Octopus 2: River of Fear

At least you get to see the star monster a little more often in this sequel than the first time out. Still not enough creature screen time though. The film instead spends a lot of time with the "nobody believes the hero when he says there's a monster" bit.

A big city gets it again: the creature visits New York to watch the July 4 fireworks extravaganza. He takes up residence in the river, and occasionally attacks. Acting isn't really bad; for example, the children on the bus really do seem frightened. The leads make the most of the script they're given. Some of the attacks are played silly and with indifference; it's not clear if you're supposed to care about characters or not. The set-up for the final attack takes way too long (with some dumb stuff hammered in), and then you see more of a fireworks display rather than monster action.

Routine creature feature; good enough if you have nothing else to do.