Humanoids from the Deep (1996)

Just perfect...

Excellent adaptation.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

~Spoiler~ Humanoids From the Deep is a remake of a film from 1980 that I haven't seen (yet). I can only imagine that it's better than this version. Here's the lowdown: The government (who else) has created fish men that escape and are able to survive in the ocean because of chemical dumping. Naturally, like fish men do, they like to eat people and mate with women. The only thing separating this from a Sci-fi Channel Original is the gore effects. They are nicely done and the only real stand-out of the picture. I want to say the acting caliber is better, but Robert Carradine was just in one of their crappy Sabretooth movies. Don't get me wrong, I like Robert Carradine, he's just been in some stinkers. Also showing up and slumming it are Mark Rolston (the guy was in Aliens for crying out loud) and Clint Howard (and to say this guy is slumming it should tell you something). Basically the government comes in and makes the situation worse so our band of heroes has to stop the fish men themselves. You've seen it before.

Why anyone would want to remake a gory and filthy exploitation gem from the early 80's is a mystery to me. The original Humanoids was a nice viewing and a good change to observe, but it hasn't really got the potential to be re-told in a 90's sort of atmosphere. Yet, they did and I don't really have a problem with that…but it really drives me mad that the local shop sold me a copy of this ‘straight to video' version instead of the original! Damn, the DVD has the same cover and credits-list as the original but the DVD itself is the remake starring Carradine! Pay attention to this if you'd ever plan to buy it. The less interesting remake could be disguised as the original gore stuff! That said, I have to admit that even this version is more or less satisfying and certainly worth sitting through. Same story is told, only less explicit and more mainstream…Meaning that the violence and nudity is severely cut. An aspect that'll most likely lower the interest of fans of the original. Still, there are more than enough bloody and nasty sequences to sicken the inexperienced horror population. A guy's head is blown off, for example, and there's a woman giving birth to an ugly fish creature on a filthy bar-table. The costumes of the fish-people on the other hand are laughable and idiotic looking. They could have paid a little more attention to that, because it sorts of ruins the whole idea of the `horrible' mutations that they are supposed to be. The acting is overall decent and some familiar faces are included in the cast. Robert Carradine is a very decent B-actor who still is overlooked often…. The same could be said about Mark Rolston, by the way. Danielle Weeks just looks adorable while she's on-screen and Clint Howard walks around in this movie for no particular reason…as he does in most of the films he stars in. In general…you'll be better off when watching the original this thing is based on, but it's not an entire waste of time. Humanoids is easy to watch and overall entertaining with some good gory stuff and funny sequences. If you've seen the original, you'll also have quite some fun with discovering the references and the spoofs towards it.

I must say that Emma Samms shines in this film. I thought the film was tense and suspenseful, even though I typically do not like horror movies. The storyline is on the one hand silly, yet frightening at the same time. Robert Carradine and Danielle Weeks play father and daughter and have good screen chemistry. I have not seen the original picture that I see people commenting on, but found this one to be well done. Recommend.

After watching the 1980 schlock version, this picture looks like a masterpiece. The updated version has a terrific sense of humor about itself. The filmmaker gets the fact that man mating with fish is inherently silly and, while delivering some genuine scares, never forgets this. "Mimic" could have learned from this picture that humor in these horror flicks is essential. This film recently aired on the CBS late movie, which is how I saw it. I'm glad I did.