Les Monstres de la mer

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.

As near as I can tell this is the first monster movie to make explicit what has been implicit in monster movies from at least as far back as King Kong in 1933... that monsters just want to have sex with human women. Since this has only been suggested at before, nobody has ever bothered explaining this rather inexplicable behavior, beyond something like "beauty killed the beast". But Humanoids from the Deep explains all (at least for Roger Corman's man-fish critters) and gives a reason for their unusual mating habits... that "these creatures are driven to mate with man now in order further develop their incredible evolution." Alas, if only the 'scientist' who came up with this theory had just pronounced "coelacanth" correctly she would have had a great deal more credibility in my books. Still, on the plus side, it is a fine example of it's genre, where lots of nicely done rubber-suit-monsters tear the men up into bloody shreds so they can strip and ravish the women. If you watch this film expecting anything more... well, why were you?

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!

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.

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!