I'm Working On: Barracuda (Patreon)

Probably goes without saying, but this post-Jaws cash-in is nothing like its poster. Actually it's not much like Jaws either - I don't want to pre-empt the review, but this is very weird. Initially I did wonder if the lack of watery horror versus land-based intrigue was to do with a lack of budget - the fish attacks are a mess of closeup and blood in the water reflecting more chaos than suspense. But having watched the whole thing, I think it more likely that the writer/directors (who also act in the movie) wanted to make a completely different kind of film which, perhaps, they struggled to get funding for, and someone said, 'Well if you could make this like Jaws, then we could find the money'. So they did. That sort of thing definitely happens - Martin Scorsese took Mean Streets to Roger Corman who agreed to make it if Scorsese made it blaxploitation, and Scorsese was tempted because he wanted to get his films made and that's not easy. I'm not saying this was ever going to be Mean Streets, but that's my take on how it ended up being Barracuda, something I really don't think it wants to be.