which can be said to be unbearable. However, on the domestic Douban, the film's score is 7.0 points, which can be described as quite good in the field of monster thrillers.
Of course, this is largely a blessing of feelings, "Red Sea Devil Shadow" as one of the few imported commercial films that can be seen in China in that era, its imaginative and brain-hole story, thrilling plot, let the audience at that time feel fresh.
However, from the current point of view, the film's hard wounds are actually many.
In terms of production, the film is not even as good as "Jaws" 9 years ago, and the production staff also knows that the props are not realistic enough, so the full picture of the mutant monster fish has been hidden, and the mutant creatures of the upper body shark and the lower body octopus can only rely on the audience to make up the horror image.
And what is even more rare is the editing, although the film is only more than 90 minutes, but the first half of the plot is very protracted, the editing is directly pulled crotch, there are too many unnecessary redundant plots, such as the killer Miller in the film, the scene is not necessary at all, and deleting it does not affect the understanding of the plot.
In addition, there are some indescribable boat scenes in the film, the purpose of which is nothing more than to attract the audience's attention by hunting curiosity, but it does not help the overall perception of the film in the slightest, and can only be understood as the opportunistic trick of the choreographer - the story is not enough, the welfare is made up.
In general, as an old movie from 37 years ago, "Red Sea Devil Shadow" can only be said to be a lackluster B-grade film, if the choreographer can give the monster more shots, maybe the movie will not fall into such a reputation!