Humanoids from the Deep (1980)

Movie Info

If anyone can stop these Humanoids, it is Doug McClure!!!

A seaside fishing town of Noyo, California finds danger is lurking in the water.  With the town divided over a cannery, Hank Slattery (Vic Morrow) finds himself at odds with a Native American named Johnny Eagle (Anthony Pena) over the fishing grounds.  A local fisherman named Jim Hill (Doug McClure) and a scientist Dr. Susan Drake (Ann Turkel) try to determine what is killing people and attacking women.  The horror is growing and the attacks could just be the beginning!

Directed by an uncredited Barbara Peeters and Jimmy T. Murakami, Humanoids from the Deep is a low-budget exploitation horror film.  Produced by Roger Corman, the movie was criticized upon its release but gained a cult following over the years.

Humanoids from the Deep was a horror movie I saw at a young age.  It was one of those late night movies that seemed to be shoved into UHF schedules as a midnight movie quite often.  It is schlocky, sleezy, and fun.

Another lovely day at the beach

The story resulted in the directors having their names removed from the product.  Originally there were just sea monsters attacking but Corman demanded more rape and murder.  The film added a second director who shot more explicit rape scenes and added the scenes without permission of Peeters or Turkel.  While more explicit scenes doesn’t really add anything to the movie (but could get more viewers with a grindhouse style), the movie isn’t very deep plotwise with or without them.

Doug McClure who was frequently mocked on The Simpsons (along with Troy Donahue as Troy McClure) is the lead.  He is joined by Ann Turkel who doesn’t play a love interest but a scientist who knows more about the monsters.  They also add a conflict between Native Americans with Anthony Pena and Vic Morrow…they kind of add a plot to the basic story, but it isn’t a very good plot.

Gee…a monster bursting out of a stomach…I feel I’ve seen this somewhere….hmmm

The actual Humanoids are kind of effective looking at points.  They are slimy and gross (and apparently horny).  The only problem is that they are so slow and immobile that it seems that most people could just easily run away from them unless it is an ambush…you see a Humanoid from the Deep, you run from the Humanoid from the Deep.

Humanoids from the Deep is a grindhouse horror film that revels in its cheapness.  It features nudity, monsters, and blood…all things you’d expect from the movie.  The Humanoids might not be all they can be and the picture gets a bit bogged down, but it is still fun.  The movie was one of Corman’s movies that was remade for Showtime in 1996, but stick with the original schlock-fest.