Humanoids from the Deep, also titled ‘Monster’ in certain parts of the world, is a 1980 horror/sci-fi creature-feature directed by Barbara Peeters and reshoots directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, and starring Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Vic Morrow, and Anthony Pena. This film was held up in production hell for a good while, obviously, by my saying that there were 2 directors and 2 working titles and everything else for this movie. The basic plot of the film follows a coastal fishing town where the locals are buying up major plots of land by the water in hopes of opening up a cannery and providing income for the town, but there’s a Native American population in town that’s disputing it because they’re being screwed over by the whole deal, and the locals are pretty resistant to them and their cause overall. So that’s the undertone, but the other thing is these humanoid fish creatures come into town and start slowly raising hell and taking over. Brutally killing the men and sexually assaulting the women to grow their population along the way. Think like the Vikings, but they all look like the monster from ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’.
Now here’s where things get messy with the movie. Barbara Peeters was the original director of the film, and the majority of the project is still under her direction, but upon viewing of the final cut of her version of the story the studio head ‘Roger Corman’ wasn’t completely pleased. He said she went really gory with the guys’ killings and that was good, but she went way too modest with the scenes of assault for the women and there needed to be equal amounts of heinousness dished out to both genders for the story to work. His words, not mine, but I get the point in ways also. So, he brought in a 2nd director to reshoot some of those scenes, adding in more of that. Honestly though, it’s still very light with the on-screen assaults in nature and that I’m thankful for. Basically, you see some nudity (it’s a 70s/80s B-movie horror flick so of course you do), a woman screaming in terror, and a humanoid creature like trapping them somewhere and that’s really it. So, with keeping things rather light it still let the movie feel overall like a silly, fun, schlock fest that could be played at summer drive-ins and it worked in its time. It also has a tight run time, around 80 minutes, so its really easily digestible and shit hits the fan rather quickly in the town so it makes for a fun and quick watch.
This movie is also B-level to the max though, but in a fun 80s horror kind of way. Roger Corman, the producer, was notorious for being cheap when making his movies so it’s actually kind of silly to see what they end up spending money on in this movie. The creatures look great honestly, even if they’re cheap knockoffs of ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’, but there’s 3 separate large explosion sequences in this and they’re all ridiculous. The most egregious was probably when someone threw a Molotov cocktail at a cabin and the entire thing exploded. The opening scene with the boat explosion is a close 2nd though as well just because all the characters had to be a certain level of stupid for everything to go wrong on that boat and for the thing to explode. Boat full of dummies, didn’t even feel bad when that thing blew up. My point is I guess they thought explosions were a cool selling point at this point in time, either that or someone just really liked them. Also, for the overall sleazy kind of low-budget film this was, the story itself with the townsfolk disputing one another was a lot deeper and felt like it was delivering a message much more so than you’d expect from a movie like this. The Native Americans once again getting screwed out of land (imagine that) and there was a lot of unwarranted racism and hate tossed their direction just for fighting back, until the townsfolk need their help fighting this much more dangerous force threatening all of them and they realize that they’re not so different after all.
Once again, some pretty dope practical effects in this film as well, as you’ll find with a lot of these schlock filled 70s-80s horror flicks. Probably the most stand out singular moment of effects for me was when one of the creatures ripped this dude’s head clean from his neck like he was tearing open a package. It was cheap practical effects enough to look fake, but still intense and impressive enough to give that “Oh shit!” reaction. The entire climax scene near the end of the film where the fish monsters make their way onto land and ravage the town fair is a very intense and stand-out scene in classic creature-feature cinema I think upon viewing it. There’s a lot of fun and impressive visual effects in that entire scene and it’s just utter chaos. You get a full look at the monsters then and honestly, as I mentioned before, for the year this was released in and the budget that they spent on the movie; the creatures really look pretty damn good. You’ll never find a movie that’s as utterly fun and absurd in so many ways while under-tonally dealing with themes like generational oppression and racism and raping and pillaging. Honestly, it’s insane to me that so much dark material was packed into a film that comes off at first glance as just a sleazy, fun, low-budget 80s creature-feature.
If those themes aren’t something that’s going to bother you (like I mentioned before they really are light on a lot of that stuff fortunately) and you don’t mind watching some “bad” but fun low-budget older movies, this really is a fun and quick, easy watch. Especially right now during summertime. It fits the vibe. Any time horror deals with the water or coastal, waterfront towns it just feels summery it seems. You can check this one out now on Tubi, Prime, or Fandango for free so give it a watch if you feel inclined to do so. Regardless, I thank you for taking out some time with me today. Make sure to like the page on social media or come back to the website often to keep up with my new weekly posts over horror films (new & old), new movies in theaters, pro wrestling, and more! Thanks again and until next time, be good to one another!
