Terreur sous la mer

"The Treasure of Jamaica Reef" is a terrible film from start to finish. It is cheap, poorly made and dull....and those are among its better qualities. The story often is told through narration instead of actually showing or doing anything and the movie just looks cheap and awful.

The story is about a search for a sunken galleon in the Port Royal area of Jamaica, a town that sank into the sea during the 17th century. Much of it filmed in nearby Falmouth as well as in the reefs nearby.

The only interesting aspect of the film was interesting to me because I got to see what diving in the 1970s looked like AND I just visited Falmouth the day before I watched the movie...and I still gave it a 1! For the average person, it would only be worse!!

I cannot even give this a one because it would be too high of a rating. For the exception of some serious Cheryl Ladd boobage, this thing was quite possibly the worst film ever made, and the directors/writers should be completely and utterely embarrassed. Make sure if you watch this, you have no sharp objects, a tie or rope, or a big bowl of water, because you will want to hang, drown and stab yourself to try and ease the pain of watching this.

Quite literally you could sit and stare at a wall, and that wall would tell a better story than what this movie will do for you. You can't even use your imagination because by watching this, your mind is completely dormant and you will have no thought process until you manage to summon the remote to change the channel.

Your feelings will be hurt, your kids will hate you, your friends will never speak to you again and your wife or husband will leave you for somebody else if you are caught watching this "masterpiece." Do yourself a favor and please don't watch this incredible piece of crap. It is the equivalent of going to the strip club only to watch the DJ, to try and nail jello at the wall, to pick up women at the bar with a coors cutter (non-alcoholic) beer in your hand. None of it makes sense and neither does this movie. SAVE YOURSELF!!!!

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.

It's a bad movie but It has a couple of really awful scenes:

1) Bad man get face grilled on a open bit bar-b-que grill. His face was well done in 3 seconds.

2)During a fight, a grenade explodes in the boat. Does anyone die? NO Does anyone get hurt? NO What happens? The shockwave of the explosion throws everyone into the water and the fight continues....

The original working and first release title (co-feature with "Witch Mountain") by Buena Vista was "Secrets Of Jamaica Reef".

Cheryl Ladd was credited as Cheryl Stoppelmoor, because that was her name when working on the film. She met David Ladd -=on=- this film and married (after his divorce) later! Not that the film is any better for it, but the original was almost totally filmed on location in Jamaica. It was 'spiced up' with later 'additions' such as those commented upon by the first review.

Daily'd, Sync'd and Edited in Jamaica.

JA - Production Sound Mixer