The river of fear - Il fiume della paura

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

I love monster movies; especially things from the sea. It's too bad that the people who make them have so little imagination. This is another "formula" mess, with far too much time spent on non-octopus business. We do get some lurid scenes of the octopus munching people, tentacles flying about; and the ornery thing generally being a proper monster. But the biggest, and most accurate, science fiction element in the film is that any living thing would purposely take up residence in the East River of New York City. They actually tried to explain that!!!

I kind of liked "Octopus II". The heroine was really cute. Its just that the plot, the editing, and characters in this cephalopod outing are fatally muddled. They had to use that old standby, the shaky camera, to make us dizzy so we couldn't see through the minimal special effects. Still, I managed to sit through it; and get a few of those magic quivers that sea monster movies do to me. There's just something about seafood run amok!

A word to all producers of octopus films. Octopi do not growl. And forget the formula. We've seen far too many special events gone wrong because the mayor wouldn't listen to the hero. Make it fast and furious. A little sex is okay; but get rid of all those neurotic characters and sub-plots. Focus on the tentacles; and put it in the ocean where it just might make sense.

I hated the first movie is really boring and we only get see the Octopus at the end.

The plot Dead bodies are being found in the New York harbor. The police have no clues nor suspects until Nick and his colleague realize the killer is a giant octopus. Everybody, especially the police captain, refuses to believe Nick's story, and soon the harbor will be filled with boats for the 4th of July celebrations...

In this movie we get to see more of the Giant Octopus and Special effects for this movie are really good for it's time.

The acting is this movie not bad but not great too but okay and watch able.

The are some really cheese scenes to movie but if can get past that, You should enjoy the rest of movie.

5/10

This is awful. Really bad. Makes the original seem good. There is actually more (unconvincing) Octo in this one, but it never does anything interesting. And then they tag on some DAYLIGHT "inspired" disaster movie stuff at the end. Stay away. In Japan the video is known as OCTOPUS IN NEW YORK (it attacks Manhattan by the way, well actually it doesn't).

As far as B sci-fi are concerned, this is a solid middle of the road movie. I've watched other craps like the Carnosaur series, and the likes of the Dog Soldier where I have no idea why it gets a high score. Many of these so called sci-fi movies are rip offs in that they state certain monster will appear, but when you see it, the total appearance time of the monster is less than a minute or two, and other 90 minutes is a filler where soldiers or who ever is acting scared and shouting macho BS. Many of them happens in such a dark setting that you can hardly see any details like AVP 2.

Compared to these, Octopus 2 has solid performance both from the actors and the octopus. There's a story that's believable, and the actions are not bad either.

There are other bad movies out there that's lot worse, and after seeing sci-fi movies for years, this is a solid middle of the road piece.