Humanoids from the Deep

In  the small coastal fishing community of Noyo, a sorry circumstance of events lead  to one boy's death and the explosion of his father's fishing boat when the crew believes they have netted something big. Indeed they have.
Back on land, locals discover their dogs have been horribly mutilated. A local Native American is quickly blamed, there is hostility  towards him as he is opposed to the possible cannery  company that wants to locate to the community. For  low budget exploitation wares I found it  interesting that the social and racial tensions were padded out as well as they were. The townsfolk are divided by the cannery company Canco. that promises to bring jobs and wealth to the fishing community of Noyo. Jim Hill( Doug McClure ) doesn't seem to be big on the idea, but wants to see the town become successful. The employment offers are most welcome.
During the opening ceremonies of the 75th anniversary of the Salmon festival ,scientists make the announcement of the salmon cannery company opening in the community, this has divided the town's people into two groups, even causing a bout of fisticuffs outside the town hall. The Native Americans ( actually there is only one seen throughout the entire movie ) are holding their ground and refuse to have any industry set up camp on their land.
Meanwhile promiscuous teens are being visciously attacked, the males are killed . The  females are spared the killings but violently raped instead. As we later learn for procreating purposes. One of the more unusual of these sexcapades happens inside a tent along the beach. A young woman is talked into taking off her clothes by a wooden doll and it's horny ventriliquist. This I'm sure must have won some kind of an award for best use of wooden dummy in a movie, ever. Unfortunately the two would be lovers are attacked, and she eventually ends up being chased naked along the beach to her inevitable mating session.
We finally learn from the too hot to be a scientist Dr. Drake that DNA 5, a growth gene has caused the salmon to evolve much more faster than normal, this process was to be used at the town's new cannery industry.
The monsters' design courtesy of Rob Bottin comes across more of a simiam like Creature of the Black Lagoon with it's long arms ( in some scenes ). A bulbous head with the brain exposed, a tail, not unlike that of a tadpole, a mouth full of razor sharp teeth and the body covered with sea weed. The look of the creatures presents it's self quite nicely, much better than any C.G.I. could do in my opinion. With the help of some smart editing the creatures appear even more threatening as it appears there is an army of these soggy soldiers.
All hell breaks loose during the festivities at the Salmon festival , as the monsters attack the carnival, rising up from beneath the wooden boards of the pier to cause their havoc. With so many women out and about here , this is like an all you can eat buffet for the procreating creatures. As their town is being overtaken by the malicious creatures,the Native Indian(s) and the townsfolk put aside their differences and band together to defeat the water soaked invaders.
One can not come away watching Humanoids from the Deep without recalling movies such as The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Jaws, or even producer Roger Corman's other low budget under water classic Pirahna.
With it's abundance of  T& A, blood and gore scenes, I found it interesting that this film was directed by a woman, Barbara Peeters. Unfortunately for her,a 2nd unit was hired on to reshoot the rape scenes as Ms. Peeters had them happen off screen. What the hell was she thinking, Roger Corman is famous for his low budget exploitation pictures and has advanced the careers of many of today's top film makers. Joe Dante, James Cameron, and Jack Nicolson to name but a few. Barbara Peeters, nope hav'nt heard that name since she directed Humanoids from the Deep. The shots she did shoot offer up some nice scenes of suspense, false scares, and the teasing  glimpses of the creatures, such  as the early scene of one caught in a fishing net. Briefly showing the creature's webbed hand as he tries to escape. Apparently director Peeters did'nt mind showing men being horribly mutilated and killed in the most violent of manners but could'nt bring herself to show the rapes on screen.
The ending is not for the squeamish, especially for women as Dr. Drake has taken a pregnated young woman back to her laboratory. This scene no doubt inspired by Ridley Scott's Alien.

My Thoughts: This is another excellent example of low budget film making  brought to us from producer Roger Corman. Some of the actors over do it a bit, but generally not too bad.
My Rating: 3 and a half Go Go Girls out of 5