‘Humanoids From The Deep’ 4K Review: Fish People on a Rampage
Watching the 4K unrated cut of Humanoids From the Deep, I wondered if this 4K thing had gone too far. This is the kind of film you want to watch on a VHS tape, the tracking slightly off. After all, we’re talking about a 1980 movie that features people in fish suits. The costumes are all too obvious in crystal-clear high definition.
We open on a fishing village in California. There’s a cannery coming to town, and the company behind it has been up to shenanigans. The kind of shenanigans that cause fish to mutate into humanoid monsters that kill men and rape women. Wait, what? Yes, indeed, you did read that right. These creatures force themselves on helpless women. You’ll have to decide whether or not this is something you want in your silly creature feature. Personally, I could have done without it.
But, I suppose, at least we have some grade-A schlock that doesn’t commit the cardinal sin of its genre—being boring. Hoo-wee, it’s a lot of things, but boring it is not. There’s a little bit of that character development stuff that you need to justify your rapist water creature flick, but not much, thank God. We get straight into the violence when a kid falls off his father’s boat and is quickly devoured by one of the creatures, as yet still in the shadows. The water turns red from blood as the kid is popped like a pimple. Then the boat explodes. The boat exploding has nothing to do with the titular humanoid. It’s just a fun coincidence.
And as if a child’s death wasn’t taboo-breaking enough, soon all the dogs die. Torn apart overnight. It’s the humanoids, of course, but poor Johnny Eagle (Anthony Pena) is blamed for the incident. Eagle is a good dude. He’s just the only person in town who opposes the cannery. He’s also the only person of color in the movie, so he gets plenty of racism directed toward him. Great.
The explanation for the mutation and growth of the humanoid sea creatures makes a lot of sense if you’ve taken a bunch of acid and sat out in the sun all day. But God bless ‘em, the writers certainly tried to come up with something reasonable. They even came up with a theory behind the sexual assaults, which is something we definitely needed spelled out for us. Something about wanting to mate with a more evolved animal than themselves. But that’s not how interspecies reproduction works.
Anyway, the point is we shouldn’t be fucking with God’s plan using genetic engineering. Is this a commentary on genetically modified food decades before it became something of a national debate? Well, maybe I’m giving the movie a little too much credit.
This being a Roger Corman-produced joint, there are plenty of beautiful people. Well, not all of the guys are very attractive, but this movie takes place in a world where all the women could be supermodels. There’s plenty of shirts off, frolicking, flirting, and such. There’s even a scene which involves both a topless woman and a marionette. So something for everybody, really.
The actual humanoid-on-woman attacks aren’t shown for very long, though we do get to see women scream as a rubber-suited sea creature rubs itself awkwardly on them. Quite a depressing thing to see in an otherwise silly and fun flick. I mean, it’s there for the shock value, and it succeeds on that level.
Otherwise, there’s plenty to like about the film. For instance, do you like explosions? There’s the aforementioned boat at the beginning, but there’s also a scene where a single Molotov cocktail explodes Johnny Eagle’s entire house. And there’s plenty of stuff blowing up in the action-packed ending.
There’s plenty of gore, too. Heads ripped off, blood spraying in all directions. The movie definitely doesn’t hold back. Did I mention the ending? We’re talking about an all-out humanoid versus human battle. The humanoids aren’t super-powered and they’re dispatched pretty easily by a pistol, so they eventually become so much cannon fodder.
Humanoids From The Deep was directed by Barbara Peters. Sort of. While she directed the sexual assaults with shadows and suggestion, this just didn’t work for Roger Corman. So there were at least two other directors who were brought in to add more nudity and sexual violence. Corman got what he wanted, but some of the actors that were interviewed in the special features of this set said that when they saw the movie, it was completely different from the one they had thought they were shooting.
Well, if nothing else, Peters got to direct a strong female lead in Ann Turkel, who plays the strong-willed Dr. Susan Drake. She doesn’t take shit from anyone, least of all a bunch of redneck fishermen. And she doesn’t even get “punished” for her strength. She survives the entire flick!
This new Scream Factory release is loaded with special features, but the only one that wasn’t ported over from a previous release is the new commentary by Russell Dyball. The disc features a 4K restoration from the original negative and about ten minutes of deleted scenes—nothing really interesting. There’s a documentary on the making of the film, and tons of TV spots, trailers, and stuff like that. But, really, Humanoids From The Deep on 4K? I would think this will probably only appeal to hardcore collectors or Corman completists. It’s a fun flick, aside from the sexual violence. Ultimately, though, is it a special edition kind of flick? If you get through the commentary and other special features, you’ll know more about the movie than any reasonable human should know. And you know what? That makes the experience worth it.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
DISC ONE (4K UHD):
- NEW 4K Restoration Of The Theatrical & Unrated Cuts From The Original Camera Negative
- NEW Presented In Dolby Vision
- Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Dual Mono
- NEW Audio Commentary By Film Historian Russell Dyball
DISC TWO (BLU-RAY):
- NEW 4K Restoration Of The Theatrical & Unrated Cuts From The Original Camera Negative
- Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Dual Mono
- NEW Audio Commentary By Film Historian Russell Dyball
- Deleted Scenes
- Trailers, TV & Radio Spots
- Still Gallery
- Alternate Opening Title Sequence
- Leonard Maltin Interviews Roger Corman On The Making Of The Film
- “The Making Of Humanoids From The Deep” Featuring Interviews With Roger Corman, Second Unit/Assistant Director James Sbardellati, Composer James Horner, And Cindy Weintraub
- Trailers
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