Tintorera
Encyclopedia
Tintorera is a 1977 Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

-British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 directed by René Cardona Jr
René Cardona Jr
René Cardona Jr. was a Mexican filmmaker and actor, son of well-known Mexican director René Cardona, and the father of Rene Cardona III .-Biography:...

 and starring Susan George
Susan George (actress)
Susan Melody George is an English film and television actress, and film producer.-Career:She trained at the Stage School, Corona Theatre School and has acted since the age of four, appearing on both television and film...

, Hugo Stiglitz
Hugo Stiglitz
Hugo Stiglitz is a Mexican actor. He was mostly famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Mexico after filming such film horror classics as Tintorera and La Noche de los mil gatos. He also filmed several movies in Hollywood and Italy...

, Fiona Lewis
Fiona Lewis
-Selected filmography:* Smoke Over London * Otley * Joanna * Where's Jack? * Villain * A Day at the Beach * Dr. Phibes Rises Again * Blue Blood * Lisztomania...

 and Andrés García
Andrés García
Andrés García is a Dominican-born Mexican actor. He is known throughout Latin America and among Hispanics in the United States....

. It is based on the novel of the same name by oceanographer Ramón Bravo that studied the species of shark known as "tintorera" (a 19 ft shark) and discovered the sleeping sharks
Somniosidae
Somniosidae is a family of sharks in the order Squaliformes, commonly known as sleeper sharks.-Genera:* Centroscymnus Barbosa du Bocage & Brito Capello, 1864...

. The film, along with many monster movies of the 1970s and 1980s is very similar to Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...

. It is also known by the alternative title
Alternative title
An alternative title is a film distribution device. Films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small alteration to the title, such as the addition of The, to wholesale changes...

 Tintorera: Killer Shark.

Plot

Steven (Hugo Stiglitz
Hugo Stiglitz
Hugo Stiglitz is a Mexican actor. He was mostly famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Mexico after filming such film horror classics as Tintorera and La Noche de los mil gatos. He also filmed several movies in Hollywood and Italy...

), an American-born Mexican businessman, arrives in a Mexican fishing/resort village for a vacation on a yacht anchored off shore. One of the local fishermen, Colorado (Roberto Guzmán), takes Steven with him when he goes to haul in the sharks he has caught. Colorado is annoyed to learn that another shark has taken a huge bite out of one of his captured sharks. Steven says he feels bad for the sharks, then shrugs, "that's life." He then decides to scope to local beaches for sexy women. He sets his sights on Patricia (Fiona Lewis
Fiona Lewis
-Selected filmography:* Smoke Over London * Otley * Joanna * Where's Jack? * Villain * A Day at the Beach * Dr. Phibes Rises Again * Blue Blood * Lisztomania...

), an Englishwoman on vacation. They have a whirlwind romance but break up when Steven can't decide if he is in love with her. Steven is extremely jealous, however, when she begins a relationship with Miguel (Andrés García
Andrés García
Andrés García is a Dominican-born Mexican actor. He is known throughout Latin America and among Hispanics in the United States....

) a womanizing swimming instructor at the nearby resort hotel. While Steven stews on the yacht, Patricia and Miguel have sex. Then she goes skinny dipping in the ocean for a morning swim and is eaten by a large, an apparently emphysemic
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...

 19 feet (5.8 m) tiger shark
Tiger shark
The tiger sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, is a species of requiem shark and the only member of the genus Galeocerdo. Commonly known as sea tigers, tiger sharks are relatively large macropredators, capable of attaining a length of over . It is found in many tropical and temperate waters, and is...

.

The next day, Steven confronts Miguel in the hotel bar. Miguel tells Steven that Patricia was in love with Steven but she must have returned to England. Neither Steve or Miguel ever learn about her true fate. Miguel introduces Steven to two sisters, Kelly and Cynthia Madison (Jennifer Ashley and Laura Lyons) who are American college students who have arrived on the island resort for some fun. They have a double date and, on the sisters' suggestions, jump off the yacht for some skinny- dipping. The shark's heavy, labored breathing can clearly be heard but they make it to the boat safely. Kelly and Cynthia hop back and forth between Miguel's and Steven's beds. They all swim back to shore the next morning and the submerged tiger shark again chooses not to bother them.

Miguel encourages Steven to live a carefree, womanizing life like he does. Steven agrees. They even start a shark hunting business, swimming out to sea and shooting whatever swims past them from local blue shark
Blue shark
The blue shark is a species of requiem shark, family Carcharhinidae, that inhabits deep waters in the world's temperate and tropical oceans. Preferring cooler waters, blue sharks migrate long distances, for example from New England to South America. Although generally lethargic, they can move very...

s to lemon shark
Lemon shark
The lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris, is a shark in the family Carcharhinidae, that can grow to long. It is known as the lemon shark because, at certain depths, light interacting with the local seawater can give this shark a tanned and yellow pitted appearance, much like the surface of a...

s. Miguel tells Steven that if a tiger shark ever appears, they must immediately get out of the water because tiger sharks or tintoreras are too dangerous to even attempt to hunt.

One night, Miguel and Steven meet Gabriella (Susan George
Susan George
Susan George may refer to:* Susan George * Susan George * Susan Elizabeth George, author...

) another young English tourist at the hotel bar. The three of them decide to have a triad: Gabriella will be sexually involved with both of them but they won't fall in love with her, or she with them. They tour the local Mayan
Mayan
The adjective Mayan is sometimes used to refer to the indigenous peoples of southeastern Mexico and parts of Central America, such as Guatemala; their culture, language, and history...

 archaeological sites together, then retire back to the yacht for sex. Miguel and Steven take Gabriella shark hunting with them. She is appalled by what they do, but admits her feelings for them have become powerful and as such apparently forgets her distaste. The next time the three go shark hunting, the seven-foot tiger shark appears and rips Miguel in half. Steven is bummed out, but Gabriella is so upset that she decides to leave Can-Cun and return to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Steven vows revenge on the shark. He enlists the local coast guard and fishermen in a campaign to kill the tiger shark and apparently every other shark in the sea. Colorado is disturbed that Steven viciously beats the sharks that he has caught with a club. "I hate the bastards," Steven tells him. Colorado assures him that so many sharks have been killed, the tiger shark must have been one of them. Meanwhile, unbeknown to Steven or Colorado, the tiger shark attacks another small fishing boat and eats two fishermen.

Steven goes to a nighttime beach party with Kelly, Cynthia and two other American women he met in a bar (Priscilla Barnes and Pamela Garner). After the party ends, Kelly and Cynthia suggest everyone skinny dip again. This time, however, the tiger shark attacks, ripping Cynthia from Steven's arms as he tries to make out with her in the water as well as injuring the other two women, but whom safely make it ashore. Steven contacts Mr. Madison (Carlos East) who comes to the village to collect Kelly. Steven vows to kill the shark himself. That evening, Steven lures the shark with a devilfish he has speared for the occasion, and when he hears the shark's rasping approach shoots it with a speargun which has an explosive capsule on the tip. However, the shark takes his arm off in the process, but is finally destroyed by explosive which detonates it in a large underwater blast of blood and guts.

Steven awakens in a hospital room, sans his right arm, thinking happy thoughts about his triad with Gabriella and Miguel.

Production

Priscilla Barnes, unknown at the time, appeared towards the end of the film as a party girl who is in a group that encounters the shark during night swimming.

The shark in the film was a Tiger Shark; although Tintorera is a common name in Spanish for Tiger Shark, in some countries (Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

) it is a common name for Blue Shark.
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