Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Humanoids from the Deep Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson August 4, 2019

The first three films that Barbara Peeters directed solo or served as a second unit director for Roger Corman—Sum­mer School Teachers (1974), Moving Violation (1976), and Every Girl Should Have One (1978)—could not have prepared her for what would happen after she finished filming Humanoids from the Deep (1980). Actually, several cast and crew members did not believe the film was to be called that when they signed on to the project. William Martin (using the pen name Frederick James) had originally titled his screenplay Beneath the Darkness as a ploy to lure actors such as Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, and Vic Morrow to agree to star in it. They thought they would be making an intelligent, low-budget thriller, not a sexploitation sci-fi/horror film replete with sea monsters. Turkel told Los Angeles Times columnist Andrew Epstein that the first 80 pages of the 109-page script she read "did not have the humanoids appearing on screen and there was no indication as to who or what was causing all the destruction." She also believes that the story and structure were substantially changed. When principal photography concluded, Peeters was informed by the producers that there was going to be additional footage shot that although she would not direct it, would still be permitted to look at and perhaps lend her opinion. She was never consulted. Epstein reported that Peeters and Turkel noticed a huge amount of blood, guts, and gore as well as what they described as "tits and ass" (T&A) in the re-shoots. Peeters is adamant that she did not oversee any of those scenes or approve of them. Both Turkel and Peeters stated that just one scene they were part of involved nudity, which was Peggy Larsen (Lynn Theel) appearing as a naked, half-dead teen buried underneath a pile of seaweed.

Part of this movie's point is that the parent company of the construction firm that's building a cannery in the fishing town of Noyo, California dumped a substance known as DN-5 in to the water so the salmon could grow bigger. But this DNA extract causes the salmon to undergo four generations of development. The creatures need to accelerate their evolutionary process so they "mate" with women by raping them and then murder all the men because they can't mate with them. Watching Humanoids from the Deep the viewer can detect the insertion of a lot of the footage that Turkel and Peeters found so abominable. Indeed, one of the filmmakers on the recycled featurette on this disc says that the final theatrical version was a merging of Peeters's cut spliced together with the new scenes directed by Jimmy T. Murakami (Battle Beyond the Stars). This would seem to cause inconsistencies in tone and continuity problems (they do, to an extent) but the lizardlike creatures and social mayhem make this a Roger Corman picture to a "T."

I'm here to join the party!

Peeters was so appalled that she asked Corman to have her name taken off the film but the producer insisted that she would have to pay for a new set of credits to be done. Turkel made the same request but both their names remained on the final credits. UPI Hollywood correspondent Vernon Scott reported that Turkel refused to cooperate with New World Productions' publicity and promotion campaign, going on several talk shows to voice her displeasure of the final product. She also tried to cajole theater owners into reverting the title back to Beneath the Darkness, apparently to no avail. In actuality, Peeters and especially Turkel's public comments (albeit negative) boosted interest in the film. Frank Moreno, sales manager for New World, stated to Epstein that the picture collected rentals of $1.3 million in more than 400 theaters during one of its first full weeks in release. In fact, Moreno said that he credits Turkel's WOM as yielding a 3 percent spike in box office gross. The film has continued to thrive on its cultish status on home video through the years.

Humanoids from the Deep Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout! Factory has released a limited edition SteelBook of Humanoids from the Deep that features new artwork of a giant-sized humanoid dripping blood and rising from the lake, ready to terrorize the carnival. Shout! first released the film on Blu-ray in 2010 on a BD-25 with a 16X9 friendly 1.78:1 presentation. This transfer consists of a new 4K scan of the "Uncut International Version from the original camera negative." Shout! also restores the picture to its native 1.85:1 on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. The old transfer has boosted brightness levels and also some slight color bleeding in the reds. The German-based OFDb Filmworks BD/DVD combos released by Koch Media and later ELEA-Media have a more organic look to them. The characters exhibit natural skin tones, unlike the first Shout! which appears too ruddy. The grain is also more visible whereas Shout! expunged a lot of it through the red tinting. The latest Shout! shows none of the color bleeding and also retains the original flesh tones. Los Angeles Times film critic Linda Gross describes Daniel Lacambre's camerawork as "always interesting, stylized liquid cinematogra­phy." The underwater photography of the green seaweed and algae looks clean and gleaming (see Screenshot #19). Black levels are deep. I saw a few white specks and very light scratches but this definitely qualifies as a remastered print. Shout! has encoded the main feature with a mean mean video bitrate of 36000 kbps.

The 80-minute feature is accompanied by the customary dozen chapter selections.

Humanoids from the Deep Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! has supplied a new remixed DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1567 kbps, 24-bit) from the original monaural. The first BD sound track featured an LPCM Dual Mono (2304 kbps, 24-bit). In the first scene following the main titles, the dialogue is rather hard to hear, owing to the very low budget and the fact that the characters are a long distance from the camera before they eventually approach it. I'd recommend turning the volume up and switching your receivers to stereo or another sound field so you receive a wiser dispersal along the fronts. I could hear spoken words relatively well after the first reel. F/x are of course relegated to the front and center. The motor coming from the speed boat, explosions, screams, and general pandemonium are adequately rendered and show decent pitch.

This was the third theatrical film that James Horner scored following The Watcher (1978) and The Lady in Red (1979). (He also did uncredited work on 1979's Up from the Depths.) The music for Humanoids from the Deep has received unfavorable comparisons to Jerry Goldsmith's scores, with critics accusing Horner of poaching selections from Alien (1979) and several other Goldsmith scores. Horner did acknowledge the Goldsmith influence but to be fair, the music has a sinister and ominous presence that works very well in spelling impending doom for the victims. The trumpet solo in the "Main Title" is like a warning sound and reminds me of Ives's The Unanswered Question (1908). Working in a B-horror genre like this, one would expect Horner to riff Williams's famous theme from Jaws (1975) or a piece by Stravinsky but the most suspenseful parts seem drawn from Herrmann's Psycho (1960), with Horner supplementing the screechy violins with throttling drums. It is an underrated score that definitely isn't the most listenable but a serious effort by the late maestro. The audio quality of the music on the BD is analogous to the remastered, high fidelity heard on BSX Records' 2011 soundtrack album. That is, without any tape hiss, pops, or crackles.

Humanoids from the Deep Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Humanoids from the Deep – Featuring Interviews with Executive Producer Roger Corman, Editor Mark Goldblatt, Second Unit Director James Sbardellati, Composer James Horner, Special Effects Artists Chris Walas & Kenny Myers, and Actors Cindy Weintraub & Linda Shayne (22:45, 1080i) - this initially appeared on Shout!'s 2010 release. We get to hear from each of the actors and filmmakers listed on this featurette. In English, not subtitled.

• Deleted Scenes (5:45, 1080p) - some excised scenes contain the original sound. Others, unfortunately, have lost the audio track. The scenes are in remarkably good condition.

• Leonard Maltin Interviews Roger Corman (3:27, upscaled to 1080i) - this first appeared on Image Entertainment's LaserDisc in the '90s. Corman sits down with the film historian to briefly discuss Humanoids from the Deep and other films of this ilk. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailers (4:37) - three trailers of Humanoids from the Deep. The first is presented in the movie's native aspect ratio, the second and third in 1.33:1. The first two are the American trailers while the last is the German. They each contain film-related artifacts.

• TV Spot (0:34, 1080p) - a spot of the film that presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen.

• Radio Spot (0:35) - contains voice-over, music, and some sound effects.

• NEW Still Gallery (6:34, 1080p) - a total of eighty-nine separate stills from various marketing campaigns that were used to promote Humanoids from the Deep. The first eighteen images comprise black-and-white publicity stills from New World Pictures and United Artists' press kits; the next dozen are high-res color pictures taken on the set; the remaining fifty-nine consist of poster sheets, lobby cards, scans of program booklets, and newspaper ads in US and international markets.

Humanoids from the Deep Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I can understand why viewers feel repulsion or revulsion while watching Humanoids from the Deep but I love horror films of this period and greatly admire Rob Bottin's work on the water creatures. It's also historically noteworthy because Bottin and other crew members went on to become famous working on so many other films. If you owned Shout!'s 2010 Blu-ray, I'd recommend upgrading to this SteelBook as the print boasts a superior image. The fairly comprehensive photo gallery is a nice addition but the Shout! is missing some of the other features found on the OFDb Filmworks discs in Germany. It's a mystery why the audio commentary with editor Mark Goldblatt isn't on the two Shout!s since Michael Felsher moderated it and contributed eight pages of liner notes on the first US release. The DE editions also have two additional English-friendly featurettes and an hour-long bio doc on Roger Corman. True fans will want to own both.