Skip to content

Orca

Orca is a 1977 film from Italy and the Netherlands, directed by Michael Anderson, running 88 minutes. reelscum files it under natural horror.

Poster for Orca
Compare 6 versions
Year
1977 · 1970s films
Country
Italy · Netherlands
Runtime
88 min
Director
Michael Anderson
Updated
29 Oct 2026
Obscurity
known (18/100)
Also known as
Orca: The Killer Whale · The Killer Whale · Orc

Defined in the glossary: Natural horror

The whale wants revenge and has a plan. Morricone score, oddly moving.

The killer whale wants revenge, and it has a plan. After a hunter kills its mate, an orca systematically dismantles his life and lures him to a final confrontation, and the film treats the animal as a tragic antagonist rather than a mindless monster. It is far more mournful than the Jaws imitators.

Dino De Laurentiis made it big and glossy, Ennio Morricone gave it a haunting score, and Richard Harris broods magnificently. The premise is absurd and the film commits to it with total sincerity, which is oddly moving.

Sillier and sadder than it has any right to be.

Something else

Trailer

The numbers

Nobody has rated this yet. Be the first to make a claim you'll have to defend.

Your call

Where to watch

Legal options in USA

Links open in a new tab (↗). Availability data via TMDB and changes constantly, so confirm on the service. Legal options only. Checked 8 Nov 2026. All options ↗

Discuss with AI

Open a chatbot with a question about this film already typed out. Useful for a second opinion, plot detail, or where to find a copy.

On these lists

  • Drive-in creature features

    After Jaws, every drive-in needed its own hungry animal. Some got a shark, some had to make do with a very large pig.

Filed alongside

Poster for Piranha

Piranha

1978 · USA · 94m
Obscurity: known. watchable legally

Sayles script, Dante direction, and jokes that land. The best Jaws rip.

Poster for Alligator

Alligator

1980 · USA · 87m
Obscurity: known. watchable legally

Sayles again. A flushed pet in the sewers, and it knows how silly that is.

Poster for It's Alive

It's Alive

1974 · USA · 91m
Obscurity: known. watchable legally

A mutant newborn kills the delivery room and goes on the run. Larry Cohen means the metaphor.

Poster for Phase IV

Phase IV

1974 · UK/USA · 84m
Obscurity: known. watchable legally

Saul Bass's only feature. Ants, geometry, and an ending nobody saw for 40 years.

Poster for The Birds

The Birds

1963 · USA · 119m
Obscurity: canon. watchable legally

Hitchcock refuses to explain anything. Nobody since has had the nerve.

Poster for Jaws

Jaws

1975 · USA · 124m
Obscurity: canon. watchable legally

The broken shark forced Spielberg to suggest instead of show. It made the film.

Poster for Razorback

Razorback

1984 · Australia · 94m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

A giant pig film shot like a perfume ad. Somehow works.

Poster for Grizzly

Grizzly

1976 · USA · 91m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Jaws with a bear, pitched exactly that way, and it worked.

Poster for Squirm

Squirm

1976 · USA · 92m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Electrified worms in Georgia. Rick Baker's early effects are the draw.

Poster for Q: The Winged Serpent

Q: The Winged Serpent

1982 · USA · 93m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

Larry Cohen, a dragon over Manhattan, and a great Michael Moriarty.

Poster for The Legend of Boggy Creek

The Legend of Boggy Creek

1972 · USA · 90m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legally

The Arkansas Bigfoot docudrama that invented an entire regional-monster format on a hundred grand.