Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus

Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus is a monster/disaster film by The Asylum, released on May 19, 2009, in the United States and on August 7, 2009, in the United Kingdom. It was directed by Ace Hannah and stars singer Debbie Gibson and actor Lorenzo Lamas. The film, the first of the Mega Shark series, is about the hunt for two prehistoric sea monsters causing mayhem and carnage at sea.

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 shark (Otodus megalodon). They meet with Shimada and watch a tape from MacNeil's voyage which reveals that the Giant Octopus had escaped alongside the megalodon shark. 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 use pheromones to attract the monsters. However, both attempts fail 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 fight. 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.

Cast

 * Deborah Gibson as Emma MacNeil
 * Lorenzo Lamas as Allan Baxter
 * Vic Chao as Seiji Shimada
 * Mark Hengst as Dick Richie
 * Sean Lawlor as Lamar Sanders
 * Dean Kreyling as U.S. Sub Captain
 * Stephen Blackehart as U.S. Sub Sonar Chief
 * Larry Wang Parrish as Japanese Typhoon Captain
 * Douglas N. Hachiya as Japanese Sonar Tech
 * Jay Beyers as Pilot Officer
 * Stefanie Gernhauser as Sub Cmdr. Francoise Riley
 * Jonathan Nation as Vince
 * Russ Kingston as Admiral Scott
 * Cooper Harris as U.S. Destroyer Sonar Tech
 * Dustin Harnish as U.S. Sub Helmsman
 * Colin Broussard as Radioman

Monsters

 * Mega Shark
 * Giant Octopus

Weapons, vehicles, and races

 * Aquanaut 3
 * U.S. Lead Destroyer (portrayed by the USS Missouri)
 * F/A-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.

Production
Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus was filmed in California over the course of 12 days in January 2009. Much of the film was shot at the AES Alamitos power station near Long Beach, CA, and at Laurel Canyon Stages in Arleta, CA. Other locations included the Long Beach pier and Leo Carillo State Beach in Malibu, CA.

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. It was also the eighth most-viewed trailer on Yahoo! Movies in 2009.

Reception
The film was met with mostly negative reviews, with an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an average score of 3.34/10. The consensus reads, "With shoddy FX, acting and directing. This isn't so bad it's good. It's just so bad it's terrible." Peter Whittle of The Sunday Times gave the film one out of five stars and considered it "Unwatchable, almost unreviewable, this stupid monster movie makes the Béla Lugosi swan song Plan 9 from Outer Space look like a masterpiece." Philip French of The Observer said in his review that "The risible special effects and the clumsy acting recall not Roger Corman productions but the ineptitude of Ed Wood, though the result is far less endearing." Kim Newman of Empire magazine gave it two out of five stars, calling it "Daft, plain daft. With a few daft but spectacular stunts." Scott Mendelson of The Huffington Post also gave the film two out of five stars, saying that "the actors are all appropriately terrible and the story is completely absurd."

Bill Gibron of PopMatters gave the film an 8 out of 10, saying that "Schlock may be an acquired taste, like caviar, foie gras, and Arby's, but it's hard to see how anyone wouldn't enjoy this extremely tacky dish." He also praised Gibson's performance in the film. Despite criticizing the overall film quality, Stephen of The Three Rs gave the film a 7 out of 10, calling the plane attack scene "the epitome of monster awesome."

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

 * Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus (2010)
 * Mega Shark Versus Mecha Shark (2014)
 * Mega Shark Versus Kolossus (2015)

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.