Humanoids From The Deep
U.S.A. / 1980
Directed by Barbara Peters
Starring
Doug McClure
Ann Turkel
Vic Morrow
Color / 82 Minutes / R
Format: DVD (R1 - NTSC)
New Concorde Video
The film's best performer.
Hold your mouse pointer over an image for a pop-up caption
'Noid fodder.
Remember these days? (sigh)
One of those pesky Humanoids.
Charbroiled 'Noid.
Revenge of the 'Noids.
Humanoids From The Deep (DVD)
Buy it online

at Amazon
Humanoids From The Deep
Blood 'n' Guts
Bare Flesh
Extra Cheese
 
Movie Rating  
5
  DVD Rating   4   10 = Highest Rating  
Executive-produced by Roger Corman, this horror/sci-fi schlockfest features bad acting, cheapjack production values (nothing new for Corman!), a lame story and a terrible script. I sort of liked it. Not the least bit pretentious, the flick certainly has its heart in the right place... The filmmakers knew exactly where to put their emphasis: Beasts, breasts, and gore.
    It's basically a reworking of the 1978 Corman film Piranha. Noyo, a small town on the northern California coast, is plagued by a rash of animal killings — dogs are turning up dead — followed by the disappearance of a number of its citizens. Racist fisherman Hank Slattery (a permed, snarling Vic Morrow) blames local Native Americans for the trouble. The Indians, led by community activist Johnny Eagle (Anthony Penya), are opposed to the construction of a new cannery on environmental grounds, so pro-business Slattery uses the crisis to turn white citizens against them. Caught in the middle is good-natured fisherman Jim Hill (At The Earth's Core's Doug McClure), Johnny's friend who believes the cannery will help Noyo's economy.
    The true culprits are a race of slimy, mutant fish men spawned by the genetic experiments of CanCo, the big industrial concern eyeing Noyo as the site of its next fish canning plant. The beasties have a pretty straightforward agenda: kill any male humans encountered and rape/impregnate the females — preferably young, nubile gals with nice, bouncy ta-tas. As Dr. Susan Drake (Ann Turkel), a CanCo scientist investigating the situation, puts it, these "humanoids" kill to protect their habitat and ravage women to propagate their species at the next level of evolution. By the time she, Jim and Johnny figure all this out, however, the nasty 'Noids have congregated along Noyo's waterfront to launch a full-scale attack on the town's rather lame annual Salmon festival. (The event's entertainment is provided by Jo Williams and Her Whitewater Boys, a septuagenarian Dixieland band whose most rockin' tune is "Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-Dee-Ay".) Fortunately for the viewer, much bloody mayhem ensues.
    Special effects wizard Rob Bottin (Robocop), in 1980 a very young lad at the beginning of his career, cooks up some pretty effective gore here. On the other hand, his costumes for the rampaging 'Noids are passable but more laughable than frightening. (We've seen worse, that's for sure.) Though helped by location filming the production looks cheap even for a Corman flick. Most of the budget must've gone to hiring the lead actors — a waste of money, actually. Morrow phones in his by-the-numbers small town jerk role; McClure, after gamely battling movie monsters in the '70s as the hero of a number of British-made Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasies, looks bored by it all. Turkel is simply a bad actress and doesn't even take off her clothes. (Don't worry. Other ladies in the cast do.) The film's best performance actually comes courtesy of a ventriloquist's dummy!
    Basically the movie redeems itself because it doesn't aspire to be anything other that what it is: a low-budget monster flick with skin and gore. Happily, a smattering of off-the-wall humor is thrown in for good measure. Provided you've an adequate supply of popcorn (not to mention alcohol and/or herb), Humanoids From The Deep should prove an agreeable time-waster. After all, if you're a cheese fiend then you're likely to have gone in with low expectations to begin with.

This, like New Concorde release Battle Beyond The Stars and others, is a budget-priced DVD retailing for under $15. (Usually in the $10 - $13 range.) Even with the low price it's something of a disappointment. Extras are skimpy — a 5-minute interview of Corman by Leonard Maltin, talent bios, a Cliff Notes booklet on Corman's career, along with the same trailers we've seen on other Corman discs — but that in itself is no big deal. Shown full frame, picture quality is acceptable, about as good as one would expect for such a throwaway monster flick. The disc's main problem is the audio track. It's very tinny at times… Be prepared for bursts of static whenever James Horner's score swells or the 'Noids start screeching. 9/06/01
UPDATE This disc went OOP in 2003, and is now fetching 40 bucks and up.
• Home | Reviews | Top •