Directed by Stephen Traxler, written by Stephen Traxler, starring Alan Blanchard, Judy Motulsky, J.C. Claire, Dennis Falt, Mello Alexandria and Win Condict.

Over in Venice Beach, California, a marine monster starts killing dogs, before going after people, but the local cops doubt that it actually exists.  A journalism professor (Blanchard) starts looking into the murders, helped by Dr. John (Claire), and he discovers that the weird critter may actually be linked to nuclear waste…

Also known simply as SLITHIS, this flick was shot in 12 days on a budget of 100,000 dollars. There was a “Slithis Survival Kit” offered at drive ins!

The thing is, this man-in-suit creature feature could have been a 70s schlocky classic if more time had been spent on the monster attacks instead of focusing so much running time on the protagonist’s drawn-out amateur detective work. Oh well.
There’s also one of the all-time worst pieces of ham acting courtesy of the actor playing a police lieutenant!

But, you know what? I do kinda like the shambling Slithis monster (played by Win Condict) when it is actually on-screen. The funky fella is a kind of bulky gill-man with suckers in its mouth and a dorsal fin on its humped back.

Director Traxler went on to handle production supervisor duties on movies including WATERWORLD, INVASION USA, GLEAMING THE CUBE and DRACULA’S WIDOW.

Finally, here’s a colourful Blu-ray cover…