Written by: Jase Marsiglia
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is fed through the “grindhouse” in this Roger Corman production, where the rubber-suited amphibious creatures are horny for human women and messily attack any man, child (or dog!) that gets in their way to prevent their “consummation.” Thanks to some testing by the gorgeous Dr. Drake (model Ann Turkel) and fisherman Jim (Doug McClure of The Virginian), it turns out that an industrial cannery has been experimenting with growth hormones on salmon in the little fishing village of Noyo on the California coast, and the result is these vicious, kelp-laden creatures with sharp claws, heightened intelligence, and a mean rapist streak.
Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Humanoids from the Deep (also known simply as Monster) is a gory, sleazy little drive-in flick directed by Barbara Peeters, whose previous films included the biker revenge flick Bury Me an Angel and the sumptuous Summer School Teachers, both of which were under Corman’s New World Pictures. She certainly brings the low-budget B-movie spirit to Humanoids, packing this sardine can chock full of gruesome creature attacks, mangled corpses, bar brawls, explosions, child endangerment, bashed-in creature brains, all culminating with a festival party crash that massacres people and creatures alike in bloody good fashion!
And yet, with Humanoids from the Deep already teeming with gore and action, Corman allegedly hired Jimmy T. Murakami to discreetly run out to the beach and film more nudity and “creature rape” to boost the exploitation factor. It essentially takes any subtle, subtextual “sexual curiosity” hinted at in Black Lagoon, soaks it in gore and sex, and wraps the environmentalist plot around the excessive set pieces. The creatures are hardly the cautiously curious type like our friend the Gill Man, but rather aggressive, bikini-top-ripping pervs that march out of the bay to spread their, uh... “tadpoles.”
Peeters was unamused, to put it lightly, but Corman knew how to put butts in seats, and despite its arguably disgusting premise, Humanoids from the Deep is a fun, nasty little B-movie that should appeal to fans of nautical horror and gorehounds alike, coalescing with a final nod to Alien that proves that should one of these creatures be “brought to term” in a pregnancy, it ain’t gonna be pretty. Special effects masters Rob Bottin and Steve Johnson put in lots of extra time as the creatures (pretty much all of them through clever editing), and the score is by a young James Horner, who would go on to compose Academy Award-winning scores for the likes of James Cameron and Ron Howard!
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR HUMANIODS OF THE DEEP BELOW
HOME VIDEO
Humanoids from the Deep has been around the bay a few times, enjoying a steady series of releases, but if you want one that does the best job thus far of plunging you into the murky depths of its bonus features, I’d suggest Scream Factory’s most recent 4K UHD Collector’s Edition, released in February of last year.
Not only are you getting a new 4K UHD restoration from the original camera negatives, you’re getting both the theatrical and unrated cuts of the film, as well as a brand-new audio commentary by film historian Russell Dyball. In addition, all the archival material from the various Shout!/Scream Factory releases are present and accounted for, including:
• The Making of Humanoids from the Deep
• Leonard Maltin Interviews Roger Corman on Humanoids from the Deep
• Deleted Scenes
• Three Theatrical Trailers
• TV Spot
• Radio Spot
• Still Gallery
• Alternate Opening Title Sequence
• Limited Edition First-Run Slipcover
And for those of you with a region-free player who want a little extra, a German distributor called OFDb Filmworks released their own Collector’s Edition back in 2016 that came with just about everything here, but also had its own exclusives, which included:
• Audio Commentary with Editor Mark Goldblatt
• The Deep End of Creature Effects: Interview with Steve Johnson
• The Corman Sound: Interview with Sound Editor David Lewis Yewdall
• The Directors: Roger Corman Documentary
• 16-Page Collectors Booklet (in German)
BITS ‘N’ PIECES
Traum-A-Meter:
3 out of 4.
This one is pretty damn gory. Faces and throats are clawed open, pets are ripped to shreds, and a “newborn” creature makes its presence known quite dramatically! Nasty stuff!
Today’s Jam: Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2” was telling us to “leave them kids alone” during the Salmon Festival that weekend in 1980. Who knows? Maybe Noyo’s favorite DJ, Mike Michaels, was spinning some Floyd when the creatures emerged to spoil the party!
0 comments