Humanoids from the Deep Reviews

Roger "The Recidivist" Corman strikes again, with another remake of one of his earlier productions. This HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP is neither as nasty nor as fast-paced and energetic as its 1980 predecessor, which was one of the better JAWS (1975) rip-offs. Unbeknownst to manager Wade Parker (Robert Carradine), employees at a small West Coast fishery have been dumping barrels of an illegal growth hormone called Synestin into the waters to boost fish growth. They don't know that Synestin actually was developed in an army-backed experiment to create amphibious soldiers. Injecting it into death row inmates has created a group of murderous fish-men who need Synestin to stay alive. The mutants also are kidnapping women to use for breeding. When Wade's daughter, Kim (Danielle Weeks) is captured by the mutants, he searches for her, accompanied by her boyfriend, Matt (Justin Walker), one of a group of protesters who had been picketing Wade's fishery. They are aided by Dr. Drake (Emma Samms), the researcher who developed Synestin and now is trying to force the army to own up to the consequences of its use. After the monsters attack a carnival and kidnap Dr. Drake, Wade and Matt track them to an underwater cave. They rescue the surviving women seconds before the army destroys the mutant lair with explosives. The women all are determined not to have been impregnanted, but on her way home, Dr. Drake discovers that her pregancy test was wrong when a mutant baby bursts unexpectedly from her abdomen. The one thing that can be said for this feeble remake is that it doesn't repeat the graphic rape scenes that made the original HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP so distasteful. In every other way, however, this is distinctly inferior. The story plods along in predictable fashion, not even bothering to try to create any suspense regarding the appearance of its aquatic abominations (pretty much indistinguishable from dozens of other fish-faced finny fiends that have swum through cheapo monster movies since the 1950s). The gore effects (a few severed limbs and heads) are perfunctory, and humor is pretty much limited to a drug company named "Rogeman Pharmaceuticals" ("Rogeman," Roger Corman, get it?) and the inevitable appearance of the JAWS theme on the soundtrack. Former B-movie starlet Season Hubley has a bit as a woman who gives birth to a mutant baby a la ALIEN (1979), while top-billed Emma Samms mutters her lines as if hoping that no one will notice her presence. What presence the film has comes from Robert Carradine, who turns in as professional a performance as can be hoped for under the circumstances. His father, the late character actor John Carradine, would be proud. Or at least sympathetic. (Graphic violence, nudity, profanity.)