Tentacles Review (Film, 2021)

content warning: sexual content, nudity, sexual assault, gore, violence against women

Tara is homeless, living out of her car and sneaking into open houses for a bed to sleep in. She meets Sam, a photographer, and convinces him to let her renovate his childhood home. They fall in love in short order. Soon enough, Tara’s reason for leaving her old home is revealed and Sam helps her anyway he can.

Tentacles is a horror film about sexual attraction and relationships. People are drawn to each other for various reasons. That spark is not always easily explained.

This is the central conceit of Tentacles. Relationships can move fast and seem normal to the people in them. No amount of concern from the people you’ve known for longer can talk sense into you when love takes over. This film treats those instincts as something to be afraid of.

While there are some good scares, there isn’t a lot of story to back them up. Tara and Sam are hiding secrets from each other. The tension comes from the unhealthy aspects of their relationship. The true cause of the problems isn’t explored for most of the film, and the bits of plot focused on aren’t as interesting.

There’s a level of distance built into the story that makes it difficult to understand what Tara and Sam think of each other. They have a physical attraction to each other and sexual chemistry, given the many sex scenes that play out throughout the film. The characters are so afraid of revealing their secrets that they never really discuss anything important.

It’s not until the end of the second act that the true horror of the story comes into focus. I imagine, on paper, that more of the build up to this is clear. All the action and scares that take over seem unjustified.

The type of horror—the slow rise of body horror elements, the aggressive scoring mixed with sound effects for things we never see happen with our own eyes—are already established. It’s the out of nowhere new story beats that are confusing. Characters and motivations change without warning.

This is a story where the fear is a metaphor for a toxic relationship. It’s not a bad concept for a horror story. I’m not sure it really works as a film.

Tentacles goes after some interesting ideas. The final action sequence is very well done and works onscreen. It’s the rest that falls a little short of being a particularly compelling story on film.

Tentacles is streaming on Hulu.