THE SEA SERPENT

The pop-eyed serpent of The Sea Serpent

THE SEA SERPENT (aka Serpiente de mar/1985). Writer/Director: Gregory Greens (Amando de Ossorio).

Pedro Fontan (Timothy Bottoms) loses his licence as ship's captain and may go to jail for claiming that his ship was sunk by a sea monster. Linares (Jared Martin), who didn't see the creature, insists to a board of review that Pedro was drunk. Pedro was also captain of another ship that sunk, and Linares' sister died. Leaning of a woman, Margaret (Taryn  Power), who was institutionalized after seeing her friend devoured by the creature, Pedro goes to see her and sneaks her out of the hospital. The two then contact Professor Wallace (Ray Milland), who after initial distrust, believes their stories and decides to help them track down the sea monster, which was apparently created or revived when the military activated and dropped an atomic bomb in the ocean to keep it out of the hands of the enemy (!). 

Bottoms, Power, Milland

If you're hoping for a classic sea monster movie like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms or a not-quite-classic like The Giant Behemoth -- and this movie borrows many elements from both films -- be warned that The Sea Serpent is nowhere near that level. The screenplay itself is by no means terrible, and there is at least an attempt at characterization, but the movie is almost defeated by the rather silly-looking monster. Not a "sock puppet" as many have described it, the creature has a full-size prop head large enough for certain actors to fit inside its mouth. (The scenes of the beast gobbling down supporting cast members eventually become comical.) The monster is quite large, with a very long, snake-like, slithering body that in one genuinely creepy scene winds itself around and around a lighthouse. The climax involving a bridge and a helicopter is somewhat exciting as well, if only the budget and the FX had been up to the challenge. The protagonists in the movie seem less interested in fully destroying the monster than they are in simply chasing it away so it can become somebody else's problem! Nice!

Bottoms and Power

One might suggest that the performances in the film are better than the movie deserves. Although most of the actors are dubbed, it appears as if the four leads were allowed to use their own voices. One has to say that this cheapie-creepy certainly has an interesting cast: Bottoms from The Last Picture Show; Martin from TV's Dallas; Milland, a Best Actor Oscar-winner for The Lost Weekend; and Tyrone Power's daughter, Taryn, from Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. I wonder if they knew what the monster with its decidedly limited movement would look like while they were filming? It's one of the least convincing monsters since the big bird of The Giant Claw. 

The Sea Serpent was Milland's last theatrical film. Power only made one more film out of ten. Bottoms' career survived this flop and he is still acting and producing today. Martin passed away in 2017 at age 75. 

Verdict: Not completely atrocious, but hardly one of the better efforts in the genre. **.