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Egads! The horror! The horror! That horror was ... Octaman! This hybrid was first released (in Mexico) on this day in 1971. Written and directed by Harry Essex, the film starred Pier Angeli, Kerwin Mathews, Jeff Morrow, and others.
According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:
"A team of researchers discovers a strange mutation of man and octopus who proceeds to terrorize them."
-- EZ
From Google.com:
The 1971 B-movie horror flick Octaman is legendary among cult cinema fans, primarily due to three major behind-the-scenes trivia facts:
It Was Rick Baker’s Very First Film Job
Rick Baker built the Octaman creature costume. Long before he won seven Academy Awards for legendary makeup effects (including An American Werewolf in London and Men in Black), a 20-year-old Baker took a flat fee of $1,000 to construct this suit over six weeks. Knowing the costume’s limitations on a shoestring budget, Baker made the director promise to only film the monster hidden in the shadows. Instead, the producers loved it so much they filmed it in broad daylight, fully exposing its zippers and clunky rubber seams.
The Director Formed a Creative Link to a Universal Classic
The movie was written and directed by Harry Essex, the co-writer of Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Because of Essex's involvement, Octaman acts as a bizarre, low-budget echo of the Universal monster masterpiece. The plot heavily copies his own earlier work—featuring a team of scientists exploring a remote river, a radioactive humanoid water monster, and a strange, romantic obsession between the creature and the female lead.
The Tragic and Final Role of Pier Angeli
Italian star Pier Angeli died shortly after filming wrapped. Once a prominent Hollywood leading lady who starred opposite Paul Newman, dated James Dean, and won a Golden Globe, Angeli’s career had declined by the 1970s. She took the lead role of Susan in this ultra-low-budget production. Sadly, she was found dead from an accidental barbiturate overdose in her Beverly Hills home at just 39 years old, making Octaman her final film.
Bonus Pop-Culture Fun:
If the monster looks familiar, it might be because Joe Dante snuck a clip of Octaman into Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) as a playful inside joke to poke fun at Rick Baker, who was handling the special effects for the Gremlins sequel!