It Came from Beneath the Sea

Harryhausen's effects are remarkable even if they're mostly relegated to a single tentacle. The 50's love story is cheesy but watchable, while the Navy handing all operations over to a couple of scientist and a sub commander seems highly improbable.

The highlight was Doc Carter lecturing Commander Pete on the 'new breed of woman' coming up in society, defending Prof Joyce's insistence on staying part of the squid hunt. Literally within a minute, the giant octopus surfaces and the professor takes up the classic 50s scream queen pose, throwing that hands-to-mouth shriek of terror on sighting a giant tentacle; had she also pulled her hair and then raked her face with her nails, it would have been perfect. Nice Harryhausen effects, though.

An incredibly uneven film, but not that bad. The monster is cool,, but more in the early scenes where it's used sparingly. The climax is overblown and a bit tedious. The plotting in general is pretty boring, lots of talk and general time wasting to pad out the movie. The most interesting aspect is the female scientist, who the film can't decide whether to praise or mock, so it alternately does both. A look into the conflicting views of the working woman at the time.

Good monster, but Harryhausen should have animated the actors, too. His beastie looks more alive than they do

Long swaths of genial Fifties hokum, punctuated by too few genius Ray Harryhausen effects. Pays off in the end, but for monster geeks the interesting scenes add up to less than ten minutes. Freder remembers Faith Dommergue as quite the dish in THIS ISLAND EARTH, but her appeal here is limited.

Directing, dialogue, and acting were so bad i constantly expected characters to break the 4th wall and deliver a PSA. The movie finds a female scientist to be more interesting and thrilling than A GIANT OCTOPUS and therefore the movie is actually all about her with a couple token octopus scenes at the end. They were cool and represent all 25 points i give the movie

When the creature finally attacks San Francisco there are some glorious scenes, but oh my goodness it takes us so long to get there! They could have begun this movie half way through.

"It Came from Beneath the Sea" serves up classic 50s sci-fi fare, complete with a romance that misfires into the realm of cringe and a colossal octopus whose size conveniently adapts to the scene's demands. The film unintentionally prompts laughter, offering a chuckle where the creators likely aimed for chills.

As 50's creature films go, this one is a bit above average.

Well, the Harryhausen effects aren't bad, for what they are.