Which kind of salmon do you prefer? Farm-raised or wild-caught? Personally, I really can’t tell much of a difference, and depending on the source, the only thing I can clock is that farm-raised tends to be a little more gamey. It really doesn’t matter, though. Sear the filet in some butter or oil, hit it with some dill, and make sure you have a lemon wedge on hand, and you’re getting all the omega-3 fatty acids your body craves, so I don’t really see a downside.
1980’s Humanoids from the Deep introduces an entirely new kind of salmon to the mix, and it’s not the kind you want to get involved with. I’m not even saying this as a health nut. It’s just that, in my experience, a genetically modified school of salmon that then gets eaten by larger fish, mutating them into weird, amphibious flipper creatures that are apparently hellbent on bumping uglies with their helpless female human counterparts, doesn’t sound like an overarching element of my health and diet regimen that I could fully get behind.
As a true B-movie creature feature that doesn’t skimp on the sleaze, though, there’s a lot to enjoy about Humanoids from the Deep. Even though Roger Corman was uncredited as the executive producer for this project, his signature brand of schlock and awe simply lives in its DNA, and this time it goes great with a side of roasted asparagus.
It’s Like Jaws, If Jaws Had A Salmon Festival
Humanoids from the Deep takes place in the small fishing village of Noyo, California, where fisherman Jim Hill (Doug McClure) and his wife, Carol (Cindy Weintraub), witness a boat mysteriously explode offshore. The incident comes as the community is already divided over a corporation’s plans to build a new cannery, with local fisherman Hank Slattery (Vic Morrow) supporting the expansion and blaming Native American activist Johnny Eagle (Anthony Pena) for a series of apparent acts of sabotage. In actuality, Johnny Eagle is the only person brave enough to stand up against the corporation and all of its evil practices.
When people and animals begin disappearing along the coastline, Jim suspects that something far more dangerous is lurking in the water. He joins forces with Canco scientist Dr. Susan Drake (Ann Turkel), whose research may explain the humanoid sea creatures attacking the town. With Noyo’s annual salmon festival approaching, they race to uncover what created the monsters and prevent the celebration from becoming a feeding ground. And, of course, most of the townsfolk are more concerned about the cannery and its economic implications than the very real danger presenting itself to the community.
Of course, the women are scantily clad, makeout sessions occur in dangerous waters just before another attack that you’ll all but expect as the audience but our subjects never once consider, and the streets are overrun with amphibious monsters. That’s all in service of this film until, in true B-movie fashion, we finally catch a glimpse of the monsters up close, which, depending on your taste, will either break the immersion entirely or make you a superfan.
Get Thee To A Cannery!
In order to fully embrace movies like Humanoids from the Deep, you need to be into this kind of movie. Produced for $2.5 million, the film worked within a limited budget, and the reason it feels distinctly like a Roger Corman production, despite being the final feature directed by Barbara Peeters, is studio interference that resulted in reshoots undermining her original vision.
According to Peeters, the movie was intended to be presented as a straightforward environmental tale. The new footage added a number of sequences featuring violence toward women to satisfy what Corman believed was the kind of exploitation his audiences wanted from his films. While it’s easy to see why Peeters would be upset by this, if you went into the film expecting a Roger Corman joint, you most certainly will not be disappointed.
On its surface, Humanoids from the Deep is still a cautionary sci-fi tale about the dangers of genetic modification. Just beneath that, however, in the deep where the creatures lurk, is the kind of trashy creature feature that you’d expect from anything with Corman’s name attached to it.
I’m not condemning or condoning the decisions that were made behind Humanoids from the Deep, because I clicked on it expecting exactly what I saw: a low-budget movie about a bunch of lizard monsters. But be warned, if you’re looking for anything much deeper than that, you’re watching the wrong movie.
As of this writing, Humanoids from the Deep is streaming for free on Tubi.
Robert Scucci