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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+

I saw this film in a movie theater in Rochester, NY sometime in the mid 80s. I was fascinated by the tag line "You will see a man turned inside-out!" What I saw on the screen really didn't impress me too much, but, considering 15 minutes had been hacked out of it, I'm not surprised at how bad the finished product was.

In the years since then I've learned more and more about European filmmakers such as Martino, Argento, Fulci, Franco and others. In fact, I now have several Martino dvds and have been impressed by his talent. I hope to get my hands on a version of this movie that is truer to the director's vision. I'm sure it couldn't be too much worse than what I saw lo those many years ago.

This ambitious film is set in the 19th century, gave a dab of action-adventure with mythology to boot, some shocks of horror and a nod to science fiction if that wasn't enough. "Island of Dr. Moreau" it wasn't entirely, though the initial premise is no doubt given nod to.

The zoom ins, dated synthesizers and blatantly overdubbed sound effects that usually came with campy Italian cinema can give these pictures charm like no other. However, the inconsistent creature effects and cringe worthy miniatures unabashedly shown in close-ups, instead of rolling in the fog or covering up with shadows, were just asking too much from a viewer's imagination. Most of these films have flaws from cheap production to speedy filmmaking, mirroring what was done in the '50s/'60s, but it's just a matter of how many you are willing to overlook (especially by '79). If really easy, this could be more up your alley. If not, take the detour.

The acting and even the English dubbing were of decent and serious caliber to moving this along without being one giant accidental farce; which leads me to believe the producers gave the green light with a tight cast but without realistically scaling back their overzealous production costs. The owner of the island was villainous though a charming and eccentric gentleman, his former Bond-girl (Barbara Bach of "The Spy Who Loved Me") wife was an exquisite treat to look at, and the guest of honor, that got there from a shipwreck, was a commanding and confident presence on screen.

"Island of the Fishmen," aka "Screamers," was not as mystifying as set out to be as an adult fantasy film. Applied to the goals the filmmakers had and their ability to realistically pull them off, the old idiom "less is more" usually works better in these cases, otherwise it's a challenge to step in with both feet and truly let yourself go minus the unintentional smirks. (Also submitted on http://fromblacktoredfilmreviews.blogspot.com/)

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

When a movie has more than half of the actors dubbed in English(or 3 titles), you know it won't be too good. Why is it so hard to get the voice over people to sound like they understand what is going on? Why are there very obvious English mistakes when the voice has an American accent? Is it really that hard to make a movie? This movie could have been so much better.

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.

Yes, the video cover of this movie made me want to watch this film as a child. It was called "Screamers" on this particular cover with the tagline "Men turned inside out!". It even featured this warped looking skeleton on the cover as well that made all sorts of cool gory images run through my mind. Perhaps some sort of movie about some strange virus that caused a person's flesh to burn off, maybe a movie about undead zombies that are more bloody looking than what you usually get, a science experiment gone incredibly wrong and now strange men with the flesh dripping off their bones go on the rampage. Yes, all these thoughts ran through my mind, one that did not was fish guys on some island with virtually no gore and all bore. This movie is really more like the Island of Dr. Moreau than anything else and quite frankly that movie bored me too, it is way to much scientist and not enough killing for my tastes. These films are to much figure stuff out and not enough blood for my tastes. Yes I know, I have strange tastes, but I can not help it, I like my horror movies either really bloody or fast moving and exciting this movie is really neither.

This movie surprised me. The box is misleading, the tagline is misleading and the costumes and tone of the film are misleading. The movie is quite gory, well-acted and beautifully shot. The special-effects are top-notch and seem to be ahead of their time, until you realize this movie came out in 1979, not in 1963 like it's tone would suggest. It is a unique take on the Dr. Moreau story, and one of the better versions filmed. The first fifteen minutes are the highlight and the most shocking, but the film doesn't ever really fall apart. Definitely worth-seeing if you are a fan of dramatic costume/horror classics and gore-fests.

You gotta admire Roger Corman and his formula -- take an Italian-made English language horror film, hack out some scenes that slow the action down and then hire a new director and actors to create a new introduction and change the narrative. And so we have this end product, now titled "Screamers". It's a mishmash of a movie, complete with man-fish monsters with fixed costume heads that would be appropriate in a 1950s sci-fi film. It's sad to see 1940s movie star Joseph Cotton reduced to a cameo in this drivel, a lifetime away from The Magnificent Ambersons and Citizen Kane. Mrs Ringo Starr aka Barbara Bach is easy on the eyes and the former Mr Kim Novak aka Richard Johnson gives us a genteel mad English scientist. That's about it.

I saw this movie on television as SCREAMERS and loved it. I heard an interesting story about this film. When Roger Corman released it to drive-ins in the summer of 1981, his trailer department sent out an advance trailer which was not actually footage from the film. It was allegedly footage of a naked woman being chased around a laboratory set by a monster. During the film's opening at drive-in's, irate customers complained the did not see the movie they paid to see. Theater owners called Corman and said their customers felt ripped off. So Corman had to run off copies of the footage, and send the positive film to theater owners to splice into the film themselves. Since the footage was never part of the film negative, it has not appeared in any video, DVD or television broadcast. Has anyone ever seen this footage? Anyone who saw this film at a drive-in in the summer of 1981 remember this?

This is a very enjoyable lost island adventure movie. A group of men are shipwrecked on an island ruled by a white "master" accompanied by an attractive white woman (Barbara Bach), inhabited by voodoo-practicing natives as well as some CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON type "fish men". The plot is silly (as in most movies of this type), the acting and the lines are cheesy in most cases, but it is a v-e-r-y polished-looking effort. The scene of Barbara Bach secretly leaving her manor at dawn (or dusk), crossing a shallow lake, and feeding the fish men a potion on the seashore is especially very poetic looking. The undersea footage of the ruins of Atlantis is also very impressive. One minor defect: the voodoo subplot seems to go nowhere. Surely, there are elements of THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU in the plot, but I think the idea to make this movie was kicked off by previous year's WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS from Britain. By the way, I think the "man whose inside turned outside" tag-line in the movie's US publicity refers to the scene of a man in the lab tank who is slowly being mutated towards a fish man.

I watched this movie only because I was under the impression that I was going to be treated to a cheesy horror flick. I mean, look at the tag line: "They're men turned inside out! And worse... they're still alive!" Does that not scream cheesy horror movie to you? And the then there's the title itself-- "Screamers." What a perfectly apt title for a horror movie, I thought! Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that the real title was, properly translated, "The Island of the Fishmen."

So, about an hour into watching this I realized that this was not a cheesy horror movie at all-- it was a cheesy "adventure" story about slimy fish-men from Atlantis. "Men turned inside out"? No. There was nothing of the sort. I was grossly disappointed.

Damn you, misleading taglines! I want those 81 minutes of my life back!

OK by the time you read this I MIGHT have stopped crying. This movie was so horrible as to be quite vexing. The creatures are kinda cute, but the only really good thing about the movie was the growing attachment among the prisoners and their guard after getting marooned on this daffy island. Even seeing Barbara Bach with her hair all riffled was no payoff for buying this sterling bit of poop. She goes about with a whispery I've-never-used-my-voice-before breathiness that just don't wash when one is screaming bloody murder. (Hey the leading man was cute too but I'm still not assuaged.) This is a cry-into-your-beer ripoff of the good ole Island of Dr. Moreau. Poor Richard Johnson, who was surely born for better things, is just unrelievedly bad as the bad guy. I mean, HOW bad can a BAD guy BE? (Ask Richard Johnson). Joseph Cotten tries hard not to look embarrassed as he staggers through his cameo appearance. In the name of all that's holy, don't rent this darned bomb.

I first read about Sergio Martino's Island of the Fishmen in Chas Balun's '80s book Horror Holocaust, where it went by the alternative title of Screamers. Since Balun's book was all about the splatter, I immediately added the film to my mental list of must see gore movies, but have only recently been able to track down a copy of the film (via YouTube). Unfortunately, what I had forgotten was that Screamers, released by Roger Corman's New World company, was a re-edited version of Martino's movie, with extra footage added to make it more marketable to the US market, and that the original version, which I had found, was virtually blood-free!

The untampered Island of The Fishmen is a formulaic Jules Verne-style adventure in which a small group of castaways are washed up on an uncharted island where the owner Edmond Rackham (Richard Johnson) has creating half-man/half-fish mutants in an effort to retrieve a valuable lost treasure from the submerged ruins of Atlantis. There is lots of dreary talking and plenty of unremarkable action, but graphic violence is limited to a man having his face clawed and another falling into a trap full of spikes, making it far from the gloriously gory epic I had long hoped it would be. The film doesn't even make the most of the presence of Bond beauty Barbara Bach, who remains fully clothed throughout (unless you count her strip down to Victorian underwear, which practically covers her entire body anyway!).

Shot in the same tropical locations as Lucio Fulci's Zombie, and with atmospheric cinematography from Giancarlo Ferrando, Martino's film has the look and feel of many a classic Italian gorefest, but remains a remarkably dry affair, and while the fishmen themselves are entertaining thanks to their ridiculous design and expressionless faces, the film as a whole is a rather tedious affair. I guess I'll just have to satisfy my yearning for excessively gory fish-man horror with repeat viewings of Corman's Humanoids Of The Deep (1980)—at least until I can get my hands on a copy of 'Screamers'.

Getting shipwrecked after a vicious storm, a group of soldiers finds themselves stranded on a strange island full of vicious traps and a mysterious owner who invites them to stay until they can recuperate and leave, but upon learning the true nature of what's in store for them must try to escape the island and a race of fish-creatures.

This was a highly serviceable and enjoyable creature feature. Among it's better features is the fun mixture of genres this one manages to feature throughout here, mixing elements together in a rather frenetic matter that still retains a nice watchability to it. Focusing on an adventure-film scenario in the first part where the group exploring the island and coming across the series of pitfalls and traps around the island, this comes across as a fine way of introducing the characters before getting to the horror elements found in the second half as the introduction of the killer fish-people slowly make their way into the storyline. Even with them introduced, the film doesn't stop there with the controlling-host storyline keeping everyone in line under his iron-fisted rule while even managing to bring together a slave-like voodoo cult and other elements into this scenario that carries on the adventure-based setup with the discovery of the underwater civilization and quest for removing everything contained inside. It's a strong and generally enjoyable set up with all the different elements coming into play within the film. Likewise, the film also gets a lot to like with the inclusion of all the action on display. With the adventure scenario offering some fun in the various traps that wipe out most of the crew or the confrontations with the voodoo guards on the island, there's a lot to like here before getting to the final half where it manages to utilize the adventure-film scenario for even more action where it falls into the sense of spectacle that's not usually shown in the genre. With the finale mixing a wholesale destruction of the island with several attempts to flee the area held up by the obstructions caused by the fish-creatures rebelling against the controller or his attempts to remain so makes for a highly enjoyable series of scenes where the stunt-work and special effects work is impressive and enjoyable as everything going on at once allows for some exciting times. With plenty of good looks at the creatures and their cheesy look which is all added together to bring about a fun time, this is a pretty fine set of positives to hold this one up overall. There are some minor issues to be had here. One of the biggest elements holding this one back is a highly underwhelming pace that tends to focus more on those outside elements than what true genre fans would be willing to accept. The creatures, though introduced quite early in the storyline, are never a true threat in the sense of hunting the humans down and killing them one-by-one.like what most would assume this story would devolve into. Rather, the focus here is on spelling out the ulterior motives of the island owner and his purpose for having them there which goes along with the burgeoning romantic relationship with the daughter that really slows the pacing down to a crawl for those expecting non-stop thrills involving creatures hunting people on a strange island. With the use of the adventure formula in the later half that keeps them off-screen for long periods of time without featuring much to raise up the intensity. As well, there's something to be said for how some of the film's cheapness is on display, from the obvious miniature work for the sets used during the destruction scenes or the goofy look of the fish-creatures that are used, it does lower this one slightly.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence, Language and Brief Nudity.

Screamers was supposed to be about men turned inside-out. So said the box. But it turned out to be about fish-men, which was pretty good anyway. Decent effects for a cheesy movie. And it was very very cheesy. Not shocking horror cheesy, but pure mad scientist-movie cheesy. It's about escaped convicts who land on an island of fish men run by the scientist and his obligatory beautiful daughter. The fish-men costumes are laughable and the storyline has some flimsy turns, but it's actually not a movie that makes you feel sorry for renting it. Good if you're in the mood for simple cheese.

Screamers (1980)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Lieutenant de Ross (Claudio Cassinelli) is leading some convicts through a rough sea when they end up washing up on a mysterious island. The island has a volcano but that's not what the men needs to be afraid of. No, it's the half-man, half-fish monsters that are ripping at each of them.

Sergio Martino's ISLAND OF THE FISHERMEN was a tad bit too boring for American artists so producer Roger Corman bought the film, cut it down and then added about twelve minutes worth of new footage at the start of the picture. This new footage features a lot of gory deaths and it certainly gets the picture off to a good start. The American version, known as SCREAMERS, became a huge hit at the drive-in thanks to its promotional trailer but it should be noted that an earlier version played theaters under a different title and didn't do much business.

You've gotta love Corman.

As far as SCREAMERS goes it's a pretty good little film. It certainly seems HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP borrowed a little from the Martino film but that film is basically just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON meets THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. I think the added scenes actually help a lot and especially if you're a gore fan because there are a couple bloody and graphic decapitations. The original stuff in Martino's version is certainly mildly entertaining but the lack of gore, violence and nudity makes it easy to see why Corman wanted to spice it up.

The film features a terrific cast with Cassinelli making for a very good lead and we've also got Barbara Bach, Richard Johnson and Joseph Cotten. The American version also features Cameron Mitchell and Mel Ferrer in small scenes.

SCREAMERS certainly isn't a masterpiece but the cast, the added gore effects and the rather fun monsters make it worth seeing.

This remains one of the most confusing entries in Sergio Martino's filmography, because of there being around four different cuts still circulating around.

For context, the opening sequence was directed by Miller Drake. And the special effects here were completed by a certain Chris Walas, known for his work on The Fly.

Some might look for Martino's definitive cut ("L'isola degli uomini pesce"), before Corman acquired the US distribution ("Screamers") and began commissioning these changes, as the preferred version (especially for the Martino completionists), but I think the Walas contributions are incredible, and it's a shame we never really got to see what a master of special effects could have done alongside a director like Martino or Fulci.

Overall, it is not at the level of Slave of the Cannibal God, or The Great Alligator, which are definitely more accomplished, - but it is interesting to think as to what compelled Martino to turn to The Island of Dr. Moreau as an inspiration, amidst that Italian wave of cannibal films: I think that's what makes this a strange but interesting part of his filmography.

This is also I think the only Martino work which really struggles from pacing issues, - between the second and third act. I would not recommend this really to anyone other than those trawling through his available filmography.

Screamers is an Italian fantasy film (L'Isola degli Uomini Pesce) bought by Roger Corman and released through his New World Pictures. Of course Corman has to carve his initials on it by having one of his lackeys (Dan T. Miller) direct some additional gore footage before he has it released in the states.

L'Isola degli Uomini Pesce is a very entertaining retelling of the Island of Dr. Moreau. It is 1891 and Claudio Cassinelli is shipwrecked on a mysterious island with a few newly escaped convicts. Claudio comes across the stellar Barbara Bach and Richard Johnson. Johnson plays the dastardly Edmund Rackham: a man who is able to manipulate scientist Joseph Cotton into turning the local native population into amphibious deep-sea diving creatures, (they look like a cross between the Black Lagoon creature and one of The Humanoids From the Deep), by convincing Cotton that the mutations are being created for the highest of scientific and humanitarian motives.

Having discovered the lost city of Atlantis, Rackham is using the amphibious creatures to loot its treasures. Sexy Barbara Bach plays Cotton's daughter who has a psychic link with these mutations. In one memorable scene, Bach takes a midnight swim with these mutants wearing only a thin white cotton dress that leaves little to the imagination. Claudio discovers one of the convicts he has befriended has been turned into a gill-creature and then all Hell breaks loose.

Filmed at the same time and in the same location as Zombi 2, Richard Johnson didn't even have to change suits between films. The house where the experiments take place is the same house Johnson uses to conduct experiments in Zombi 2. Talk about economic filmmaking!

The additional footage features a few bloody beheadings, (way to go Roger!), and a laughably bad Cameron Mitchell doing his best pirate imitation. All that's missing is the parrot.

Spanish title: Le Continent Des Hommes Poissons

Lt. Claude (Claudio Cassinelli) and several prisoners from his sunken ship wash ashore on an island owned by Edmond Rackham (Richard Johnson). Following a few random prisoner deaths, Rackham takes in Claude and his two remaining prisoners. Luckily for everyone, Barbara Bach just happens to be on the island too! Unluckily, there are some crazy fishmen who like to kill people.

This Italian produced exploiter seems to have it all - a touch of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON mixed with DR. MOREAU with a dash of WHITE ZOMBIE voodoo and Atlantis stuff. Despite some wonky looking fishmen costumes, the film does benefit from some beautiful location photography and a nice twist about halfway through. All of the actors are good and Joseph Cotton even pops up as a old biologist. Director Sergio Martino handles himself well enough as there is action ever 10 minutes or so. That can't be said for his belated follow-up THE FISHMEN AND THEIR QUEEN (1995), easily one of the wackiest and most off-base sequels since HIGHLANDER II.

The one good thing about this movie is the poster. The one that was used back then. The one showing scantily-clad Barbara Bach half submerged warding off menacing Fishman monsters. But don't think that the wonderful poster is done any credit to by this movie. You will be disappointed.

One of my all-time favorite movies was THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, but finding another movie of Barbara Bach worthwhile to watch has proved fruitless.

I think it's in the same class as Embryo, which I consider to be the most disappointing movie ever.

But if you wanna go bump your head....

Another reviewer here talked about having a soft spot for the Fishmen. I wonder why??????