Once the only things to worry about at the beach were flip-top tabs, sand between the toes or tripping over Frankie Avalon and Annette. But the Los Angeles strand that's the setting for this scare flick is also home to a creature that resembles a giant canister vacuum cleaner with a devouring attachment. It prowls under the sand, pulling victims down to a gritty fate. While it evinces the usual movie-monster taste for nubile bikini-clad starlets, it also gobbles up a fair cross section of the community. This is standard low-budget horror, bolstered by dry, what-the-hell performances from John Saxon and Burt Young as cops. What sticks in the craw are tossed-off smidgens of sex, foolish gore and a faded image, as if the film had been purposely overexposed. The plot is figuratively and littorally a fright. (R)
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