Humanoids from the Deep

Official movie poster.

Once upon a time in a small town built around fishery and Salmon hatcheries is experiencing several one of a kind events. First, there is something unusual happening to the tasty Salmon fish of the coast. They are strangely in smaller schools than ever. Then, dogs begin to disappear, and are found later ripped to shreds! (I love dogs that pisses me off) When the town gets together to hold their annual Salmon harvest, a scientist for town's cannery, Dr. Susan Drake, (Ann Turkel) announces that she can make their catch bigger than ever before with the introduction of genetically introduced fish to the environment(say, in real life some years ago the genetically modified Super Salmon was introduced in Norway and later in Chile, both countries being the largest Salmon's world producers to date) Her boss, Hank Slattery, (played Vic Morrow) enthusiastically shares her point of view. 

Next morning, several teens in the town disappear. Townsman Jim Hill, (played by Doug McClure) has had it, and decides to take matters on his own. After news carries of more attacks, Dr. Drake becomes concerned that the creatures responsible for the attacks are the mutated offspring of failed tests her company held earlier. With this bit of knowledge, they head out to stop the creatures from mating with human women for their species to survive! what the hell! i have never seen fish trying to mate with other none than their own species.

Innocent bystander.

Hey I'm the latest in Norwegian & Chilean Salmon production.

Not my kind of tourist escapade.

Say! i'm the elder brother of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

This is a very action-packed film, with something happening almost every five minutes or less that keeps on calling your attention all the time. Whether it's an attack, nudity, or something else, there is always action in this film of some kind. The Humanoids are very creepy and look like suitably evil creatures, despite the fact the costumes aren't that realistic per se. The long, gangly arms, the large claws, the moss growing off their back and shoulders, and the face, do their job convincing you on how disgusting these Salmon mutants can be. There is a lot of action as well, with the highlight of the film undoubtedly being the ending attack on the Salmon harvest carnival. The creatures appear in legions, over-powering the running humans and dragging them down to rape them (well women) The fact that they are also being gunned down always for tons of gore: both the creatures getting shot and the creatures attacking the humans. Several people have their throats ripped, spilling out lots of blood in sprays. The long claws are also seen ripping through flesh and bone, so that provides more gore as well. I don't see gore-hounds having any problems with this one. Even without the ending, we get abundant gore. One person has his back ripped open, revealing the bones underneath, still another has a leg amputated, and another is gutted, only without the guts piling out. The nudity is also abundant as well, featuring enough naked bodies to give any red-blooded male a dream woman for a while. This is a great movie. It has a fast pace, stuff happens all the time, and it keeps things interested with all that goes on. 

The movie was also known as Monster.

Knock knock! Who's there?

Exploitation never dies!

Lisa Glaser's greatest acting moments.

So is it worth the try?

You never are bored with this film. I think that is a film's greatest compliment: it is very entertaining. Definitely check this out if you love creature films, 80's horror flicks, and Corman fans will also want to see one of his better films.

Rated NC-17: Nudity, Graphic Violence, many scenes of Rape, suggested and shown animal violence, and Language  

The film was recently re-released on Blu-Ray HD format by Shout and I got a copy for yours truly and I gotta tell you every re-released movie from the "Roger Corman's Cult Classics" is worth the money by a long shot.

Blu-Ray edition.

Last but not least here's the 1980 movie trailer, which I believed was used to promote the movie on video rental stores: