Les dents d'acier

I expected a Jaws clone and got a movie about threesomes. After I got over the initial shock I actually found Tintorera to be a sweet, almost classy, little male fantasy. Tintorera is actually a sex/beach-flick, and thus perfectly captures the feel of the seventies take on sexual revolution; an era of hedonistic disco parties, sexual experimentation and short, loveless sexual encounters. Rene Cardona Jr. regular Hugo Stiglitz looks great as a wealthy boy on vacation, Esteban, who "finds himself" in a three part relationship with the cute Gabrielle and his former sexual competitor Miguel, the Shark hunter. Meanwhile the feared Tintorera, a big-ass tiger shark, is having a feast on the sexed-out beach community. The "f***-and-die" concept, usually seen in slasher films, is clearly visible and you could say that Tintorera's attack on the swimmers are really an attack on the sexual revolution. If you want cheese you'll have no trouble finding it (the Darth Vader-like breathing of Tintorera or the underwater conversations between Esteban and Miguel directly springs to mind...), but don't look to hard since the larger parts of the movie is actually pretty well-made and totally undeserving of its bad reputation (which I think is more due to the whole idea of a shark/sex movie, than the movie itself). Chances are you might actually enjoy it, as I did.

Also, if you are a gay man interested in exploitation cinema you are bound to like it: the homosexual overtones between Esteban and Miguel are painfully obvious and there are numerous shots of Hugo Stiglitz cute little ass.

7/10 on a regular scale

You're making a Jaws imitation and feel it won't be very popular. What do you do? Fill it with nude and sex scenes of course!In fact,Tintorera is so concerned with showing naked bodies(a surprising amount are men)that the bloodthirsty shark lurking in the waters becomes a mere sub-plot.You begin to ask yourself where the hell this shark is when the characters(horribly dubbed,by the way)are gleefully skinny dipping.

You will ultimately give up on any hopes you may have had of Tintorera being exciting in any way and just enjoy the nude scenes which,by the way are always given a big signpost before they happen,for example"Hey,I've got this GREAT idea,lets all take our clothes off and go swimming!"

Technically,Tintorera is hilariously inept,as is most of the dialogue.The shark scenes are obviously some sort of documentary footage,clearly indicated by the fact that it is a different type of film.Therefore,the characters that get attacked are never seen in the same shot as the shark,which has a very cheap feel to it.

So there you go.That's Tintorera.I can only recommend this film to people who want nudity but don't have the balls to rent a porno(you guys know who you are) and 70's buffs who want to hear a few forgotten disco tracks.

Let me get this straight: it's an awful movie. But imagine this: you are on vacation in Mexico, exactly in the places where the film was shot, and one evening it happens that on a local TV "Tintorera" is aired. It suddenly becomes a must-see. Even now I can't believe how much I laughed: incredibly plain and stupid plot, bad acting, poor dialogs, male nude scenes while the only good thing about in the film was the beauty of the actresses, shocking pointless ending...this movie got it all! As if it wasn't enough, it also showed me how the Mexican coast was before the wild tourism colonization: a real natural paradise that no longer exists (or at least changed too much). A punch on the chin.

Pure crap but, unintentionally, really comical. 5 out of 10 only for the laughter

Rene Cardona Jr's TINTORERA (1977) is one ridiculous JAWS ripoff made by this Mexican film maker who is also known (among many other films) as the director of jungle exploitation film TREASURE OF THE AMAZON (1985), a much better film.

TINTORERA stars Susan George and the film involves a bunch of people having a vacation on some paradise island in which there seems to be nothing but happiness and beautiness and not a trace of the outside world. Soon, however, after some 30 minutes of the film, finally the nasty shark starts to eat and kill people and also return the vacationers back on earth from their dream world. What really amazes me in this film is how long it takes for the shark to finally arrive because as far as I know, this was supposed to be another "shark film" that would appeal to the same audience than Spielberg's JAWS (1975) did.

The film has absolutely incredibly slow pace and it will be too much for most to watch without falling asleep. There is plenty of scenes depicting sharks being killed by people or each other and also the "sharks attacking human being" scenes are pretty dull and thus funny. There's plenty of naked skin and bodies and also some blood so the exploitation elements are there as they were in TREASURE, too. And exploitation TINTORERA is almost as much as it is trash. Very much, that is!

Still the Mexican locations and beaches are truly wonderful and very beautiful and by watching them it is much easier to sit the film through. Rarely has nature's beauty been captured this stunningly on trash film like this, so the film isn't completely without its merits. Otherwise I'd recommend this for fans of ultra low budget grade Z cinema only and of course for fans of the Cardonas. 3/10

The technical ocean photography portrayed real sharks in action, seeking anything in sight, made JAWS look like a Disney flick. This picture had a great deal of realism and presented a very clear picture of the world in which the sharks of the ocean dwell. Susan George and Priscilla Barnes held you spellbound with love and romance and the fear of being eaten alive by the "TINTORERA". If you are a Susan George fan, view this picture.