Humanoids from Atlantis

JRB probably doesnt like this movie, but many people have watched it, got a laugh and probably high/drunk at the same time. I watched this as a kid, was passed to me by neighbor who walked around as an adult dressed as Freddy Kruger. The guy is in prison now (for drugs), and he would be a good movie. Anyhow, Humanoids promises much, delivers little. I rewatched it to be sure it wasnt worse/better than memory. The only thing that surprised me..James Edwards acting was better many years ago than it is now. How could that happen? Usually the more you do something the better you become at the skill. Not so with Edwards. He is actually pretty funny in this movie. And Im sure that creepin' hand up the leg technique used in the makeout scene is exactly how his game is today. Though he probably just hooks up with wannabe D-movie starlets as he tells them he is going to make them famous. Watch this movie for goofy fun and for a look back at the early days of shot-on-video flicks.

The production has things going for it. I saw evidence of INTENT to make a good movie. The love of the genre came through. Some of the action was fairly well staged. What killed this film is the self-depreciation on the part of the filmmaker. You could tell at some point he just said WTF and gave up. That's what's really sad. Yes, it does have people talking in a car in a garage. Yes, there is bad acting. Yes, there is bad dialogue. Yes, the ridiculously self-depreciating end credits are padded out ad nauseam. But the creature costume ain't bad. The locations would have been effective if the cast/crew could stand the cold (I suspect they couldn't). Oh, and the B-movie police intro added nothing. I would have stuck with the movie as is. I paid two dollars plus to rent this. I was marginally entertained, so I am not complaining.

In some cases, there are movies that are so bad that they are good. This is not one of them. I regret having spent time in the same room with the videocasette I saw it on, and even though I got it for free, I feel immeasurably poorer for having seen it. The case over-reported the duration of the movie by 15 minutes and both myself and my unfortunate friend were thankful when it ended early. The only reason we kept watching was a numbing deadness of the brain and a self-destructive urge to see how it could get worse. I saw it almost a decade ago and though many of the details have been mercifully forgotten, it still ranks in my mind as the single worst film I have ever witnessed.

The few details I can recall involve a negligible budget and poor acting -- both of which could have been salvaged as 'camp' a la Ed Wood's works. Unfortunately, the producers had no clear vision -- a fact which they appear to have recognized most of the way through the film, but did not allow to deter their releasing this abomination.