Before there was Sharktopus, there was Monster Shark – aka Devil Fish aka Shark – Rosso nell’oceano (translation: Shark – Red in the Ocean). It wasn’t just the film that had multiple names. Macabre director and giallo mainstay Lamberto Bava directed this maritime creature feature as John Old Jr. and famously said that the title “made no sense because there isn’t a fucking shark in the film.” Instead, the ravenous beast is the result of military scientists fusing octopus DNA with that of the ancient bone-headed fish Dunkleosteus. Dumb but grisly, it is almost impossible to believe that this mud-covered and briny bloodfest was the movie Bava would make before the stylish supernatural classic Demons. – Richard Whittaker
