Terreur sous la mer

I picked up a copy of this movie on VHS last year (2008) as it looked interesting after reading the cover, I was certainly wrong about that! I found this to be one of the most boring movies I've ever seen, very slow moving and poor quality too.

But, it has one good point, excellent underwater photography which kept me watching it.

Not a bad cast too, including Stephen Boyd (Fantastic Voyage), David Ladd and Cheryl Ladd.

A boring 75 minutes, worth watching only for the underwater photography.

Rating: 2 stars out of 5.

"The Treasure Of Jamaica Reef" has some interesting attributes. It has a once in a lifetime cast - what other movie has Cheryl Ladd, Darby Hinton, Rosey Grier, Chuck Woolery, and Stephen Boyd all together in one movie? The movie also boasts an unusual musical score, mostly electronic music. Also, the narration and the direction frequently give the movie a documentary-like feeling. All this stuff does make the movie interesting here and there, but as a whole, is the movie entertaining? Unfortunately, it isn't. The best I can say for the movie is that it has some nice underwater photography. It's a real slow-moving movie, and even in a couple of instances when it realizes things are boring and adds some action, it still isn't that exciting. Another problem is that the characters are really thin, and it's hard to care about their treasure quest. Though the movie doesn't sink like a stone, it's definitely very waterlogged.

I watched at that movie as a fan of Stephen Boyd, and I was also interested by the fact that he personally participated to the production. I have to be honest, the movie that I have seen is not good. I saw a new tape purchased on the web and issued by a regular company. Is it a right one ? So many tapes are recorded from TV re-issues, with a blurry picture and cuts, that I would like to get the point of view of somebody who had really attented at a performance at the time it came out. The critics of the movie in 1976 were not so bad. Where is the truth ?

The shots, under the water are really beautiful. The fact that advertising made at the time of the movie are speaking of "jaws" and that I saw just a few sharks makes me definitly think that we are facing a short version and that we have to be careful with our judgment. The VHS would have had to quote on their jackets when they are coming from TV copies and not from the original film.

It can't be a thriller because everyone on the planet knows they are treasure hunting ... it can't be a love story because there are no lovers ...someone said it was great because you got to see cheryl ladds boobage ... i've seen them in the raw and they don't look near as good as propped up by an underwire bra ... someone else said the underwater photography was fantastic, compared to what ? ... every foot of the film i saw was out of focus on land as well as in the water ... where you are diving is never a big secret as air bubbles always give you away ...if you want to see a treasure dive film that is beautifully done, see the deep (1977) with nick nolte and jacqueline bisset .. at least she has the real goods to show and you can rely on eli wallach and louis gossett to be the really evil crooks

I honestly don't get it! How is it possible that this movie was so dreadfully boring in spite of all the indicators of pure 70's entertainment? Look at all the potentially great stuff here: we have a plot about cursed treasures in sunken galleons, the robust macho actor Stephen Boyd, marvelously exotic Granada filming locations, Jordan Ladd's equally astounding mother Cheryl in a tiny bikini, shark attacks and boat explosions! Adventure movies like this are practically a guaranteed success, yet somehow director Virginia L. Stone managed to ruin the formula entirely. How? Through a combination of inexplicably slow pacing, completely inappropriate slapstick elements and a ridiculous Benny Hill-esquire score and the overuse of irritating clichés (like villains with atrocious German accents). At the scene of a crime, homicide inspector Hugo Graham finds an ancient treasure map that supposedly carries a curse with it. All the previous nine owners of the map died violent deaths, regardless of whether they even attempted to track down the treasure or not. Fascinated by the mystery, Graham takes a photocopy of the map and mobilizes four of his friends to go treasure hunting during his annual vacation. As if the film itself isn't boring enough yet, there's also Boyd's completely unnecessary and monotonous narration. The action sequences and stunts are poorly handled, stupid and too obviously fake. All the available budget for this movie clearly went to the waterproof camera equipment and location hunters. Admittedly the underwater photography is impressive and the Jamaica/Granada locations look like postcards, with their crystal blue waters, colorful reefs and tropical sandy beaches.