In Japanese hentai, tentacles dominate the naughty awards. In horror movies, tentacles play second only to teeth for monster power. Below are six horror movies featuring tentacles that I've found most memorable. Memorable, not necessarily good.
In no particular order, then, here are my top six most memorable horror movies featuring tentacles.
It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
My all-time favorite set of Tentacles. This giant octopus, brought to screen life by stop action special effects guru Ray Harryhausen, may have only had six arms, but watching them never gets old for me. Plenty of great scenes of this octopus taking down a ship, terrorizing the wharf and wrecking San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.The Mist (2007)
The Mist, based on a Stephen King novella, offers a cast of impressively believable monsters, including some with seriously wicked tentacles. While an excellent monster Movie, it's one that I personally can never watch again, knowing what I now know. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, be prepared.Bride of the Monster (1955)
Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster showcases actor Bela Legosi struggling against the somewhat motionless tentacles of a giant octopus, a scene immortalized in the Tim Burton biopic on Ed Wood staring Johnny Depp. Even though Legosi is forced to move the octo arms himself, this still ranks in my favorite monster movie tentacles.Jacob's Ladder (1991)
With only a few flashes of tentacled terror, the dance scene in Jacob's Ladder left a permanent scar on my psyche. Featuring strobe-like, fever dream images of demon wings and tentacles, Jezzie, girlfriend of title character Jacob, encounters a tentacled creature with impure thoughts, all to the music of James Brown's "My Thang". Seriously funky.Monsters (2010)
British movie Monsters did something for tentacled monsters long overdue: like a monster makeover, it made them beautiful. The lumbering, giant creatures in this movie may be menacing due to their size, but in the same way watching a swimming octopus at an aquarium is fascinating, these monsters push aside fear for fascination. This movie is easily one of my top ten favorite monster movies.Octaman (1971)
No words needed. Just tentacles. Really, really bad tentacles.Honorable Mentions
While not a movie, I'll add Mr. Squidward Tentacles as described in the classic "lost episode" creepypasta "Squidward's Suicide"as notable bit of horror ... entertainment?I also want to give a shout-out to the awesome Walt Disney giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which would have easily made my list if the movie had been even close to a horror movie. You get both a giant squid AND a sea shanty sung by Kirk Douglas. What more do you need?
Notably absent from my top tentacle picks, however, is ironically Tentacles, a 1977 movie lacking in many special effects but with plenty of freeze frames and footage of actual octopi. Even with the top talent of John Huston, Shelly Winters and Glenn Ford, this movie is unbelievably terrible. For some unfathomable reason, however, I enjoy it, maybe because of the wonky 70's music. Also missing is the low-budget Octopus (2000). It might be difficult to watch, but I do like the way that cephalopod growls.
Cheers to absurdnoise.com for creating the Octaman GIF below.
via GIPHY
