Tentacles [Tentacoli (1977)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - June 29, 1977

I have a memory of seeing the poster for Tentacles displayed at the Alameda Theatre and being unnerved and grossed out by the idea of being gripped and engulfed by slimy and sucker encrusted tentacles. The concept so unsettled me that I did not go and see the film.

Now there might be some out there that might hold the opinion that I dodged a bullet by making that decision. Because, when the film made its network television premiere and I finally watched it, I found the film to be a rather underwhelming and silly affair.

Ovidio Assonitis, credited here as Oliver Hellman, having made considerable bank with his Exorcist cash-in, known stateside as Beyond the Door, struggles to build and maintain any kind of tension whatsoever. While there a few nifty moments scattered throughout, they are just that. Moments. Not sequences, just an occasional well crafted edit or nicely angled shot during an attack sequence.

Though I would like to add Stelvio Cipriani's zesty score to my soundtrack collection at some point.

A check of the Theatre Guide revealed that, at the Lux, Tentacles was on triple-bill with The Little Cigars Mob, a film about gang of bank robbing circus midgets, and Savage Sisters, another Eddie Romero Philippines lensed exploitation flick. The Coliseum drive-in, that aforementioned Alameda Theatre, as well the Hayward 6, the Hilltop Mall, and the Nimitz drive-in all had Tentacles paired with a re-issue of The Food of the Gods. Not surprising, really. As both were American International releases and The Food of the Gods was the distributor's biggest moneymaker of the previous year.

The California Cinema, which is where I saw Boots Riley's debut Sorry to Bother You on the big screen, had Tentacles showing with Eddie Romero's Philippines lensed exploitation flick Twilight People.