Starring Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Vic Morrow, Anthony Penya
Directed by Barbara Peters
Distributed by Shout! Factory
I could see Shout! Factory giving stellar home video releases to the likes of Death Race 2000, Piranha, and even Galaxy of Terror as part of their Roger Corman’s Cult Classics Collection, but Humanoids from the Deep? You mean there are other fans of this movie out there other than me? Sometimes … life is good.
When the salmon population of the little fishing community of Noyo mysteriously disappears, the small town is thrown into an uproar! But then things get progressively worse … dogs are showing up dead, boats are turning up destroyed, and everyone is at each other’s throats. What could be causing such mayhem? I’ll tell you what – mutant fishmen with a taste for blood and a never ending lust for the town’s female population. You read that right … these humanoids are not only extremely pissed off and angry, but they’re also hornier than you could ever imagine. Hide the kids, folks. This one is as mean-spirited and sleazy as they come, and for that I love nearly every second of it.
The 1080p high definition transfer of this flick is friggin’ gorgeous. In fact, I’d hazard to say that out of all of the recent Roger Corman releases, this one easily looks the best. Sure, there are the usual problems present for an older film that was made on the cheap, but overall? Wow. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not like it can stand up to the picture quality of the recent crop of Hollywood releases like Avatar, but in its own arena surrounded by other films of its ilk, this is a complete knock-out. Kudos to those involved. I was seriously blown away.
The same can’t be said for the PCM 2.0 soundtrack, but hey, with the gore flowing ever so sweetly in eye-popping high definition, I’ll give this puppy a pass.
From there we get eight minutes of never-before-seen deleted scenes, Leonard Maltin’s interview with Corman regarding the movie that was ported over from the original DVD release, several TV and radio spots, a trailer gallery, and again some truly interesting liner notes from Michael Felsher of Red Shirt Pictures. Not as robust a package as Shout’s other Corman releases but still a quality one and, dare I say it, far better than this flick deserved.
I’m happy to say that Humanoids from the Deep is back and better than ever. With Hollywood and the indie scene paying lots of attention to sea creatures as of late, you really need to go back and see how it was done back in the day … with reckless abandon and lots of splattery fun in mind. Don’t hesitate – buy this one like yesterday!
Special Features
3 1/2 out of 5
Special Features
4 out of 5