Humanoides del abismo

A great Roger Corman production again involving monsters, this time killer salmon creatures memorphed into humanhoid beings that kill men and rape women of a small Oregon fishing town. The movie opens with a fishing boat taking a group of fishermen out to bring up their nets only to have something large and unseen claw away at it which leads to one little boy falling overboard and getting eaten and the boat exploding killing all aboard. The tension, suspense, exitcement starts almost from the first scene and never lets up for a minute. For the next scene has a nighttime setting which has one humanoid lurking around a local house with the lady inside wondering where strange noises are coming from, and her going out to investigate. With the rash of attacks, and dissapearances, bring in a scientist who slowly explains the reason for the creatures existence while more and more humanoids are attacking campers, beachgoers and others in various gory ways. One may find it cheesy and absurd, but that's the whole point as a great cheesy thriller that had a tight script and a great climatic humanoid attack against the fishing pier. I'd give it a 10 out of 10 rating.

With some imagination, the best way to describe "Humanoids from the Deep" is calling it a nasty and perverted update of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon"-premise. That classic Jack Arnold featured oppressed sexual undertones while HftD is a downright outrageous and rancid flick. Not bad to see a woman directs a more or less anti-women movie…even though Corman hired someone else to shoot extra sleaze-footage. In many ways, it also feels like you're watching an Italian horror product! The style and atmosphere of this film are so silly, the violence is so explicit and the plot rips off several other genre classics. Don't be fooled, however, because this is an authentic Roger Corman production and definitely one of the most entertaining ones he ever was involved in. The plot handles about ecologically mutated fish that attack a little fish-town during the annual salmon-festival. The creatures, which evolve amazingly fast, kill the men and rape the women.

"Humanoids from the Deep" is an unbelievably entertaining gorefest! The monster-suits are some of the most efficient ever and they look truly despicable. The gratuitous nudity is – of course – a very redundant element but Corman surely knows that it sells. As mentioned before, this film rips off quite a few genre hits and cleverly uses eerie ideas (and music) from "Jaws" and "Alien". The make-up effects are simply disgusting … and that's a positive comment. Especially the grotesque finale, set during the yearly festival, contains some sickness every self-respecting horror fan should see. Even though the film could have used a little more humor to put it the wholesome into perspective a little, this surely is fundamental viewing for all fans of trash film-making. For some incomprehensible reason, Corman also put his money in made-for-TV remake during the 90's. That film might be fairly gore as well, but it entirely lacks the campy, light-headed fun of this original. Make sure you watch the right version!

Going in I expected 80's cheesy schlock, what I got was an unexpectedly satisfying effort, though still undeniably cheesy.

It tells the story of a small fishing town that comes under attack from *Drumroll* humanoids from the deep, essentially the creature from the black lagoon looking fellows just darker and bloodier.

Full of gratuitous nudity, cheesy monster costumes and the tropes of the time I have to say they did an incredible job all things considered. Around this time the industry was saturated with b-movies like this and yet it manages to stand out from the rest due to a lot of competence behind the camera.

The practical effects are fantastic considering this is barely out of the 1970's, it's paced perfectly and the racial tension side story actually adds a lot to it. The needless animal deaths however I did not appreciate, that was overkill.

The cast are a host of vaguely familiar faces that you'll likely struggle to put a name to, they're a mixed bag ranging from great down to "Oh for the love of baby jeebus how did this person get the role?!!?!".

If you like your cheesy creature features this one is certainly recommended.

The Good:

Very impressive visuals

Well made little movie

The Bad:

Too much animal violence

Some questionable acting

Oh man, was this one fun to watch. One of the reasons some bad films are viewable is because you can sense how much fun everyone had making this film. This is such a case. It is real bad. The actors play it straight and that only adds to the fun with all the ridiculous goings-on. And you can't beat this logic: these oversized man/salmon creatures are coming up on land reeking havoc. So how does Doug McClure intend to catch these things? He heads to his boat and out to sea armed only with a fishing pole. I was sold. If you watch to laugh rather than be scared, you'll have fun with this one.

I first saw this film way, way back in the early 80's as a teenager around 13 or 14. The film had some memorable scenes etched in my mind and, I thought the film was an intense, well-crafted thriller. After reviewing it again, I realized the only scene which really stuck with me was the bizarre tent scene and that makes perfect sense considering my age then. What I DID forget is just how awfully bad a film this one is. I mean it is a stinker! Where to begin...the story is about mutated salmon that are eaten by prehistoric-like fish that quickly evolve into man-sized creature from the black lagoon/alien ripoffs. These monsters are plentiful and have only one goal: to capture as many girls in a bikini and have sex on the beach to procreate in order to create more mutant fish people. Fish people having babies with real people despite any biological problems that might arise(no pun intended). Hmm. Next, add Doug McClure, Vic Morrow, and Ann Turkel into the mix. None of them great actors...not bad either when they have some decent direction. Not evident here. Morrow overacts, McClure is over his head when he is the lead, and Turkel is less than mediocre. One scene really showcases her "talent." The scene where she is in the lab telling us how much she has fought to bring the news of the superfish out is one of the finest pieces of bad acting I have seen in a long time. It is almost an inspiration for everyone else in the film to do likewise. Director Barbara Peters really seems to set out to be solely exploitative and there is nothing wrong with that if you can do it well or with a point. I mean her producer Roger Corman did it all the time. Here plot, acting, and all those other qualities that make a movie good are secondary(or tertiary) to gore, violence and nudity. Peters does do some things fairly well. The pacing of the first three-fourths of the film is rapid and there are some well-shot scenes of menace. I particularly liked the scene in the water with the naked(of course!) girl and boyfriend playing splash...soon to be victims of the fishman's enormous libido. The last scene...roughly 20 minutes or more is just simply too ridiculous as creature after creature pop out of the boards on a boardwalk and start gutting everyone. OK. I think I would prefer keeping my adolescent opinion of the film intact; the entire film centered around a beautiful, full-figured woman, her man, and a dummy.