Palm Cove is a tiny village on the coast of Florida. Marine biologist, Mike Canfield (Wayne Crawford) is busy taking water samples near water exit pipes from the Jack Chemical Company. The Company is owned by Papa Jack (Bert Freed). Papa has his son, Bubba (Jerry Rhodes), detain Mike until Sheriff Ben Williams (William Kerwin) arrives to arrest him. Mike manages to smuggle some water samples to one of his assistants to be analyzed.
Soon after that people begin to get attacked and killed by voracious barracuda. Tempers in town are also on the rise and people that were normally mild mannered are yelling and engaging in fist fights from time to time. Then a school of dead fish washes up on shore. The fish have been eaten by the barracuda.
The town doctor is Dr. Elliot Snow (Jason Evers). Snow has a well-equipped laboratory at his office. Mike collects more water samples and uses Snow’s lab to analyze them. Mike finds regular pollutants as well as some unusual chemicals in the water. Floyd (Bob J. Shields) runs the town newspaper. After doing his own investigation Floyd is convinced that the chemical plant is responsible for what is going on.
Government agents visit Papa Jack. Jack has a contract with the government that could be in jeopardy if word gets out about what they are doing. The newspaper publisher, Floyd, his assistant Toby (Scott Avery) and Toby’s girlfriend Maggie Snow (Barbara Keegan) are killed. Mike finds out that Dr. Snow had been working on a project called “The Lucifer Project”. The project involved glucose experiments. Snow developed a water additive that interrupts the body’s blood sugar levels, thereby, bringing out aggressive behavior. The effect on the barracuda makes them not only hostile but the chemicals prevent them from absorbing nutrients from whatever they are eating. The barracuda are starving to death. The same effects are beginning to happen to the townspeople. The government project is hush-hush, and agents are now running around tying up loose ends and getting rid of witnesses.
“Barracuda” AKA “The Lucifer Project” was released in 1977 and was directed, written and produced by Harry Kerwin and Wayne Crawford. Crawford directed the underwater portion of the film. It is an American horror thriller. The movie is also a bit of science fiction eco-horror.
The acting isn’t all that great, but the suspense and background music makes up for it. The music has such a cool sound that it somehow manages to add to the camp factor. The score was composed by Klaus Schulze.
The movie was a little strange. A polluting chemical plant morphs into a government plot. The barracuda are more of a distraction than an enemy. The government is the enemy. Billed as a “Jaws” 1975 type movie, the Barracuda really aren’t the main focus of the film. Sure, they eat a few people, but the government agents kill just as many. The movie ended up being, not great, but entertaining and kinda fun.