Humanoids from the Deep (1980)

I did not enjoy this movie.

This is the rapeiest movie I’ve ever seen. I get that the premise is mutant fish people needing to breed with human women, and modern horror movies have a history of throwing in nudity but still, they could have just had them abducting the women and implied the breeding happens, off screen.

Put that aside though, my other problems were the pacing and order in which the story unfolds, as well as (like My Bloody Valentine) too big a cast.

So, there is this subplot about a cannery opening to bring economic stimulation to the town and it being fought by Johnny Eagle, because their plans infringe on Native treaty rights. Now that’s a cool idea, I don’t know why they didn’t use that better. Keep the mutant monsters hidden for the first half of the movie, make the animal deaths and disappearances more mysterious, people would think it could be the war between two groups heating up until the creatures attack the town and everyone works together to fight them off. It would have been far more suspenseful, instead the audience sees the monsters right near the beginning, so there is no link between us and the characters, we are made to be observers and not participants right from the beginning.

I don’t know if maybe they originally planned it as a horror/comedy, but there was nothing funny anywhere in the movie.

The makeup effects were cool though.

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