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An abandoned lighthouse is the setting for a gruesome murder - which
later turns out to be not a murder at all by the way - of the inventor of
a death ray of some sorts. The list of suspects consists of all those
present: Paul Morgan (John Eldredge), the painter who has just bought the
lighthouse, Vesta Vernoff (Marcia Ralston), daughter of the victim,
Captain Hook (George Rosener), the creepy hook-handed caretaker of the
lighthouse, Captain Cobb (Brandon Tynan), who is not creepy but also
somehow involved with the lighthouse, Polly Crane (Margaret Irving), a
survivor from a shipwreck, and last but not least Vesta's nanny (Elspeth
Dudgeon). All of these people seem to have their own respective agendas.
But it comes worse: Whoever is the killer is also the Octopus, and the
Octopus is a super criminal who seems to have his (her?) headquarters in
or beneath the lighthouse and who has a giant octopus guarding the
lighthouse. And if all that wasn't bad enough, two bumbling detectives,
Kelly (Hugh Herbert) and Dempsey (Allen Jenkins) take charge of the
situation - and make everything much worse in the process. That is until
almost all the suspects drop their pretenses - and turn out to be American
agents working for different gouvernment agencies. And then the least
suspect of the whole bunch, nanny, turns out to be the Octopus - but in
the finale she falls prey to her own giant octopus, leaving all the others
behind locked inside the lighthouse. And searching for a way out, Kelly
and Dempsey accidently blow up the lighthouse ... But it was all just a
dream anyways, the last scene sees Kelly waking up in hospital, where he
passed out waiting for the birth of his child ... So-so murder
mystery/comedy that certainly has its chilling moments - like the corpse
dangling from the ceiling of the lighthouse head first (even if it's
eventually revealed to be no corpse at all) - and that benefits from great
sets and a directorial effort with a nack for atmosphere. Problem is
though, the comic aspects of the film are rahter underdeveloped: Hugh
Herbert and Allen Jenkins as the comedic duo have next to no chemistry
between them, the jokes are rather flat, and Herbert's constant
"woo-hoo!"-ing gets on one's nerves before too long, especially
when he does it without rhyme or reason. Still, not the worst thing you
have ever seen - just not really good, either.
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find Sh! The Octopus at adultvideouniverse.com
