{"id":13674,"date":"2014-03-16T17:26:49","date_gmt":"2014-03-16T06:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/?p=13674"},"modified":"2014-03-17T06:45:36","modified_gmt":"2014-03-16T19:45:36","slug":"bermuda-tentacles-theres-more-than-three-sides-to-this-triangle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2014\/03\/16\/bermuda-tentacles-theres-more-than-three-sides-to-this-triangle\/","title":{"rendered":"Bermuda Tentacles: There’s More Than Three Sides to this Triangle"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s called Bermuda Tentacles<\/strong>, it’s directed by Nick Lyon (Grendel<\/em>, Species: The Awakening<\/em>, Rise of the Zombies<\/em>), and it’s the Next Big Thing from mockbuster studio, The Asylum, in collaboration with the SyFy Channel. It stars singer\/popstar\/actress Mya Harrison, Trevor Donovan, Luke White, Jamie Kennedy, John Savage (Carniv\u00e0le<\/em>), Darren Anthony Thomas (1313: Giant Killer Bees<\/em>!), and the original Sarah Connor, Linda Hamilton, who has set aside hunting killer robots to take on a Monster From The Deep. Hamilton plays “…an admiral of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier dispatched to the Bermuda Triangle to rescue the President after Air Force One crashes, when her team accidentally awakens a monster …”<\/p>\n

\"kraken\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note: the above picture is NOT from the movie.<\/em><\/p>\n

Military-type activity awakening big monster that goes on a rampage. It’s a familiar trope, especially in the light of a certain upcoming giant monster pic — one with a higher profile than Bermuda Triangle<\/em> could ever hope to muster. So the real question is: is this film the Asylum’s “mockbuster” for 2014 — their attempt to cash in on the imminent release of Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla<\/em> revamp?<\/p>\n

Undead Backbrain’s kaiju ninja Avery Guerra put this (and some other questions) to cinematographer Alexander Yellan.<\/p>\n

Yellan<\/strong>: Although I can’t speak for the marketing gurus at the Asylum, I don’t believe this film is associated with the release of the Warner Bros. Godzilla<\/em>. As far as I know this is an original concept developed in coordination with SyFy.<\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>: What can you tell us about the monster or monsters then, apart from the obvious (as suggested by the title)?<\/p>\n

Yellan<\/strong>: I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about the creatures in the film as frankly it would spoil the fun. But I will say that the Asylum and Syfy both like titles that are direct and to the point.<\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>: Who are the stars? In what locations does it take place?<\/p>\n

Yellan<\/strong>: The film stars Linda Hamilton as a US Navy Admiral, Trevor Donovan as a Special Forces team leader, Mya Harrison as a team specialist, Jamie Kennedy as a military scientist, and John Savage as the President. The film is set primarily in the Bermuda Triangle but also along other parts of the Eastern seaboard of the US.<\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>: If not Godzilla<\/em>, what are the inspirations that lie behind Bermuda Tentacles<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Yellan<\/strong>: I couldn’t tell you every film that was drawn upon for ideas, but the director’s style guide referenced Peter Berg’s Battleship<\/em> quite a bit. I’d say Michael Bay’s style came up in conversation frequently as well.<\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>: Does the film have an air date? Has it wrapped production?<\/p>\n

Yellan<\/strong>: We have certainly finished production. I believe the film is slated to air on the Syfy Channel on Saturday, April 12 at 9 p.m. EST.<\/p>\n

So there you have it. The actual monster design is up-in-the-air, though the tentacles definitely suggest images of the Kraken — that mythological seabeast that was said to terrorise ships in the early days (as depicted on this ad for Kraken Rum, a substance that no doubt contributed to many sightings):<\/p>\n

\"kraken-rum\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kraken has subsequently re-entered the public consciousness thanks to both Ray Harryhausen’s mythological Clash of the Titans<\/strong> (US-1981; dir. Desmond Davis) and the more recent remake,\u00a0Clash of the Titans<\/strong> (US-2010; dir. Louis Leterrier) — as they say,\u00a0 “Release the Kraken!”<\/p>\n

\"kraken-clash-of-the-titans\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Above picture is of Harryhausen’s stopmotion Kraken (from the 1981 film) and below is a painting by GENZOMAN, drawn as a splash page for a comic prequel to the modern Clash of the Titans<\/em> remake.<\/p>\n

\"Release_the_Kraken_by_GENZOMAN\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Giant tentacled sea-monsters have been plentiful in fiction and on films. Putting aside the king of tentacled horrors, H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu and the films he has inspired, I will mention four (so I can add pictures). Firstly, there’s Tentacles<\/strong> [aka Tentacoli] (Italy\/US-1977; dir. Ovidio G. Assonitis (as Oliver Hellman)), which involves people disappearing at sea, a huge mutated octopus, and a bunch of well-known US actors slumming it in a 1970s Italian exploitation pic.<\/p>\n

\"tentacles1977film02\"<\/a>\"tentacles2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Don’t you just love Japanese posters?<\/em><\/p>\n

Next is a favourite of mine, made by a director who went on to have several effective big-budget box-office successes only to completely lose control when given even more truck-loads of money to work with — Deep Rising<\/strong> (US-1998; dir. Stephen Sommers). This one involves a huge luxury liner, a bunch of modern mercenary pirates, and the most multi-tentacled horror to ever hit the screen:<\/p>\n

\"deeprising\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thirdly, a little-known gem from Ireland — Grabbers<\/strong> (Ireland-2012; dir. Jon Wright). This one involves a bunch of Irish patrons in a pub by the seaside — and a huge tentacled monster. Very funny. I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n

\"Grabbers-Aus-cover\"<\/a> \"Grabbers-Sony-Pictures-Home-Ent_\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally, we have a 1950s scifi classic, It Came From Beneath the Sea<\/strong> (US-1955; dir. Robert Gordon), featuring the stop-motion work of the great Ray Harryhausen (again). H-bomb tests give rise to a mutated, mega-gigantic five-tentacled octopus (there were budgetary restrictions), which comes to the California coast to party. One of the greats!<\/p>\n

\"it<\/a><\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong>: Alexander Yellan via Avery Guerra. The Wrap online<\/a>. Genzoman<\/a>. Various other internet sources where no credit was given.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s called Bermuda Tentacles, it’s directed by Nick Lyon (Grendel, Species: The Awakening, Rise of the Zombies), and it’s the Next Big Thing from mockbuster studio, The Asylum, in collaboration with the SyFy Channel. It stars singer\/popstar\/actress Mya Harrison, Trevor … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,145,44,83,3],"tags":[1331,1330,1333,117,1419,1335,1334,990,1332],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13674"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13691,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13674\/revisions\/13691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}