| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Barbara Peeters
Starring: Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Vic Morrow, Cindy Weintraub, Anthony Penya, Denise Galik, Lynn Theel, Meegan King
Screenplay: Frederick James
Country: USA |
Noyo is a small fishing village about to be exploited by the canning company Canco (imaginative name, no?). But there's something other than salmon swimming in the waters off the coast of this idyllic little town…
Jimmy (played by the reliably awful Doug McClure) is a nice guy, wanting what's best for the town (in his mind, the cannery), but when lots of dogs get killed, and then some pretty young co-eds too, he joins forces with Johnny Eagle (the local Indian who's completely opposed to the cannery) and Susan (the imported booty who works for said cannery) to find out what the hell's going on.
Unfortunately, the town is about to be attacked by a bunch of fish-men, who, as is established early in the film, have a taste for our women, and they're certainly not terribly friendly in asking for a loan of them.
I grew up watching this kind of flick – Mars Needs Women, Creature From The Black Lagoon, etc, so I totally dug on Humanoids From The Deep – the fact that Vic Morrow (playing Hank Slattery, the dodgy, nefarious fisherman in league with the cannery and totally against the Indians) was in the film was an added bonus!
The special effects (created by Rob Bottin) do deserve special mention at this point. They're not outstanding or anything (in comparison with today's SPFX), but when the claret gets spilled in this flick, it gets spilled in abundance. And I found myself going "urgh" at a few points of the ultra-violence, and then giggling uncontrollably afterwards. It's that kind of film.
This film has all the hallmarks of a 50s B-flick: bad monster outfits, a dodgy leading man, a villain you want to see die from the outset, amazingly dull expository dialogue (the sequence where the egg-head explains how the titular Humanoids came into being is right out of Them or a Godzilla flick), but it also has carnage, boobs and sex-crazed teens, so I guess that really makes it a product of its times.
That's really it for the plot – but this flick is worth hanging around for, for the end. A gore filled climax that will have you rolling around on your sofa laughing your arse off. Totally over-the-top and gratuitous, Humanoids From The Deep delivers beautifully. So basically, if you dig a good monster movie, and you like to see the red stuff flowing: get yo' ass down here, you'll have a blast! Watch it now. |
When Warners released it on video some time later it was missing the head rip scene which was just shown as a quick still and some of the violence toned down.
So if it does get released here be careful before you buy, it may be the edited Warner print.
This film was also remade in the 90's.