Going by the year of its release, the title, the director and the gloriously over-the-top promotional art, one might reasonably expect ¡Tintorera! to be little more than a mindless, exploitative rip-off of Jaws, but while certain elements of the film have undoubtedly been inspired by Spielberg's '75 summer blockbuster, the film is surprisingly free of massive man-eating fish action for much of the time, focusing instead on the liberated sex lives of two men living life to the full in the Caribbean.
Hugo Stiglitz plays businessman Steven, who is recovering from a nervous breakdown; Andrés García is gigolo Miguel, who trades sex for cash. Initially love rivals, both vying for the interest of the same woman, the men eventually become pals and, after sampling the delights of two care-free American girls (whose morals are so loose that they actively encourage a pair of rapists), they enter into a love triangle with sexy blonde Gabriella (Susan George). All is going swimmingly until Miguel is eaten while hunting sharks; after that, Gabriella ups and leaves (one man clearly not being enough for her) and Hugo dedicates himself to killing the fish that ate his friend.
Steven and Miguel's constant womanising mean that the film is loaded with enough gratuitous nudity and sexy shenanigans to keep the viewer entertained until the chomping of not-so-innocent swimmers begins in earnest. And for those who like their films extra exploitative, and who aren't of a highly sensitive disposition, the film also features lots of real animal killing (purportedly stock footage, but I'm not so sure) which, although not quite as disturbing as that in Cannibal Holocaust, is still quite callous, with a cute manta ray bleeding from its gills being particularly unsettling.
As far as the attacks on humans by the tiger shark are concerned, the first is fairly tame (a weak copy of the opening scene from Jaws), and a later feeding frenzy on a group of skinny dippers leaves the water bright red with blood, but it is Miguel's death that packs in the gnarliest gore, the poor guy having his legs torn off and his head left rolling around on the ocean floor. Tintorera was either extremely annoyed at the number of sharks that Miguel had killed or seriously disapproved of his philandering ways.
Hugo Stiglitz plays businessman Steven, who is recovering from a nervous breakdown; Andrés García is gigolo Miguel, who trades sex for cash. Initially love rivals, both vying for the interest of the same woman, the men eventually become pals and, after sampling the delights of two care-free American girls (whose morals are so loose that they actively encourage a pair of rapists), they enter into a love triangle with sexy blonde Gabriella (Susan George). All is going swimmingly until Miguel is eaten while hunting sharks; after that, Gabriella ups and leaves (one man clearly not being enough for her) and Hugo dedicates himself to killing the fish that ate his friend.
Steven and Miguel's constant womanising mean that the film is loaded with enough gratuitous nudity and sexy shenanigans to keep the viewer entertained until the chomping of not-so-innocent swimmers begins in earnest. And for those who like their films extra exploitative, and who aren't of a highly sensitive disposition, the film also features lots of real animal killing (purportedly stock footage, but I'm not so sure) which, although not quite as disturbing as that in Cannibal Holocaust, is still quite callous, with a cute manta ray bleeding from its gills being particularly unsettling.
As far as the attacks on humans by the tiger shark are concerned, the first is fairly tame (a weak copy of the opening scene from Jaws), and a later feeding frenzy on a group of skinny dippers leaves the water bright red with blood, but it is Miguel's death that packs in the gnarliest gore, the poor guy having his legs torn off and his head left rolling around on the ocean floor. Tintorera was either extremely annoyed at the number of sharks that Miguel had killed or seriously disapproved of his philandering ways.