Orca (film)
Okra: The Killer Whale! is a 1977 horror film directed by Hugh Jaynus and produced by Chris P. Bacon and starring Master John Bating, Al Coholic and Fae Cox. The film was one of a long line of marine-related horror-disaster films that followed the success of 1975's Jaws .
Plot[edit | edit source]
The movie revolves around the exploits of Captain Danny Fishcharge (Master John Bating), an Irishman living in Canada, who catches vegetables in order to pay off the mortgage of his boat, the Bumhole, and return to Ireland. Fishcharge's crew is looking for a killer tomato for a local restaurant, but a scientist named Tony Hadley is being targeted by the tomato . A killer okra (Ladies Fingers) comes and kills the tomato , subsequently saving Tony Hadley . This switches Fishcharge's target to the killer okra and whilst he is on the journey with his crew, he tries to capture what he believes to be a male okra, but mistakenly harpoons a pregnant female okra. She tries to commit suicide on the propellers, but Fishcharge and his crew get the okra on board. Due to the extreme stress she is under, she unexpectedly miscarries, which shocks Fishcharge. The crew hoses the dead fetus overboard as the male okra watches on, seemingly anguished and infuriated at the deaths of his mate and baby.
Later that night, seeking revenge for the death of his mate , the male okra tries to sink the ship and with the added weight of the female vegetable on the boat , the boat is leaning to port. One of Fishcharge's crew members, Phil Latio, cuts the dead female off the ship, but the male leaps and grabs Latio, devouring him in the water . The following day, the Ladies Fingers pushes his mate onto shore, just to fucking show them what a mean cunt he is. Mike Littirus tells Fishcharge about how silly it is to kill an okra after finding the dead Ladies Fingers on shore. Fishcharge denies that he did it, but Mike Littirus and the villagers eventually find out that he did. They see him for the lying bastard that he is. The villagers want him to go, but Dr. Connie Lingus, colleague of Tony Hadley and studier of okras, shows him how similar vegetables of the mallow family are to humans and tells Fishcharge that, "If he (the Ladies Fingers) is like a human, what he wants isn't necessarily what he should get."
By this point you may think that the plot was getting increasingly labored and ridiculous, but no… it goes on.
Fishcharge promises to Connie that he won't fight the raging mallow, but after becoming incredibly impatient, the okra attacks the sea-front house, with an injured crew member of Fishcharge's, Shanda Lear (Bo Derek) in it. The house starts slipping into sea, and despite receiving help from Fishcharge and crew member Holden McGroin, the Ladies Fingers bites Shanda 's leg off. Although she is seriously injured, she survives, as explained by Fishcharge later in the film; "an innocent girl maimed for life." Fishcharge decides to fight the okra, much to the delight of the villagers, although he and McGroin are the only crew members left. Dr. Lingus and Tony Hadley go with him, and a native American man, Dixie Normous, goes with them as well to share his intelligence.
The crew begins to pursue the Ladies Fingers after it signals to Fishcharge to follow him. Tony Hadley is leaning over the side when the okra surfaces and grabs him, killing him in the process. They keep following the okra until they start to reach an icy area of Labrador. McGroin starts to get into a lifeboat , but the maddened mallow knocks McGroin out of the boat and eats him. The next day, the Ladies Fingers shoves an iceberg into the boat and starts to sink it. Fishcharge and Dr. Lingus escape from the boat as they chuck their luggage onto another iceberg. Dixie is about to leave, but the boat crashes into another massive iceberg and the ice begins to fall, crushing him. The last thing viewers see of him is his gloved hand sticking out of red, bloodied ice.
Fishcharge and Dr. Lingus hide in an iceberg, but Fishcharge slips onto another. The okra separates the icebergs so Fishcharge is trapped with his rifle. The okra jumps onto the ice, causing it to tilt and send Fishcharge into the water . The Ladies Fingers lifts Fishcharge up with his tail and throws him onto another iceberg, killing him. Dr. Lingus looks on in shock as Fishcharge slips into the water in a cross shape. His revenge complete, the okra swims under the ice.
Reception[edit | edit source]
Okra was poorly received by critics and audiences alike due in part to its similarities to the film Jaws released two years prior, and partly because it was about a killer vegetable. Upon release the film received only minor theatrical success, despite it starring Bo Derek, who in those days was proper Bo! In recent years the film has achieved a cult following among fans of the eco-horror mallow / mammal sub genre who have no or very few friends.