Humanoids from the Deep
Encyclopedia
Humanoids from the Deep (alternatively known as Monster) is a 1980
science fiction
monster movie
, starring Doug McClure
, Ann Turkel
, and Vic Morrow
. Roger Corman
served as the film's (uncredited) Executive Producer
, and the film was distributed by his New World Pictures
. It was directed by Barbara Peeters
(aka Barbara Peters). The musical score was composed by James Horner
.
catch what appears to be some kind of monster in the netting of their boat. The young son of one of the fishermen falls into the water and is dragged under the surface by something unseen. Another fisherman prepares a flare gun, but he slips and shoots it accidentally into the deck, which is soaked with gasoline dropped earlier by the boy, causing the vessel to burst into flame and then explode; everybody onboard is killed. The explosion is witnessed by Jim Hill (McClure) and his wife Carol, who begin to wonder what is going on here, especially when Carol's dog goes missing during the following night and the two find its dismembered corpse on the nearby beach.
The following night, teenagers Jerry Potter (Meegan King) and Peggy Larson (Lynn Schiller) go for a swim at the beach. Jerry is abruptly pulled under. Peggy believes it is simply a prank until she discovers his horribly mutilated corpse. The screaming girl tries to make it to the beach but she is attacked and dragged onto the sand by a monstrous figure. The humanoid thing tears off her swimming suit and rapes her.
At night, two more teens (one Billy is played by David Strassman
are on the same beach in a small tent. Billy is with his creation Chuck Wood. He puts the doll down and is about to have sex when another humanoid monster claws its way inside. It brutally kills Billy. As he's being killed 'Chuck Woods' eyes move, watching it happen. The humanoid chases the girl onto the beach. She manages to outrun her assailant but then runs straight into the arms of yet another humanoid. The monster throws her onto the sand and rapes her. More attacks follow, not all of them successful, but few witnesses are left to tell the public about what's exactly happening. Jim's brother is also victimized, prompting Jim to take a personal interest in the matter.
A company called Canco has announced plans to build a huge cannery near Noyo. It turns out that the murderous, sex-hungry mutations are apparently the result of Canco's experimentation with a growth hormone they had earlier administered to salmon. The salmon escaped from the laboratory facilities into the ocean during a storm, and were then eaten by other, larger fish who proceeded to mutate into the brutal and depraved humanoids who have begun to terrorize the village.
A girl - Peggy, a previous victim of a rape is found on the beach naked except for the seaweed wrapped around her body, almost like a cocoon. She is taken to hospital.
By the time Jim and Dr. Susan Drake (Turkel), a Canco scientist, have figured out what is going on, it is too late to stop the village's annual carnival from starting. At the carnival, the humanoids show up in droves, relentlessly murdering the men and raping every woman they can grab including the queen of the festival who has been broadcasting live from a booth with presenter Mike Michaels (Greg Travis). Luckily, Jim devises a plan to stop the marauding beasts by spreading gasonline into the bay where the festival is taking place and setting it on fire, cutting off the beasts' way of retreat. Carol is beset by two of the creatures at home, but manages to kill them before Jim arrives.
The morning after the carnival, everything seems about to return to normal. However, Peggy has survived her sexual assault and is about to give birth when her monstrous offspring suddenly bursts out of her stomach in a fountain of blood.
offerings from the 1950s, with the addition of lots of graphic violence and nudity. Thanks to good word of mouth
among teenage boys, the film was a modest financial success for New World Pictures, and it continues to be a cult
favorite today.
Critical reviews were far from laudatory. Paul Taylor, in Time Out, said that “Despite the sex of the director, a more blatant endorsement of exploitation cinema's current anti-women slant would be hard to find…Peeters also lays on the gore pretty thick amid the usual visceral drive-in hooks and rip-offs from genre hits; and with the humour of an offering like Piranha entirely absent, this turns out to be a nasty piece of work all round." Phil Hardy
’s The Aurum Film Encyclopedia
: Horror, said, after noting that additional sex and violence scenes had been edited into the film without director Peeter’s knowledge, “…weighed down as it is with solemn musings about ecology and dispossessed Indians, it looks as if it had always been a hopeless case." Nathaniel Thompson, on his Mondo Digital website, observed, “Director Peeters claimed that Roger Corman added some of the more explicit shots of slimy nudity at the last minute to give the film some extra kick, but frankly, the movie needed it. Though competently handled, the lack of visual style, occasionally slow pacing, and peculiar lack of (intentional) humor hinder this from becoming an all-out trash masterpiece…” But Michael Weldon
, writing in his Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film
, opined, “Many were offended by the rape aspect of this fast-paced thriller featuring lots of Creature from the Black Lagoon
-inspired monsters…Like it or not, it was a hit and is not dull. Wait, on second thought. It's pretty dull and probably a waste of good time.”
of Humanoids from the Deep was produced for Showtime by Corman's production company, Concorde-New Horizons, starring Robert Carradine
and Emma Samms
. Regrettably, this version toned down the sex and gore aspects — the very elements that had distinguished the otherwise unimaginative first film. The remake was not a success among fans or critics.
was brought in to spice up the movie, and it was he who was reportedly responsible for filming all of the sex, nudity and gore scenes. Several people who went on to bigger and better things worked on the film, including composer James Horner
, makeup artist Rob Bottin
(who designed the humanoid costumes), editor Mark Goldblatt, and future producer Gale Anne Hurd
, who worked as a Production Assistant
. The actress who portrays the Salmon Queen (Linda Shayne) later became a film director.
released a 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD of the film containing a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, interviews, reversible wrap with rare international art, and a collectible booklet
1980 in film
- Events :* May 21 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the biggest grosser of the year ....
science fiction
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
monster movie
Monster movie
Monster movie is a name commonly given to movies, which centre on the struggle between human beings and one or more monsters...
, starring Doug McClure
Doug McClure
Douglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...
, Ann Turkel
Ann Turkel
Ann Kathryn Turkel is an American actress and model.Turkel studied at the Musical Theatre Academy.She was photographed for American Vogue...
, and Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
. Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
served as the film's (uncredited) Executive Producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
, and the film was distributed by his New World Pictures
New World Communications
New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...
. It was directed by Barbara Peeters
Barbara Peeters
Barbara Peeters, also known as Barbara Peters, is an American film director, screenwriter of feature films and television. She is best known for her 1980 film, Humanoids from the Deep.- Selected Director Filmography :...
(aka Barbara Peters). The musical score was composed by James Horner
James Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
.
Plot
Fishermen from the fishing village of NoyoNoyo, California
Noyo is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located south of the center of Fort Bragg, at an elevation of 108 feet...
catch what appears to be some kind of monster in the netting of their boat. The young son of one of the fishermen falls into the water and is dragged under the surface by something unseen. Another fisherman prepares a flare gun, but he slips and shoots it accidentally into the deck, which is soaked with gasoline dropped earlier by the boy, causing the vessel to burst into flame and then explode; everybody onboard is killed. The explosion is witnessed by Jim Hill (McClure) and his wife Carol, who begin to wonder what is going on here, especially when Carol's dog goes missing during the following night and the two find its dismembered corpse on the nearby beach.
The following night, teenagers Jerry Potter (Meegan King) and Peggy Larson (Lynn Schiller) go for a swim at the beach. Jerry is abruptly pulled under. Peggy believes it is simply a prank until she discovers his horribly mutilated corpse. The screaming girl tries to make it to the beach but she is attacked and dragged onto the sand by a monstrous figure. The humanoid thing tears off her swimming suit and rapes her.
At night, two more teens (one Billy is played by David Strassman
David Strassman
David Strassman, is an American ventriloquist who is best known for his ventriloquism act with the characters Ted E. Bare and Chuck Wood. He began performing magic at the age of twelve after a visit to the Magic Castle in Hollywood.-Biography:David Strassman is the second of four children. His...
are on the same beach in a small tent. Billy is with his creation Chuck Wood. He puts the doll down and is about to have sex when another humanoid monster claws its way inside. It brutally kills Billy. As he's being killed 'Chuck Woods' eyes move, watching it happen. The humanoid chases the girl onto the beach. She manages to outrun her assailant but then runs straight into the arms of yet another humanoid. The monster throws her onto the sand and rapes her. More attacks follow, not all of them successful, but few witnesses are left to tell the public about what's exactly happening. Jim's brother is also victimized, prompting Jim to take a personal interest in the matter.
A company called Canco has announced plans to build a huge cannery near Noyo. It turns out that the murderous, sex-hungry mutations are apparently the result of Canco's experimentation with a growth hormone they had earlier administered to salmon. The salmon escaped from the laboratory facilities into the ocean during a storm, and were then eaten by other, larger fish who proceeded to mutate into the brutal and depraved humanoids who have begun to terrorize the village.
A girl - Peggy, a previous victim of a rape is found on the beach naked except for the seaweed wrapped around her body, almost like a cocoon. She is taken to hospital.
By the time Jim and Dr. Susan Drake (Turkel), a Canco scientist, have figured out what is going on, it is too late to stop the village's annual carnival from starting. At the carnival, the humanoids show up in droves, relentlessly murdering the men and raping every woman they can grab including the queen of the festival who has been broadcasting live from a booth with presenter Mike Michaels (Greg Travis). Luckily, Jim devises a plan to stop the marauding beasts by spreading gasonline into the bay where the festival is taking place and setting it on fire, cutting off the beasts' way of retreat. Carol is beset by two of the creatures at home, but manages to kill them before Jim arrives.
The morning after the carnival, everything seems about to return to normal. However, Peggy has survived her sexual assault and is about to give birth when her monstrous offspring suddenly bursts out of her stomach in a fountain of blood.
Cast
- Doug McClureDoug McClureDouglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...
as Jim Hill - Ann TurkelAnn TurkelAnn Kathryn Turkel is an American actress and model.Turkel studied at the Musical Theatre Academy.She was photographed for American Vogue...
as Dr. Susan Drake - Vic MorrowVic MorrowVictor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
as Hank Slattery - Cindy Weintraub as Carol Hill
- Anthony PenaAnthony PenaAnthony Pena is an American actor who played the recurring character of Newman butler Miguel Rodriguez on soap opera The Young and the Restless. Prior to joining the soap in 1984, Pena starred on daytime drama General Hospital as Harry Greg. His numerous television credits include guest roles on...
as Johnny Eagle - Denise GalikDenise GalikDenise Galik-Furey is an American actress who has starred on television and in film.-Career:Born in in Cleveland, Ohio, Galik has starred in television on soap operas, daytime and night time soaps. Her first soap opera role was in the 1980s CBS soap Knots Landing as Linda Stricker from 1980 to 1981...
as Linda Beale - Lynn Schiller as Peggy Larson
- Meegan King as Jack Potter
- Breck Costin as Tommy Hill
- Hoke Howell as Deke Jensen
- Don Maxwell as Dickie Moore
- David StrassmanDavid StrassmanDavid Strassman, is an American ventriloquist who is best known for his ventriloquism act with the characters Ted E. Bare and Chuck Wood. He began performing magic at the age of twelve after a visit to the Magic Castle in Hollywood.-Biography:David Strassman is the second of four children. His...
as Billy - Greg TravisGreg TravisGreg Travis is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 feature films and internationally recognised stand-up comedian. Based in the U.S. he created the comedy character David Sleaze, The Punk Magician, in which he puts on a punk rock-style wig and does a variety of bad magic tricks using...
as Mike Michaels, Radio Announcer - Linda Shayne as Sally, Miss Salmon
- Lisa Glaser as Becky
- Bruce Monette as Jake Potter
- Shawn Erler as Shawn Hill
Response
Humanoids from the Deep is a 1980s' updating of many similarly plotted genreGenre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
offerings from the 1950s, with the addition of lots of graphic violence and nudity. Thanks to good word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
among teenage boys, the film was a modest financial success for New World Pictures, and it continues to be a cult
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
favorite today.
Critical reviews were far from laudatory. Paul Taylor, in Time Out, said that “Despite the sex of the director, a more blatant endorsement of exploitation cinema's current anti-women slant would be hard to find…Peeters also lays on the gore pretty thick amid the usual visceral drive-in hooks and rip-offs from genre hits; and with the humour of an offering like Piranha entirely absent, this turns out to be a nasty piece of work all round." Phil Hardy
Phil Hardy (journalist)
Phil Hardy is an English film and music industry journalist. He was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire in 1945 and studied at the University of Sussex, 1964-1969, during which time he was a visiting student at the Berkeley campus of the University of California . At Sussex he started The Brighton Film...
’s The Aurum Film Encyclopedia
The Aurum Film Encyclopedia
The Aurum Film Encyclopedia is a multi-volume reference work on cinema, published in the UK by Aurum Press and edited by Phil Hardy. The first volume, devoted to western films, appeared in 1983, with eight subsequent volumes announced at that time as "forthcoming". However, as of 2007, only...
: Horror, said, after noting that additional sex and violence scenes had been edited into the film without director Peeter’s knowledge, “…weighed down as it is with solemn musings about ecology and dispossessed Indians, it looks as if it had always been a hopeless case." Nathaniel Thompson, on his Mondo Digital website, observed, “Director Peeters claimed that Roger Corman added some of the more explicit shots of slimy nudity at the last minute to give the film some extra kick, but frankly, the movie needed it. Though competently handled, the lack of visual style, occasionally slow pacing, and peculiar lack of (intentional) humor hinder this from becoming an all-out trash masterpiece…” But Michael Weldon
Michael Weldon
Michael William Weldon is a former Australian politician. He was born in Hobart, Tasmania. At the 1979 state election, he was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly as a Labor member for Braddon. Defeated at the 1982 election, he was re-elected in 1986 and served until his defeat in 1992...
, writing in his Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film
Psychotronic Video
Psychotronic Video was a film magazine originally started by publisher/editor Michael J. Weldon in 1980 in New York City as a hand-written and photocopied weekly fanzine entitled Psychotronic TV. It was then relaunched by Weldon under its more commonly known name as an offset quarterly in 1989...
, opined, “Many were offended by the rape aspect of this fast-paced thriller featuring lots of Creature from the Black Lagoon
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Creature from the Black Lagoon is a 1954 monster horror film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, and Whit Bissell. The eponymous creature was played by Ben Chapman on land and Ricou Browning in underwater scenes...
-inspired monsters…Like it or not, it was a hit and is not dull. Wait, on second thought. It's pretty dull and probably a waste of good time.”
Remake
In 1996, a remakeRemake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of Humanoids from the Deep was produced for Showtime by Corman's production company, Concorde-New Horizons, starring Robert Carradine
Robert Carradine
Robert Reed Carradine is an American actor. The youngest of the Carradine family of actors, he made his first appearances on television western series such as Bonanza and his older brother David's Kung Fu. Carradine's first film role was in the 1972 film The Cowboys opposite Roscoe Lee Browne and...
and Emma Samms
Emma Samms
Emma Samms is a British television actress best known for her role as Holly Sutton on the American daytime soap opera General Hospital and for replacing Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon Carrington Colby on the primetime soap opera Dynasty.-Early life:Samms was born in Willesden, London, England, the...
. Regrettably, this version toned down the sex and gore aspects — the very elements that had distinguished the otherwise unimaginative first film. The remake was not a success among fans or critics.
Production
Barbara Peeter's version of the film was deemed lacking in the required exploitation elements needed to satisfy the movie's intended audience. Second unit director James Sbardellati, who would eventually direct DeathstalkerDeathstalker (film)
Deathstalker is a 1983 Argentine low-budget science fiction fantasy film adventure directed by James Sbardellati.-Plot:The warrior Deathstalker is sent by a witch on a quest to find a chalice, an amulet, and a sword, two of which are held by the wicked sorcerer Munkar. Deathstalker finds the sword...
was brought in to spice up the movie, and it was he who was reportedly responsible for filming all of the sex, nudity and gore scenes. Several people who went on to bigger and better things worked on the film, including composer James Horner
James Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
, makeup artist Rob Bottin
Rob Bottin
-Early life:He was born in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte, California. His father was a foreman for a van and storage company.-FX artist career:...
(who designed the humanoid costumes), editor Mark Goldblatt, and future producer Gale Anne Hurd
Gale Anne Hurd
Gale Anne Hurd is an American film producer and screenwriter.-Early life:Hurd was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Lolita and Frank E. Hurd, an investor. She grew up in Palm Springs, California and graduated from Stanford University with a B.A...
, who worked as a Production Assistant
Production assistant
A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production...
. The actress who portrays the Salmon Queen (Linda Shayne) later became a film director.
DVD
On August 3, 2010 Shout! FactoryShout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
released a 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD of the film containing a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, interviews, reversible wrap with rare international art, and a collectible booklet