I was very bummed to learn that Humanoids from the Deep was originally offered to Joe Dante, who turned it down. On top of that i didn't give CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON a real glowing review, so hopefully this will be the first aquatic monster movie that works well for me.
Humanoids from the Deep is a 1980 American science fiction horror film starring Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, and Vic Morrow. Roger Corman served as the film's uncredited executive producer, and his company, New World Pictures, distributed it. Humanoids from the Deep was directed by Barbara Peeters and an uncredited Jimmy T. Murakami. Tensions run high in the seaside community of Noyo when a controversial new cannery promises to revitalize the traditional fishing economy with new jobs, new industry, and a scientifically augmented salmon population. As antagonism intensifies, a series of attacks by mysterious sea monsters threatens all the people in the town.
Funny enough, this movie opens with a quite a Joe Dante vibe in the small community of Noyo, with some surprisingly good looking shots of the town and its marina. Its always a god sign of quality when a movie opens with the wrong title card, and this movie is the exact 80s nostalgia kind of junk food garbage i was hoping it would be. Big hair, colorful accents and outfits, more beer than most breweries, and of course the total disrespect and down talking to every female character. lets the big boys handle this one Ladies, you stay home and... uh... get naked for the camera i guess. its always mind boggling to me that less than 40 years ago we were still treating women and minority's so horribly without any real consequences for our actions. No wonder we have so many of those "Traditional values" type moldy ass old fuckers.
And speaking of moldy old fuckers, this movie is about the same level of disinteresting. i admit i enjoyed the opening, but this movie is simply to boring to hold my attention. i don't give a fuck about these characters, there is no suspense, and when we do finally get some humanoids from the deep they turn out to be rapists. why the fuck is the Gillman a rapist. Executive producer Corman said Director Barbra Peeters' version of the film lacked the required exploitative elements needed to satisfy its intended audience. In an interview included on the 2010 Blu-ray release by Shout! Factory, Corman stated Peeters and he had discussed his expectations of the film regarding B-movie exploitation – this being to fulfill Corman's maxim that monsters "kill all the men and rape all the women". Barb has totally removed herself from this movie much like Arnold's debut HERCULES IN NEW YORK, and i cant really say i blame her.
Second unit director James Sbardellati, who later directed Deathstalker, was hired to film explicit scenes in which the humanoids rape women. These changes were not communicated to most of the people who had made the film with the working title Beneath the Darkness; several of them expressed shock and anger at the released film, its changed title, and the nudity and sexual exploitation. After Peeters and Turkel saw the additional sequences, they asked for their names to be removed from the film, but were refused. Turkel appeared on television talk shows and castigated Corman for his actions.
At the end of the day this is a bad movie made by shitty means, and i cant say it was worth the effort.
no/10
Comments