Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009)

	Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus
	Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus
See alternate titles
Directed by	Jack Perez
Producer(s)	David Michael Latt, David Rimawi (executive)
Written by	Jack Perez
Music by	Chris Ridenhour
Distributor	The Asylum
Rating	R
Running time	88 minutes; (1 hour, 28 minutes)
Aspect ratio	1.78:1

Mega Shark Films

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Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus

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“	Winner... Eats... All!	„
	— Tagline

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus is an American giant monster film produced by The Asylum, and the first entry in the studio's Mega Shark series. It was released on DVD in the United States on May 19, 2009.

Plot

While piloting a stolen Aquanaut 3 mini-submarine off the coast of Alaska, oceanographer Emma MacNeil discovers a pod of whales before a top secret military experiment disturbs them and releases two prehistoric creatures from the ice. At her job in California, she finds an odd fragment of organic material while examining a whale carcass, contradicting the standing hypothesis that it had been injured by a ship's propeller. However, before she can investigate any further, she is fired for stealing the submarine. Shortly after, a Giant Octopus attacks a Japanese oil rig, leaving only one survivor, who is interviewed by the Japanese oceanographer Seiji Shimada. Elsewhere, Mega Shark leaps from the ocean and eats an plane passing overhead. After sneaking into the site where the whale carcass was being held, Emma extracts the fragment and contacts her former professor, Lamar Sanders. Together they come to the conclusion that it is the tooth of a Megalodon. They meet with Shimada and watch a tape from MacNeil's voyage which reveals that the Giant Octopus had escaped alongside the Megalodon. That night, they are press-ganged into helping the U.S. military eliminate the beasts.

The scientists managed to convince the military to try to capture the monsters alive, and are put to work to try to find ways to lure them into the shallows of Tokyo Bay and San Francisco Bay. While working together, MacNeil and Shimada discuss their deep-seated relationship to the ocean, which leads to them having sex and determining that they should utilize pheromones to attract the monsters. However, both attempts failed miserably, and lead to Mega Shark taking a bite out of the Golden Gate Bridge. The two creatures then flee into the Pacific Ocean, and the scientists decide to allow the monsters to fight one another to the death. They use the pheromone trick again near where the beasts were first unleashed. Leading Mega Shark through a deep sea trench, they narrowly escape unharmed. After destroying many ships and submarines, the monsters begin to grapple. The Giant Octopus loses the tips of two of his tentacles before finally grappling Mega Shark and constricting it until they both sink to the bottom of the sea, motionless.

Happily reunited, Emma and Seiji sit on the beach thinking of their future together. However, they are approached by Lamar with a file folder. They joke about the once-in-a-lifetime experience of tracking down a gigantic shark before Lamar reveals that his folder contains what he calls "another lifetime." The team runs off to pursue it.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

Directed by Jack Perez
Written by Jack Perez
Produced by David Michael Latt
Executive producing by David Rimawi
Music by Chris Ridenhour
Cinematography by Alexander Yellen
Edited by Marq Morrison
Production design by Nino Zagaroli
Assistant directing by Xavier S. Puslowski

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

Deborah Gibson as Dr. Emma MacNeil
Lorenzo Lamas as Allan Baxter
Vic Chao as Dr. Seiji Shimada
Jonathan Nation as Vince
Mark Hengst as Dick Ritchie
Michael The as Takeo
Chris Haley as Kenji
Sean Lawlor as Lamar Sanders
Dustin Harnish as Helmsman
Dean Kreyling as U.S. Sub Captain
Stephen Blackehart as U.S. Sub Sonar Chief
Dana Dimatteo as Marine Biologist
Myles Cranford as Deputy
Dana Healey as Naval Officer
John Bolen as Weapons Officer
Larry Parrish as Japanese Typhoon Captain
Aki Hiro as Typhoon Navigator
Russ Kingston as Admiral Scott
Stefanie Gernhauser as Sub Commander
Cooper Harris as Sonar Tech
Matt Lagan as Destroyer Captain
Douglas N. Hachiya as Destroyer Sonar Tech
Hunter Ives, John Gilligan as Destroyer Sonar Men
Michael Allendorf, Colin Broussard as Radiomen
Mikos Zavros as Navigator
Elijah Flores, Daniel Schachtel as FBI Agents
David Meador as Blackbird Pilot
Jay Beyers as Pilot, Deck Officers
Michael L. Parisi, Michael Drummond, Molly Drummond, Emily Lavigna, Michelle Hodnett, Silje Gruner, Joey Ruggles, Knayi Clement as Passengers
Brandon Plemons as Sailor
Conrad Lihilihi, Rebecca Helm, Chan Park, Chuck Willis, Craig Childress, Jay Cynik, Andre H. Bassett, Artem Shatokhin, Jason Covington, Alan Woods, Angela Guerrero, James Rolls, Julia Torchine, Sharon Stockbridge as Background

Appearances

Monsters

Weapons, vehicles, and races

Aquanaut 3
U.S. Lead Destroyer (portrayed by the USS Missouri)
F-18 Hornet / F-15 Eagle / F-22 Raptor (single plane inconsistently depicted)
João Coutinho-class corvette
Japanese submarine Typhoon
U.S. submarines

Development

The concept of a kaiju-sized duel between a shark and an octopus was suggested by the Japanese film distributor Albatross.^[1]

Production

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus was filmed in California over the course of 12 days in January 2009.^[2]

Marketing

The trailer for Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus became an unexpected viral hit on MTV.com and YouTube, garnering over two million views between the two sites in the several weeks before the film's release.^[3] It was also the eighth most-viewed trailer on Yahoo! Movies in 2009.^[4]

Gallery

Main article: Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus/Gallery.

Alternate titles

Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (American DVD and end credits)
Deadly Jaws Against Giant Tentacles (Smrtonosne čeljusti protiv ogromnih pipaka / Смртоносне чељусти против огромних пипака; Serbia)
Two Million Years Later
- Два миллиона лет спустя; Russia
- Два мільйони років потому; Ukraine

Reception

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus was panned by critics. It has a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews.^[5] The site's Critical Consensus reads, "With shoddy FX, acting and directing. This isn't so bad it's good. It's just so bad it's terrible."

Video releases

Asylum Home Entertainment DVD (2009)

Region: 1
Discs: 1
Audio: English (5.1 Surround Sound and 2.0 Stereo)
Subtitles: None
Special features: Making-of featurette (8 minutes), blooper reel (3 minutes), trailers for other Asylum films

Echo Bridge Blu-ray (2010)

Region: None
Discs: 1
Audio: English (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0)
Subtitles: None
Special features: None

Sequels

Main articles: Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark, Mega Shark vs. Kolossus.

Videos

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus trailer

Trivia

When Emma is handling a vial of pheromones in the mini-sub, she remarks that the manipulator arm is made of chrome steel. Like the chrome steel chains which held King Kong in his debut film and its 2005 remake, the arm soon breaks.
Jack Perez named Dr. Seiji Shimada after Takashi Shimura's character in Seven Samurai.^[2]

References

This is a list of references for Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

Comments

Showing 18 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators.

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SKuLL cRaWLer

6 months ago

Score 0

Dear Animal sci-fi movies

STOP MAKING REGULAR ANIMAL FIGHT MOVIES OR WHATEVER U cALL THEM , THERE BORING, SO STOP IT AND QUIT UR JOB!!!!!!!!!!