Barracuda (1978)/Island Fury (aka Please Don’t Eat
The Babies/1989) – Drive-in Double Feature (Dark Sky DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Films: C+/D
The
latest of Dark Sky’s always entertaining Drive-in
Double Feature combine one of the more interesting Jaws take-offs with lame would-be thriller romp that never adds up
to much of anything but the end of the 1980s.
Barracuda (1978) Harry
Kerwin’s attempt to do Jaws with a
touch of Piranha as
environmentalists go to a small town to test the water and find that the
company that employs the town run by a old tough guy (Bert Freed, out-acting
most of the cast) would rather they vacation somewhere else.
The
acting may be a problem, while the film in general may lack the kind of
suspense and energy it needed to be really good, yet there is something
constantly creepy and dark in mood makes this one of the more interesting films
in the “ocean killers” cycle all the way to the end. I liked the ambition and it is part of a
series of such low budget genre B-movies that are better than people remember
or give them credit for.
Island Fury (1989) is about a couple of gals
(read 1980s airheads) who get followed and kidnapped, followed by young
would-be gangsters, a treasure and cannibals that is such a mess, you can see
between the two films how VHS & Beat killed good B-movie production. The unknowns cannot act and the film is an
exploitation piece with less edge than the makers would like to believe they had. It just never works on any level, except to
put one to sleep. MST3K anyone?
Both are
presented in 1.33 X 1 framing, but whether it is full screen or full frame is
another story. I could see where there
might be some information “possibly” missing from the Barracuda print, while we are sadly getting everything Island Fury filmed. They both have print issues, but Barracuda is a much better looking
print than expected overall and would be great on Blu-ray. Both have Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono that is just
fine, though Barracuda has more
character and amusing music (by Klaus Schulze) while Island Fury falls flat.
There are no extras direct to access, but these discs come with trailer
to open both films and vintage drive-in/movie theater trailers that are fun and
make all the discs in this series worth seeing.
- Nicholas Sheffo
