Screamers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Screamers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf June 28, 2014

“Screamers” is an entertaining adventure/horror picture, but its behind-the-scenes saga is even better. Produced in 1979, the Italian release was titled “Island of the Fishmen,” offering mild thrills for younger audiences craving a monster movie without the pressure of extreme violence and other R-rated pursuits. Roger Corman purchased the distribution rights for America, ordering director Miller Drake to spruce up the effort with extreme gore, playing more directly to drive-in customer appetites. Drake created an epilogue starring Cameron Mitchell as a sea captain who escorts a couple (played by Mel Ferrer and Eunice Bolt) to a forbidden island, aiding their search for treasure, only to be gobbled up by ghoulish mutant fishmen. When this cut of the film, now titled “Something Waits in the Dark” didn’t go over well, Corman’s crew (primarily Jim Wynorski) cooked up a trailer that emphasized a cinematic centerpiece featuring a human turned inside out. Of course, no such scene existed in the movie, but nobody comes between Roger Corman and a dollar, with the refreshed advertising pushing the newly retitled “Screamers” into profit, eventually incurring the wrath of angry ticket buyers.

After an accident at sea, medical officer Claude (Claudio Cassinelli) and a group of prisoners are shipwrecked on an uncharted Caribbean island, forced to survive without proper resources. Scrambling to find a way back home, the group encounters various threats from animals and traps, thinning the herd as Claude discovers a native outpost and Amanda (Barbara Bach), the wife of Edmond (Richard Johnson), a powerful man who runs the island. Controlling the local indigenous tribe, Edmond is in possession of secrets that reveal his mission on this remote location, and while Claude initially requests aid, he’s soon pulled into the mystery, discovering Amanda’s father, Professor Marvin (Joseph Cotton), is being held inside Edmond’s compound for reasons not understood at first. While Claude inches closer to the truth, a threat in the form of vicious fishmen from Atlantis surrounds the area, killing off undesirables.

It’s hard to believe there’s an actual movie beneath all the release and reshoot juggling, but somehow “Screamers” survives as a competent if never quite thrilling hybrid of American violence and Italian melodrama, emphasizing its two most enticing elements: the fishmen and Bach. The added prologue is strange, almost impossible to decode without prior knowledge of its creation, working to introduce the island’s reputation for treasure and the wrath of the fishmen, who use their giant webbed hands to shred trespassers, with a beheading tossed in for flavor. It’s pure carnage in a feature quick to kill off anyone superfluous to the story in the opening 20 minutes, only in the Americanized section, blood flows with goopy gore, leaving quite a gap in intensity once the “Island of the Fishmen” footage takes over, suddenly showing interest in Claude’s quest to piece together Edmond’s guarded ways.

The midsection of “Screamers” finds a welcome balance of mystery and hostility, with the jungle setting adding an exotic ambiance to support voodoo interest from the local tribe and create an inescapable prison for the castaways, who need Edmond’s help to survive. There’s also the roving presence of the fishmen, who serve Edmond through addiction, with the evil man in possession of a potion that keeps the mutated killers in check, finding Amanda something of a mother figure to the monsters. While creature effects aren’t convincing from the Italian side of the production, the Americans do land a few macabre moments, including a reveal of a supporting character in mid-mutation, trapped in a “Creature from the Black Lagoon” hell that’s vividly rendered by Chris Walas.

“Screamers” isn’t particularly persuasive as a chiller, more welcoming as a Jules Verne-influenced adventure, following Edmond as he visits the bottom of the ocean in diving cabin, giving him a front row seat to the undersea kingdom of Atlantis and his ultimate plan of power. It’s these fantasy touches that take “Screamers” in an unexpected direction, boosted by some welcome passion from the cast, who deliver emphatic performances to enhance the illusion, while Bach is counted on for her dewy beauty, shot lovingly by director Sergio Martino. Adding pressure to the plot is a volcanic mountain, sold with ample stock footage, and aggression from the natives, who aren’t nearly as docile as originally thought. Assisting the mood is a splendid score from Luciano Michelini, which merges romantic swells with horror beats.

Screamers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation's only real drawback are some mild crush issues that flare up during the opening prologue and a day-for-night mid-movie excursion that follows Amanda into the jungle. The rest of the viewing experience is quite nice, with a relatively clean look that preserves filmic qualities while taking advantage of the HD upgrade. Some pockets of damage are detected, but Scorpion delivers clarity (from softer cinematography) and color with minimal fade, with jungle environments retaining their natural greenery, while bloodshed presents deep reds. Skintones are also accurate. There's a noticeable difference between the original work and the reshoots, giving gore a welcome crispness, while fine detail remains adequate, especially when surveying the extensive miniature work during the Atlantis sequences.

Screamers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix does carry a pronounced hiss and some pockets of pop throughout the presentation, but the essentials are preserved for this cult film. Dialogue, which appears to mix on-set recording with extensive dubbing, is cleanly detailed, with nothing lost or buried. Scoring is satisfactory, sustaining a sense of orchestral support that periodically takes command of the feature's mood. Sound effects, including the moan of the fishmen, are captured without distortion.

Screamers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview (4:08, HD) with Joe Dante chats with a fringe player in the additional shooting required to bring the picture up to an R-rating. Recommending Miller Drake to oversee the new footage, Dante's backyard was also used as a location.

• Interview (10:54, HD) with Jim Wynorski sits down with the man responsible for the "see a man turned inside out" marketing push that confused many when it came to the regional release of "Screamers." Explaining the backstory of the infamous trailer, hasty poster art, and customer response to the fraudulent advertising (spoiler: they apparently rioted), Wynorski is honest about the whole situation, happy to have made his mark and pleased then-boss, Roger Corman.

• Interview (3:24, HD) with Roger Corman offers a slightly different, rosier recollection of the "Screamers" acquisition and expansion story.

• Interview (8:26, HD) with Clark Henderson, the former head of post-production at New World, is throttled by the interviewee's hazy memories. Still, his perspective is valued, helping to add a different vantage point to the "Screamers" release saga.

• Interview (12:02, HD) with Miller Drake is fascinating, mostly because the director was actually there, helming the prologue over the course of four days. Being Drake's first gig, his recollection of production is sharp, detailing how all the pieces come together, from make-up to performers, with Mel Ferrer a coldly professional man in need of "Christmas money," while Cameron Mitchell was also interested in quick cash.

• Still Gallery presents 24 BTS pictures from the Drake shoot.

• And the infamous "Screamers" teaser and a "Something Waits in the Dark" trailer (1:58 for both, HD), which is equally misleading, are included.

Screamers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite its jigsaw puzzle-like construction, "Screamers" isn't a mess. Perhaps it's far from what was originally intended, but the Corman additions are fascinating to see and, in some cases, greatly improve on the visual impact of the creatures. Genre addicts might feel a little let down by the picture's eventual restraint, but what the feature lacks in sustained aggression, it makes up for in tolerable escapism.