Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
Something evil is happening in the sleepy fishing village of Noyo. Fishlike humanoid creatures, spawned by mutant DNA, begin rising from the ocean looking to mate with the local women. Scientist Susan Drake (Ann Turkel) along with local fisherman Jim Hill (Doug McClure, The Land That Time Forgot) seek to investigate the cause of this invasion of creatures from the ocean floor. But when the annual Salmon Festival begins, some unwanted guests are about to crash the festivities. Also starring Vic Morrow (Message From Space), Cindy Weintraub (The Prowler) and Denise Galik (Dont Answer The Phone).
Starring: Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Vic Morrow
Directed by: Barbara Peeters
Runtime: 82 minutes
Studio: Shout! Factory
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Review: Humanoids from the Deep
This 80s B-movie takes place in the fishing village of Noyo. At the outset a group of fishermen catch something in the water but one is dragged under the waves and killed while another tries to shoot his assailant with a flare gun only to hit the gasoline on the boat instead and kill everyone on board. Fools! Bizarre creatures are in the water and they are coming ashore to murder the men and to mate with any women they can get their hands on. Horny teenagers on the beach are soon picked off, well, the boyfriends are anyway but the women are left alive.
Jim Hill (Doug McClure) witnesses the explosion at the start of the film and becomes our hero of sorts, trying to figure out where these bizarre humanoid creatures have come from. He is aided by Dr Susan Drake (Ann Turkel) who works for a company called Canco and they may have the answer to what is terrorising the people of Noyo. With the village having a huge gathering at a carnival on the horizon, can Jim and Susan stop the humanoids before they mate with more women?
The synopsis for this film didn’t sound particularly great and the actual result does nothing to detract from that. The acting is pretty bad, the script isn’t great and the humanoids themselves are far from scary though I can understand why the local women don’t wish to have sex with them. Stopping these monsters from the water proves to be not that difficult while the denouement tries to surprise but just left me feeling like I’d seen it all before.
Many eighties movie are cheesy, badly done but still great with their own distinctive charm. Humanoids from the Deep does not fall into that category. Whether purposefully bad or not, this one is utterly atrocious and though I may have laughed on occasion it was more out of embarrassment than anything else. With any luck these humanoids will return to the water and never surface again!
Verdict: 1/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
About the Author:
I was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and have always been a bookworm and enjoyed creative writing at school. In 1999 I created the Elencheran Chronicles and have been writing ever since. My first novel, Fezariu's Epiphany, was published in May 2011. When not writing I'm a lover of films, games, books and blogging. I now live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with my wife, Donna, and our six cats - Kain, Razz, Buggles, Charlie, Bilbo and Frodo.
David M. Brown – who has written 749 posts on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave.
