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Roger Corman produces yet another classic piece of trash, having it helmed by Barbara Peeters (unsurprisingly her last movie ever directed). This time the black lagoon throwback delivers a story of sex-crazed mutant amphibians hell-bent on raping all the broads, whilst dispatching of any potential competition. Flailing long arms with razor-sharp talons disembowel and cause unwaning blood splattering, while girls show off their youthful graces while screaming in horror. To stop the onslaught a mild mannered elderly fisherman (or Fisherman to punctuate his hero status?) Jim Hill (Doug McClure) leads the stand-off with Indian Johnny Eagle (Anthony Pena) his brave Tonto. All in order to counterattack the science-initiated epidemic of killer trout-men with big bulging brains.

Unabashedly exploitational "Humanoids from the Deep" with a strong sexual innuendo (and several rape sequences) coupled with absolute adoration to gorrific entertainment, Corman produces another guilty pleasure - a movie so morally inept, script-horrific, but entirely enticing and engaging. Epitomising dumb fun, it is inexplicably entertaining offering a hearty laugh at the in-built stupidity, while also keeping the blood pumping through some well-defined tension. Albeit idiotic in base premise and execution the whole movie is done tongue and cheek, winking at the audience. A stand-out scene occurs during an absolutely hilarious attack on a ventriloquist and his girl, where the puppet rolls his eyes to get a glimpse at all the bloody action.

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

The fact alone that a woman directed this film makes it a curioso piece. It's indefensible trash that certainly works on a campy, visceral level. It also has the makings of some actual characters. Seriously, in the midst of the gratuitous nudity and bloodshed, I found the movie to be... No wait a minute. Let's get back to the gratuitous nudity and bloodshed. I watched this movie expecting to see these two, and it delivered. I knew going in that this was going to be B-movie material, and that's what I got. I was entertained. You can sit back and analyze this movie all ya' want. I'm just gonna enjoy it for what it is. And what an ending!

In 1980 Roger Corman produced this surprisingly good B-movie. Genetically altered fish have gotten loose and into the ocean near a small coastal fishing village. These fish have now turned into monsters and are busy attacking the fishermen (to protect their territory) and raping the women (to advance their own species). Filled with lots of gore, violence, nudity and sex this is definetly a good example of the kind of over the top sex/horror movie that could still get an R rating back in 1980. If you love sleazy sex/horror films, with plenty of intentional laughs, pick this one up.

Fishing, naked chicks, gore, Doug McClure, boats, hideous creatures riding carousels. Everything a red-blooded American needs to be entertained.

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!

Sea creatures with incredibly good taste in women attack and ruin a perfectly good salmon festival. This well done monster movie follows the usual formula, strange animal killings, followed by several jump out of your seat false alarms, and finally the men in rubber suits attack. Amazingly, the humanoids are somewhat convincing. Unfortunately the hero, Doug McClure, is far less impressive. His performance can only be described as borderline boring. Vic Morrow makes a fine villain, and the nubile beauties who become fish fodder are quite attractive. It should be noted that no fat or ugly "chicks" were harmed during filming of "Humanoids From the Deep" - MERK

A serious and farcical movie at the same time that writing about it is hard and hard cause it doesn't even averagely shine in neither fields. You can look at it as just an "instructional" pass time. Even the one hour twenty minutes of runtime is not done well.

It's like a serious science fictional idea has been mashed with potatoes, rendering it tasteless. They should have shown the creatures and humanoids taking over at least half of that fishing town, giving more dedication time to the aftermath and "offsprings". They would have better done that in a sequel that never saw the light.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 3
• Development: 6.5
• Realism: 3
• Entertainment: 5.5
• Acting: 4.5
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 6
• VFX: 6.5
• Music/score/sound: 5
• Depth: 4
• Logic: 2
• Flow: 6
• Horror/sci-fi: 4.5
• Ending: 5.

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.

Humanoids From the Deep isn't a spectacular monster movie, nor is it a well-shot or well edited. However, the first few seconds of the theme and underwater images mesmerized me. I was well aware this is a B-movie that you can only enjoy if you take it for what it is - pure, unfiltered shlock. The best parts of this movie are the monster SFX and the gratuitous nudity. There's also a bunch of monster rape scenes, which are hilariously comical. I don't think this movie is garbage or utterly bad. Somewhere in there is a decent B-movie with a good story that got lost in a low budget and lazy directing. I haven't watched the 1996 TV remake, but it probably doesn't beat the shlock and fun of the original. Good fun.

Hailing from the latter cusp of the Corman hey-day, this turns out to be one of the funner monster movies to come out of his studio.

Women begin disappearing in a small fishing community. The local sheriff is stuck on the case until a representative from a shady company (think 'Umbrella Corp') arrives and it is revealed that the company had conducted tests on combining human and amphibious DNA trying to create some kind of super soldier for the government. The creatures have, of course, gotten loose and are trying to procreate with the kid-napped girls. The fish-men must be stopped!

All the things that made Corman productions from the 70's and 80's great are intact. Pointless nudity, ample blood and gore, slimy monsters, and a healthy streak of dark humor. Also in place are both a socio-political message (in the form of a racism sub-plot) and an anti government/military theme.

Unfortunately, all the major down sides are maintained as well. The effects are cheesy, nuff said about that. Some of the actors are alright, but most of them really need some lessons and the direction, while solid, does nothing unique or inspired.

A good horror flick as far as sexploitation flicks go, and not too bad as a monster movie either.

7/10

Imagine my excitement: having searched for this notorious exploitation item for years, I finally track it down whilst on vacation in San Francisco. I spend the rest of the vacation itching to get home to watch it. Then, when I finally get home I discover myself lumbered with possibly the worst, and easily the sickest of all the many JAWS rip offs that have ever been made. Even on an unintentionally funny level, it doesn't work. Rape and wanton carnage are not amusing matters.

The wafer thin plot is about some over sized fish monsters that rise from the ocean deep and bring mayhem to a West Coast fishing community. According to the scientist in the film (a miscast Ann Turkel who pronounces most of the scientific language incorrectly) they are evolving rapidly and need to mate with human women in order to take the next step in their evolutionary process. This is the excuse for some graphic rape sequences, involving naked women being mounted and abused by men in rubber suits. At the end, the monsters attack a seaside carnival, and seem to mysteriously forget their desire to rape and just start ripping off arms and legs and heads of anyone they can find, regardless of gender. The blood spurts out all over the place, but is totally the wrong shade of red to be convincing (it looks more like spare paint from London double decker buses!)

There is a sense of humour to this film, which prevents it from becoming too offensive, but isn't obvious enough to make it a fun experience. The acting is pretty bad, but I suppose if you're going to watch a Doug McClure film you expect that before it's even begun. The logic of the film is left generally untouched.... indeed it is hard to figure out how anyone could make such idiocy logical. This is a bad film and I'm saying that from the point of view of someone who was eager to see it. If you're just watching it because it's a rainy day and it's something you taped out of general curiosity, you'll probably enjoy it even less than me. Seriously: don't bother!

An ocean side fishing town is experiencing lower than normal numbers of fish in the waters. The fishermen are nervous and welcome the news of a cannery planning on opening. There is the one indigenous man that is the sole voice against the cannery. When the fishermen's guard dogs end up slaughtered, the whites think it is he that is responsible. They retaliate by killing his dog and fighting ensues. Soon however it becomes clear that there is something more nefarious at work, creatures that have mutated in the ocean are coming ashore at night and killing men and raping their women.

The is a Roger Corman movie, so everything is over the top, to say the least. There is a fair amount of nudity and it is of course exploitative. There is a fair amount of gore as well, as one would expect from any self-respecting 80's horror. This was, at the time of its release, a very good creature feature, but unfortunately the guy in a rubber suit trick does not hold up in a world where they can CGI anything one can imagine.

Why I say this could not be made today; First is the racial tone of the movie, where natives are still called Indians and treated like little more than second class citizens. Second is the exploitative nudity I mentioned before. Surely in this #metoo era this is a thing of the past.

Overall, if you can forgive the unspecial effects, this is a decent early 80's horror.

You know your movie is in trouble when even the creature-on-girl stuff is sloppy.

Roger Corman always prided himself (at least up until a certain point in his career, and this is still his New World Pictures era when there was.... well, it was before Carnosaur and Sharktopus, let's put it that way) on having cheesy B-movie fun with things but also having some level of quality or interest in *something* else that could be there for the audience. That isn't there in Humanoids from the Deep.

This is where he tries, whether this was his call or incidental from the writers I don't know, to put in some liberal-type element into the story with the Native American Indian who's land is being screwed with and... who cares? A lot of this movie feels like wasted potential in that it has a who-gives-a-s*** plot, but then the creature effects (or, I should say, the three creature suits, one of them only being completed by Rob Bottin) are pretty good and when the climax happens there's some creative editing to make it seem like there are more when, of course, there aren't, with some decent gore (although it's almost ruined by the repeated 5-second loop of screaming sound effects which I wouldn't notice except it's repeated 100 times in ten minutes). Also, James Horner's score is fine and does its job as a serious thriller score.

But there's a reason this feels lazy on multiple fronts; the movie is a Frankenstein monster of editing, where, as Corman admits without compunction on the Shout Factory DVD interview, that he and the editors took the movie away from Barbara Peters because, as Corman put it, there wasn't enough rape that she shot (the kinder version is that she didn't shoot enough sex and violence, which also had a different title, whether she knew this would be changed from "Beneath the Darkness" to this one who knows). So on the one hand there's a passable-to-just-okay-and... no, there's not much logic to it on one hand (plus the performances are by actors who are barely B level, more like C), and on the other a sleazy bag of exploitation movie tricks that Corman and his assistant directors and editors pull to make it more tantalizing. Not to mention, of course, the fact that these mutated salmon-mansters do in fact inseminate the women which has, naturally, a payoff at the very, very end which, surprisingly, feels tacked on when all is said and done.

I could go into why a lot of the human story stuff doesn't work or lacks logic - chiefly why, after that opening where several people DIE IN A FIRE on a boat and no one investigates this (or the multiple dead dogs, which gets a shrug from the would-be excuses for Stephen King characters, as in they'd be in King stories if he lacked talent) - but I don't see the point. You may take to this schlock, but I didn't find enough to keep me really engaged past a certain point, despite the last twenty minutes trying to throw as much as it can at you. It certainly does try as far as lots of blood and gore and breasts (and some of those breasts, I'll readily admit, look splendid). But even at 79 minutes this is pushing it.

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP was made 5 years after JAWS (1975) and 1 year after ALIEN (1979), two genre-defining films that turned their respective directors into highly sought-out stars. So, apparently Roger Corman and Co. Thought: why not combine the basic concepts of the two into a single movie? And thus we get this story of murderous humanoid sea creatures, the result of a corporate biology experiment gone wrong, emerge out the sea to terrorize a local community just in time for their annual salmon festival.

The basic concept and story outline, the creature effects and even much of the dialogue are almost z-grade, yet the movie manages to transcend its schlockiness to become a fun little entertainment vehicle. I attribute this to four aspects:

First, there is some definite social commentary which adds a little depth: be it the exploitation of native Americans, corporate greed in cooperation with government at the expense of the well-being of communities, or the willingness of enemies to come together during a time of a common existential threat, there is a dimension to the events depicted in the movie which rises above the frivolous, and it helps elevate the movie.

Second, the movie deviates from the boilerplate plot usual for this genre in a few scenes which force the audience to re-examine their assumptions about the characters. For example, there are, to my knowledge, very few films in which the movie's archvillain, definitely not a good guy, does something like putting his own life at risk to help save a little girl without any ulterior motives. It is so rare to see such richness of character in this kind of movie that it definitely stands out.

Third, there is the music score by James Horner, whose talents were already evident in this early work, and which gives the movie a classy gloss that it would have not otherwise had. The score definitely plays a greater role in propagating the events in this film than in most of this genre.

Lastly, the climax in which the humanoids attack crowds of people during the Salmon Festival is actually quite impressive for a movie at this budget level. Now, this is not to say that it is comparable to depictions of crowd panic in megabudget Hollywood disaster films, but rather that for a film of this type, these scenes show unexpectedly high production values.

Overall, these make what could easily have turned into a cinematic turd into something watchable.

Check this out for a storyline: hideous fish-men rise from the ocean depths in order to mate with human females and thus speed up their rapid evolution (which has already been kick-started by them eating genetically mutated salmon). Now if that doesn't sound like B-movie monster heaven, then I don't know what does.

After fisherman Jim Hill (ageing action 'hunk', Doug McClure), native-American Johnny Eagle (Anthony Pena), and scientist Susan Drake (Ann Turkel), discover the randy web-footed mutants in a nearby network of caves, they must race to the fishing town of Noyo to warn the locals of the danger that awaits them.

A wonderfully silly and scary portion of fishy fun, Humanoids From The Deep is a must-see for all fans of rubbery creature features. Packed with numerous dubious delights, which include the raping of buxom babes by the seaweed-covered critters, loads of gruesome gory killings, the obligatory shower scene, and a terrific ending in which the beasts gatecrash a party with bloody results, the film entertains from the very start right up to its OTT splattery ending.

Produced by horror legend Roger Corman, HFTD manages to deliver its preposterous plot with just the right mixture of seriousness and knowing silliness (watch the ventriloquist scene for the loopiest moment, when the dummy's eyes flick back and forth as its owner is killed!). Ace make-up FX man Rob Bottin's work is top-notch—the monsters may be men in suits, but they are still effectively disgusting looking things, equipped with razor sharp fangs, weird extended fore-arms and obscenely bulging craniums—and the seasoned leads (including Vic Morrow as town bad-guy Hank Slattery) give credible performances. The big breasted girls in the movie are also great, gamely shedding their clothes at every chance and enthusiastically bouncing in front of the camera!

Unabashedly misogynistic, and very, very silly, 'Humanoids' is a gem of 80s horror and a real treat for fans of trash cinema—do yourself a favour and fish this one out soon!

If you like cool creatures, blood and boobs, you can't dislike this film.