A review of "Humanoids from the Deep" (1980)

Confessions of a Film Junkie: A review of “Monsters: Humanoids from the Deep”

By: Brian Cotnoir

     You know what; I’ll give the makers of this film some credit for creativity.  When you essentially combine “Jaws”, “Alien”, and “Evil Dead” into one horror film it sounds like a great idea and noble effort.  Unfortunately when you have no budget for decent effects and actors that make the cast of “The Crawlers” look like World Class Shakespearean Actors, your ideas are going to come up a little short.  But still I feel like I must give a fair and just review to the 1980’s Horror film “Humanoids from the Deep” or “Monster” as it is also known as.     

So the plot to the film goes something like this: The small fishing community of Noyo has fallen on some tough times.  The town’s primary source of income comes from salmon fishing, but this year the salmon aren’t biting and town is on the verge of financial ruin.  Rumors that a large canning company wants to open a factory in Noyo could mean jobs for all of their residents, but something strange begins to happen.  One night all the dogs in town are slaughtered, and then women in town begin to disappear, the town is in a panic because not only are they losing residents, but they’re about to lose the canning companies business as well.  As it turns out a group of humanoid sea creatures were accidentally released into the waters near Noyo, and now they’ve evolved to the point where they can attack humans and are driven by a desire to breed with human women.  Now it’s up to the residents to stop these creatures before they destroy the whole town.      

Silly Effects are Silly

This film is just silly.  Nothing about it is scary in the least bit.  The humanoid monsters have to be some of the lamest and cheapest costumes I have ever seen in a film.  Unless you’re 5-years-old you will not find these creatures to be even a little bit scary.  Some of the other effects, however, are  way over the top.  I mean it seems like every time a person lights a small fire a catastrophic
explosion follows.  The opening scene shows a young boy accidentally knocking over a gallon container of gas, and then once a spark reaches it the whole boat explodes thirty feet in the air.  There’s another scene where the town’s residents throw a Molotov cocktail at the home of the town’s only Native American resident and it wipes out like 3 acres of land.  For crying out loud was their napalm in C-4 in that bottle?  Most of the actors in this film are bad. The only real notable actor in this film is Vic Murrow (before his decapitation).  I’m convinced that most of the “female victims” in the film got their roles, not because of their acting, but because they look good with their clothes off.               

No lie, this is from the actual film; Total rip-off of "Alien"

     The one major flaw this film had going for it was it could not decide what genre it was going with?  It tried being a sci-fi tale, a cabin in the woods horror, and Sea Monster film.  You could make a drinking game out of how many references to “Alien” and “Jaws” that appear in this film (anyone else notice the number of films I review for this blog that reference “Jaws”?  It’s kind of a strange coincidence, don’t you think?)   Well nonetheless this is one of those movies that’s so bad it’s funny.  I think this film is ideal for a “Bad Movie Night Drinking Game”, but nothing else.  It’s cheesy, it’s childish, and it’s just a generic early 80’s horror film.    

                  I'll Give them an A for Effort