From the careful hands of Roger Corman, comes a remake of his 1980's produced film of the same name, slightly updated, slightly better, but just as cheap.Suffering from that awful nineties glare of bad jeans and over acting, this remake offers quite a few decent moments, hilarious monsters, and unintentional dialogue that actually helps to get you through it.In a nutshell - Scripting and story is so messed up you can't help feel like you've been thrown in at the deep end from the very beginning. Hilarious acting and dialogue make sure you enjoy this low budget cheese-fest that entertains for all the wrong reasons!In my opinion - Certain movies should never be remade. This is one of them! With a storyline that is more classic 60's sci-fi than anything, the reasoning behind it all seems to be lost in its nineties setting. That said, this is small town America, where strange stuff happens all the time and the locals all dress alike...To be fair, its leading man, Robert Carridine is quite a likable guy and comes across quite well for the most of it. Everyone else though, not so much, and you can't help not caring for them in the long run. The film hints at action with some scenes as it tries to do with horror, but most of the scary scenes are done with such amateurish direction, it comes across more comical in a sense which makes it less horrific.The remake of Humanoids From The Deep is fun, in a strange sort of way. Just don't take it too seriously!

Animal rights protesters picket a fishing company because they're dumping the growth hormone "Synestin" into the ocean to bulk up product. Five giant, gilled monsters live on the chemical, kill people and knock-up kidnapped young women. Star Robert Carradine, playing the type of stubborn, embarrassing, single-father type whose character drives a beat-up old truck and drinks Pepto straight out of the bottle (so much for character development, eh?), teams up with an investigating scientist (Emma Samms) and others after his daughter is kidnapped.Much of the sleazy audacity from the wonderfully trashy 1980 original is dropped here, but some of the make-up FX are good and it still features two stomach-burster scenes, an eyeball that squirts blood, skinny dipping and naked, bloody women crawling out of a cocoon and swimming to safety. The carnival finale employs most of its scenes from the original feature (I recommend sticking with it).This was part of the ROGER CORMAN PRESENTS... cable TV series from Concorde/New Horizons (all of which were exec. produced by Corman). The end credits remind us that "No animal or humanoid was harmed or mistreated in the making of this motion picture."

Why anyone would want to remake a gory and filthy exploitation gem from the early 80's is a mystery to me. The original Humanoids was a nice viewing and a good change to observe, but it hasn't really got the potential to be re-told in a 90's sort of atmosphere. Yet, they did and I don't really have a problem with that…but it really drives me mad that the local shop sold me a copy of this ‘straight to video' version instead of the original! Damn, the DVD has the same cover and credits-list as the original but the DVD itself is the remake starring Carradine! Pay attention to this if you'd ever plan to buy it. The less interesting remake could be disguised as the original gore stuff! That said, I have to admit that even this version is more or less satisfying and certainly worth sitting through. Same story is told, only less explicit and more mainstream…Meaning that the violence and nudity is severely cut. An aspect that'll most likely lower the interest of fans of the original. Still, there are more than enough bloody and nasty sequences to sicken the inexperienced horror population. A guy's head is blown off, for example, and there's a woman giving birth to an ugly fish creature on a filthy bar-table. The costumes of the fish-people on the other hand are laughable and idiotic looking. They could have paid a little more attention to that, because it sorts of ruins the whole idea of the `horrible' mutations that they are supposed to be. The acting is overall decent and some familiar faces are included in the cast. Robert Carradine is a very decent B-actor who still is overlooked often…. The same could be said about Mark Rolston, by the way. Danielle Weeks just looks adorable while she's on-screen and Clint Howard walks around in this movie for no particular reason…as he does in most of the films he stars in. In general…you'll be better off when watching the original this thing is based on, but it's not an entire waste of time. Humanoids is easy to watch and overall entertaining with some good gory stuff and funny sequences. If you've seen the original, you'll also have quite some fun with discovering the references and the spoofs towards it.

I recently watched this film, with only a vague memory of the original. I remember the original being very distasteful. However, this remake seemed far more professional in terms of its actors and the actual production. The opening scene reminded me of "Jurassic Park." Without giving anything away, creatures that are half fish and half man are loose in the waters of this small fishing town. Emma Samms plays the scientist who is there to stop the apparent killings. What ensues is a wonderful quest, where Robert Carradine, a father whose daughter goes missing, must work with the daughter's boyfriend, played by Justin Walker from "Clueless," to defeat the creatures and uncover the mystery as to why the creatures are taking all the women. Clint Howard plays a good police interrogator, and the best bad guy ever, Mark Ralston, who once raped Tim Robbins in "Shawshank Redemption," plays a great villain here, who by the end, you actually like and feel sorry for. I just saw Mark Ralston on CBS' "Hunter" movie, where he was also quite good. The direction of the actors in this "Humanoids" remake stands out too. Mainly, in terms of the quality acting and the big film feel, which on a Roger Corman picture I would think would be nearly impossible. In short, the better acting, cinematography, plot, and humor elevates this film above the first one. I recommend that those who like a good horror film check this one out.