¡Tintorera! (1977)

Director:

René Cardona Jr.

Writers:

Ramón Bravo (novel)
René Cardona Jr. (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 September 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

There's a monstrous killer churning up the sea... Tintorera ...Tiger Shark

Plot:

Two shark hunters flirt with an attractive British lady while hunting down a large tiger shark terrorizing the Mexican East coast. |

Plot Keywords:

Voyeur | Actual Animal Killed | Underwear | Shark Attack | Male Frontal Nudity

Cast

Susan George	...	Gabriella
Hugo Stiglitz	...	Esteban (Steven)
Andrés García	...	Miguel
Fiona Lewis	...	Patricia
Eleazar García	...	Colonado (Redhead) (as Eleazar Garcia 'Chelelo')
Roberto Guzmán	...	Crique (as Roberto 'Flaco' Guzman)
Jennifer Ashley	...	Kelly Madison
Laura Lyons	...	Cynthia Madison
Carlos East	...	Mr. Madison (as Charles East)
Priscilla Barnes	...	Girl From Bar #1
Pamela Garner	...	Girl From Bar #2
Erika Carlsson	...	Anita
Manuel Alvarado
Alejandro Ciangherotti		(as Alexander Chianguerotti)

Also Known As:

Tintorera - The Silent Death
Tintorera... Bloody Waters
Tintorera... Tiger Shark

Runtime:

126 min | UK:89 min | USA:85 min

Country:

UK | Mexico

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Argentina:X (original rating) | Argentina:16 (re-rating) | Finland:K-16 | Mexico:D | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Company:

Conacite Uno

Movie Connections:

References Jaws (1975)

Soundtrack:

It's Too Late Now

Laughable, a must for trash fans

Rene Cardona Jr's TINTORERA (1977) is one ridiculous JAWS ripoff made by this Mexican film maker who is also known (among many other films) as the director of jungle exploitation film TREASURE OF THE AMAZON (1985), a much better film.

TINTORERA stars Susan George and the film involves a bunch of people having a vacation on some paradise island in which there seems to be nothing but happiness and beautiness and not a trace of the outside world. Soon, however, after some 30 minutes of the film, finally the nasty shark starts to eat and kill people and also return the vacationers back on earth from their dream world. What really amazes me in this film is how long it takes for the shark to finally arrive because as far as I know, this was supposed to be another "shark film" that would appeal to the same audience than Spielberg's JAWS (1975) did.

The film has absolutely incredibly slow pace and it will be too much for most to watch without falling asleep. There is plenty of scenes depicting sharks being killed by people or each other and also the "sharks attacking human being" scenes are pretty dull and thus funny. There's plenty of naked skin and bodies and also some blood so the exploitation elements are there as they were in TREASURE, too. And exploitation TINTORERA is almost as much as it is trash. Very much, that is!

Still the Mexican locations and beaches are truly wonderful and very beautiful and by watching them it is much easier to sit the film through. Rarely has nature's beauty been captured this stunningly on trash film like this, so the film isn't completely without its merits. Otherwise I'd recommend this for fans of ultra low budget grade Z cinema only and of course for fans of the Cardonas. 3/10