Le continent des hommes-poissons

I finally got a chance to settle in and compare the two versions of this film currently going around -- First, the good old scummy, sleazy Embassy VHS print called SCREAMERS, and then a new fully restored Italian DVD by everyone's new favorite media company, No Shame of Italy.

The American adverts about "men turned inside out" is as everyone says, totally misleading, and indicative of a Roger Cormanized take on what otherwise would be a superior fantasy-adventure thriller for grown ups. The complete Italian version is a somewhat sprawling, well designed and deliberately paced take on "Island of Dr. Moreau", and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a sumptuous, handsome Euro Horror outing with a brain, good plotting, character development, location shooting, period costuming and sets, etc.

But I must admit that the 14 year old knucklehead weed puffer still lurking somewhere inside of me got a bigger kick out of the more lurid, sleazy and unkempt Roger Corman version, which has some nice over the top gore, a flashy but preposterous opening segment, and then the bulk of Martino's original film, albeit somewhat abridged to make room for Roger's idea of entertainment. The pacing was somewhat quicker, the shock sequences closer together, and you see just as much of Ms. Bach's fantastic form as you do in the extended Italian version.

I still don't have much of an idea about what the specific story concerns though: there are a number of plot twists and incidental characters that were somewhat hard to keep track of. A local voodoo subplot didn't help much, and it's funny how everything culminates in just another fistfight between the noble castaway prisoner and the mad scientist ... Perhaps a few more viewings are in order. I will say this: Fans of the movie should avail themselves of one of these PAL imports and take a look at what is actually a movie rather than just another murky old home video -- the widescreen shot compositions once again reveal that Martino had an eye for filling his screen with interesting stuff. Nobody gets their heads ripped off like in the SCREAMERS print, but it's still interesting stuff, and once again proof that while his standards may have been pretty much confined to the area around the gutter, Roger Corman new good trashy fun when he had it made for him, and side by side these are actually better movies than they had to be.

7/10

Colourful if nonsensical tale set upon an uncharted island where Richard Johnson turns in a decent performance as a mad baddie searching for the lost gold of Atlantis and Barbara Bach doesn't do very much at all. The whole thing looks like much of it was made up as they went along with little bits of excitement every now and again to keep it going. There are some decent bits, I particularly like the home made diving bell contraption that lowers them down to peek at Atlantis and I have a soft spot for the fishmen themselves. Clearly copied from the 'Creature From The Black Lagoon', they are nevertheless pretty distinctive with their big fish eyes and facial colouring and especially effective when seen six or so at a time.

Survivors of an ill-fated French vessel (Claudio Cassinelli, et al.) end up on a nameless Caribbean isle run by a self-appointed despot (Richard Johnson) who supports the dubious experiments of a sickly professor (Joseph Cotton). Barbara Bach is on hand as the latter's daughter.

"Screamers" (1981) is the recut American version of the Italian "Island of the Fishmen" (1979), which adds an unnecessary and irrelevant 12-minute prologue to beef up the horror, as well other negligible changes. People usually say "Screamers" is the superior version, but I've never seen the original to compare the two.

In any case, this is an adventure/horror that mixes "Mysterious Island" (1961) and "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1977) with the amphibian monsters of "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954) & "Humanoids from the Deep" (1980) yet with the Italian style (and cast) of "The Great Alligator" (1979). Whilst this is the least of these, it's not far off. If you're in the mood for deserted island adventure mixed with horror you can't go wrong.

Regrettably, except for Bach's face and the blonde in the prologue, there's little feminine appeal. The creators needed to study the wise usage of Beth Rogan in "Mysterious Island" (1961) and Dana Gillespie in "The People that Time Forgot" (1977).

The film runs about 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in Sardinia & Nuoro, Italy, with interiors done in Rome. The fog-laden night prologue was shot in Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park, Los Angeles; the volcanic shots were done in Maui, Hawaii.

GRADE: C+

Although the video box for many copies of this film claims it is about people turned inside out, this is a total lie. In fact, apart from the opening segment, the film isn't even a horror movie. With its sunken treasure, legions of fish people, and mad scientists, it's a lot more like a Doug McClure adventure movie. Obviously, this film is no work of art, but it's kind of fun to watch... Just be warned that the beginning is quite gory.

Menacingly marooned upon this desolated isle of multitudinous madness, malevolently manhandled by increasingly malign mermen, and tormented by a tyrannical toffee nosed toff (Richard Johnson), these ragged, starveling, long-suffering sailors fatefully discover that its gill or be killed in genre maestro, Sergio Martino's small scale, sinisterly subaquatic shocker 'Island of The Fishmen'. Luridly Lovecraftian, and teasingly exotic, this unfathomably fabulous, successfully genre-bending 70s creature feature is certain to get its hooks deep into you long before the final reel!

Handsomely shot, with an engagingly boy's own text, beloved Euro-cult icons, Richard Johnson, Claudio Cassinelli, and the exquisitely beautiful Barbara Bach provide the weighty dramatic ballast that keeps this far from waterlogged, frequently fin-tastic Italian fright-flick afloat! No mere B-Movie minnow, this leviathan of diabolical dentistry proves to be kinkier than Jules Verne, delves deeper into twisted animalistic terror than H. G. Wells, and delivers more shocks than a startled stingray! Long neglected, Sergio Martino's far-flung fright-fest now sparkles on remastered HD, revealing a dazzlingly toothsome treasure chest of tantalizing terror for future horror fans to discover! Not only is Martino's rip roaring, high seas adventure enormously fun to watch, the sinfully scrumptious, brine-soaked Barbara Bach is quite ravishing to behold, and the beguilingly boggle-eyed mermen make for uncommonly striking protagonists.